Monday, June 13, 2011
Distribution of police force: Does it affect crimes reported
The stats of 2009 and 2010 show the rate of police officers recruited for every 100,000 population varying with different provinces.
The largest increase in police officer strength were reported in Saskatchewan (8%) followed by two provinces with the same rate (7%): British Columbia and Alberta. Police strength has increased from the last year in all provinces except Yukon. In 2009, 122 police officers were appointed in Yukon which was reduced by 1 officer in 2010 (121).
Provinces which had the highest rate of police officers per 100,000 populations were Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Alberta and Nunavut. On the contrary, 7 provinces had the same rate or close to the national average rate.
According to the stats, Ontario and Northwest Territories had an increase rate of 3% which is equal to the national average.
It is noticeable that the increase of police officers does not co-relate to the crime reported. Saskatchewan had the highest rate of police officers but Nunavut reported the highest crime rate (392). Hence the police force is not distributed according to the number and severity of crimes reported.
Nunavut (336.9) and Northwest Territories (323.3) with the most severe crimes had an increase of police officers at the rate of 7% and 3% respectively. It is evident that Nunavut needs more police officers as the province was reported as the second highest crimes reported which had an increase of only 6 police officers. Even after the increase rate of police officers in Nunavut (6%) was double to the national average, still needs more police force to tackle the crimes reported.
Being the bigger provinces, Nunavut and Northwest Territories had the less police strength.
Few other issues with the distribution of police force are:
· Ontario had the highest number of police strength (803) and the least crime (68.9) reported.
· British Columbia with the second highest number of police strength (575) had 110.3 crimes reported which is double to Ontario.
· Quebec had an increase of 54 police officers with 82 crimes reported.
· Nova Scotia with 35 police officers increase had almost the number of crimes (83.9) reported.
Among all 13 provinces, Yukon and Prince Edward Island had the lowest rates of police strength, but the crimes reported shows there is a serious imbalance in the police distribution across provinces.
It is an issue to be thought of and it is time that Government consider to track the province with more crimes reported and increase the police force accordingly than based on population.
Two distinctive accidents happened in two municipalities which involved police vehicles – The rarest kind.
A 42-year-old police officer’s car was hit by another police officer’s car who failed to yield right-of-way on a clear weather at 11 p.m. at the intersection of Maple Grove Road and Cherry Blossom Road (driveway).
The stats from the Annual Collision Database points out the two peculiar road accidents occurred which involved the vehicles of police officers hitting each other. The study done for the last five years had details of 185 accidents happened in which a police vehicle was involved.
On a Tuesday night in May 16, 2006 at the intersection of Maple Grove Road and Cherry Blossom Road a 26-year-old police officer’s carelessness hit another officer’s car. The accident was caused due to the failure to yield right-of-way by the young police officer. The undivided two-way road was found to be wet and under repair.
There was no evident injury. The accident was investigated by the Cambridge Police Service and the police officer was charged under the Highway Traffic Act. Practice is that the driver charged under the Highway Traffic Act can defend him or herself and fight the charge or plead guilty. The guilty plea will result in a fine and/or demerit points. If the offence committed falls under the Criminal Code of Canada, then the officer can plead guilty or choose to defend themselves with the assistance of a lawyer.
“An officer who is charged under the Police Services Act has the option of defending themselves against the charge or plead guilty, or come to some other equitable arrangement,” Officer Olaf Heinzel, the Public Affairs Coordinator of Waterloo Regional Police Service.
It is highly stressful driving a police vehicle in emergency response situations and the police officers are trained to handle a wide range of emergency situations. But accidents occur and the frustration that the emergency workers go through is when the drivers refuse to pull out of the way of a vehicle with lights and sirens activated.
Bad weather is not always a reason for accidents happening on the highways. Better traffic control could have avoided the accident that occurred in August 8, 2008 in which two police cars hit each other. This accident happened in the morning at 8 a.m. near Fisher-Hallman Rd and Highway 7/8 ramps. The reason for the accident of the two police vehicles is not known till today. No injuries reported.This kind of accident happens with bad driving or carelessness. The officers are given driver training during their Basic Constable Training at the Ontario Police College. In addition to this, the Waterloo Regional Police Service has a driver trainer on staff who is responsible to provide additional and/or remedial training.
When an on-duty officer is involved in an accident, the same rules and actions are taken as in any collision. The procedure includes checking the injuries, evaluating risks to public safety and protecting the scene until investigators arrive. The officer’s supervisor will be notified. The majority of the collisions are found to be minor. The police cars that got hit in the accidents are repaired and are back on the road.
The circumstances of the collision will determine what occurs to the police officer. For example, a minor scratch in a parking lot will result in a report being filed. It will not lead to the same actions as a collision on a roadway involving another vehicle.
Based on the severity of the accident, the officer can be charged under the Highway Traffic Act or the Criminal Code of Canada. Criminal charges are handled by criminal courts. “In Police Act hearings a senior officer may be assigned to hear the case, or in some circumstances, an external adjudicator may be brought in,” says officer Heinzel.”
The police department tracks the accidents involving police vehicles and maintain reports of the investigation. These reports are then entered in a database which could be used for further review and analysis.
The number of accidents in 2009 shows a decreasing trend compared to the preceding four years except in 2007. Approximately 266 collisions were lesser in 2009 compared to the 2008 data. Yet it is surprising to know that there were 185 collisions which involved police vehicles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)