Ottawa Police Service & Ottawa Police Services Board

[J.OT13]

Still rooting for the old McDonald's location. Frontage on Rideau and George.

Ottawa police still scoping out locations for ByWard Market setup

Ted Raymond, CTV News
July 25, 2023

Ottawa police are still looking for the ideal location for a police hub in the ByWard Market, but it has yet to be found.

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe campaigned on a promise to open a community resource centre in the ByWard Market.

Ottawa police chief Eric Stubbs told reporters on Monday that the Ottawa Police Service is looking at several options for where such a storefront police hub could be.


"The location is key. We do have some options available to us. Some of them may not be as accessible," he said. "I think people want to see that there's a location that they can go to, that our officers, when they're working can go to and bring people to as well."

Stubbs didn't say how long it might take to establish such a presence in the market, described as a bricks-and-mortar, forward-facing neighbourhood operations centre.

In the meantime, Stubbs said efforts are underway to address crime in the ByWard Market this summer.

"We're doing a number of things. We have the Market Safe initiative; we have more officers working Thursday and Friday nights, particularly in the late hours to try to suppress any violence that has occurred around the bar district and we're working with city hall on a number of initiatives," Stubbs said.

Some of those initiatives involve meeting with city teams that work with vulnerable populations, such as homeless people.

"We are also independently working with a number of NGOs in the area, trying to focus on those people that are doing one of two things, causing the most problems in the area or need the most help," he said.

"All of those initiatives are something that we're developing and we'll be building on as we establish those relationships with some of the NGOs, working more with city hall, we think we'll be in a better place as time progresses."

Rideau-Vanier ward, which contains the ByWard Market, had the second-highest crime rate in the city in 2022, with 13,433 crimes per 100,000 people, according to OPS statistics. Only the nearby Somerset ward was higher, with a rate of 15,162 crimes per 100,000 population. Police said 2022 saw an 18 per cent increase in reported crimes across the city, and a 6 per cent increase in violent crimes.

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Josh Pringle.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-police-...ations-for-byward-market-setup-1.6492401

[rocketphish]

Ottawa police propose a fourth, southern patrol district in their strategic plan

Staff Reporter, Ottawa Citizen
Published Aug 25, 2023 • Last updated 4 hours ago • 1 minute read

Ottawa police are proposing a new, south district that they say would better serve that rapidly growing area of the city.

The new south district would complement the existing three police districts, Police Chief Eric Stubbs said at a special planning session of the Ottawa Police Services Board on Friday afternoon.

“We need to change our service delivery model to a four-district structure of east, west, central and south,” Stubbs said. “These districts will be required to adapt to the specific needs of each area within our jurisdiction.”

Major events like Canada Day, head of state visits and, of course, protests and demonstrations like the month-long occupation of downtown Ottawa in 2022 draw police away from outlying areas of the city.

“That’s one of the reasons I believe we have to move to this four-district model,” Stubbs said in response to a question from Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, “to ensure the rural areas are being taken care of appropriately.”

Police forecast they’ll need to hire 75 officers a year for the next three years just to replace retirements and resignations. In addition, OPS says it will need to hire another 240 officers over the next three years to meet its responsibility for special events and to respond to growing needs for traffic enforcement — a perennial demand from the public — and cybercrime.

That growth would cost roughly $18 million by 2027, with an annual tax increase in the police budget of between 3.0 and 3.4 per cent over those years. The estimates come from a police forecast of future budget needs and are not set in stone.

Friday’s special session was a chance for board members and senior police staff to hash out a new strategic plan for Ottawa police.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...-patrol-district-in-their-strategic-plan

[J.OT13]

Yes, rural areas need more police..? Policing traffic is being automated more and more each year. And cybercrimes? Do they actually do anything about those? Feels like something they'd probably just say is out if their jurisdiction

[rocketphish]

Community groups sue police board to end controls on public delegations
The plaintiffs argue the Ottawa Police Services Board restricting public delegations is a violation of their freedom of expression.

Andrew Duffy, Ottawa Citizen
Published Sep 11, 2023 • Last updated 4 hours ago • 3 minute read

Six community groups are suing the Ottawa Police Services Board in small claims court for restricting public delegations – something they contend is a violation of their freedom of expression.

“This board has imposed escalating restrictions on public delegations to silence any criticism of the board and the Ottawa police,” said Robin Browne, founder of 613-819 Black Hub, one of the plaintiffs in the case.

A statement of claim was filed last month in Ottawa small claims court that seeks $27,500 in damages for the board’s alleged Charter violations.

Browne said the action has been launched in small claims court since the case can be heard sooner than in higher courts.

“It’s not about the money, it’s about the principle,” he said in an interview.

Earlier this year, the board imposed a one-hour time limit on all public submissions during its once-a-month meetings. It also required presenters to submit a transcript of their remarks in advance and announced it would give priority to speakers who had not appeared in the previous three months.

The changes were designed, board members said, to ensure they had the time to properly consider business items of their agenda, and to have more voices heard.

With seven members, including the mayor and two city councillors, the board is responsible for establishing objectives and priorities for the police in consultation with the chief, and ensuring the effective management of the service.

The restrictions on public delegations followed months of friction between board members and their most frequent critics.

Last November, Browne and a colleague staged what he called “an act of civil disobedience” by refusing to leave his chair at a city hall committee room until the board answered a series of questions about the police budget, and restored the right to make public submissions online. His colleague played a tin flute while the board raced through its agenda and adjourned.

Browne said he wants the board to lift all of the restrictions it has imposed on public delegations. Those restrictions, he argued, are unnecessary.

“We are sympathetic to the argument that if there are 100 people at every meeting, they wouldn’t be able to get through their agenda, but that’s not happening,” Browne said. “The normal amount is two or three delegations.”

The statement of claim in the case contends there has been a “marked decline” in public delegations since April.

“The actions of the defendant diminish democratic discussion and debate in a manner inconsistent with the board’s mandate, and contrary to the state authority to limit free expression in a free and democratic society,” reads the claim prepared by Ottawa human rights lawyer Yavar Hameed.

None of the allegations in the claim have been proven in court.

The police services board has yet to file a statement of defence.

Other groups that have joined the lawsuit include the Black Student Leaders Association at the University of Ottawa, OPIRG-GRIPO Ottawa, OPIRG-Carleton, the Coalition Against More Surveillance and the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project.

The number of public delegations to the police services board increased dramatically in the months and years after George Floyd was murdered by a Minnesota police officer in May 2020.

“The board claims to oversee the Ottawa Police Service yet does not want to hear criticism from the public about their experiences of discrimination, violence, trauma and abuse from the police, which is why they have stifled public delegations,” charged Jeffrey Bradley, a member of the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...rd-to-end-controls-on-public-delegations

[c_speed3108]

No idea where to put this so I picked here.

The Byward market Ottawa Police Neighbourhood Operation Centre location will be 55 Rideau street unit 107. That is in the Rideau Centre right across from William street near the O-train station.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-police-...ations-centre-on-rideau-street-1.6607303

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by c_speed3108

No idea where to put this so I picked here.

The Byward market Ottawa Police Neighbourhood Operation Centre location will be 55 Rideau street unit 107. That is in the Rideau Centre right across from William street near the O-train station.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-police-...ations-centre-on-rideau-street-1.6607303

Wow, $20K a month for rent. Seeing that the Rideau Centre would benefit from having the police there, you think they would give them a bit of a preferential rate.

[J.OT13]

Disappointed they didn't pick the old McDonald's. Police fails once again.

[BlueJay]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Disappointed they didn't pick the old McDonald's. Police fails once again.

I wouldn't say that is a fail. The rent for that space is $75,000 per month and is set up for a restaurant. Rideau needs another known restaurant to occupy that space. A&W is considering however, there are a few others that are as well.

[phil235]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Disappointed they didn't pick the old McDonald's. Police fails once again.

Don’t know that the location is a fail (it’s right across the street after all), but it won’t be accessible to the public? Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by BlueJay

I wouldn't say that is a fail. The rent for that space is $75,000 per month and is set up for a restaurant. Rideau needs another known restaurant to occupy that space. A&W is considering however, there are a few others that are as well.

Ok, didn't realize it was so expensive. I think it would be a better location, but maybe not at that price.

Any fast food that picks it up is nuts after witnessing the last 40 years that was the McDonald's gong show.

Originally Posted by phil235

Don’t know that the location is a fail (it’s right across the street after all), but it won’t be accessible to the public? Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?

No kidding. Technically not in the ByWard Market and not publicly accessible, i.e. none of the public services that were part of the initial plan. Broken promise IMO.

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Wow, $20K a month for rent. Seeing that the Rideau Centre would benefit from having the police there, you think they would give them a bit of a preferential rate.

Based on the rent for the old McDonald's maybe that is preferential treatment. Still unclear if this is the H&M, Bridgehead or the other (not on Rideau Street) vacant space.

[llatch]

Shouldn't 55 Rideau be on the wrong side of the street for it to be the Rideau Centre?

[rocketphish]

Rideau Centre storefront chosen for new Ottawa police operations centre
Police will now seek board approval to lease unit in mall

CBC News
Posted: Oct 19, 2023 6:56 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

The Ottawa Police Service plans to move into a Rideau Centre storefront for its new operations centre in the ByWard Market.

In a report that will go before the Ottawa Police Services Board on Oct. 23, the force recommended approving a lease agreement with CF Rideau Centre for a five-year period starting Feb. 15, 2024.

The storefront, located at 55 Rideau St. across from the Rideau LRT station, would be nearly 3,000 square feet.

The lease would cost $245,944.95 plus tax for the first year of the agreement.

The police service is supporting a city-led initiative to create what it calls a "neighbourhood operations centre." Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe previously told CBC the centre is not a police station, but a place where officers would be available.

Sutcliffe campaigned on a promise to increase the police presence in the ByWard Market.

The new operations centre would give neighbourhood police officers a space to meet and collaborate with community groups in the area, the report said.

Currently, the closest locations for officers to hold those meetings are either the community police centre in Vanier or the police headquarters on Elgin Street, according to the report.

"The [Rideau] location is the centre of high activity and high population density area and would allow the [Neighbourhood Resource Team] to continue its functions with minimal downtime, while increasing their visibility throughout the day," the report said.

In 2017, Ottawa police withdrew all but 14 of its 60 neighbourhood officers. Community police officers are assigned to specific neighbourhoods and work with local residents, non-profits and community groups.

The move was heavily criticized at the time, and about two years later the force announced it would restore community policing to the Vanier/Overbrook, Heron Gate and Carlington neighbourhoods.

That pilot project targeted neighbourhoods with high rates of certain types of violent crime and property crime.

Police expanded the project in 2020 to include the ByWard Market, Lowertown, Centretown and Bayshore.

Amid calls for defunding the police in July 2020, former police Chief Peter Sloly restructured the force to expand community policing, among other changes.

Some ByWard Market business owners previously told CBC they're hopeful the new operations centre will help mitigate security concerns in the area.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/rideau-centre-ottawa-police-operations-centre-1.7000946

[Spoonsy]

Originally Posted by CBC News

The police service is supporting a city-led initiative to create what it calls a "neighbourhood operations centre." Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe previously told CBC the centre is not a police station, but a place where officers would be available.

The new operations centre would give neighbourhood police officers a space to meet and collaborate with community groups in the area, the report said.

Currently, the closest locations for officers to hold those meetings are either the community police centre in Vanier or the police headquarters on Elgin Street, according to the report.

"The [Rideau] location is the centre of high activity and high population density area and would allow the [Neighbourhood Resource Team] to continue its functions with minimal downtime, while increasing their visibility throughout the day," the report said.

Sooo for $246K the cops get a meeting room?

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Spoonsy

Sooo for $246K the cops get a meeting room?

And zero presence in the actual market? Unless it's one of the facing Rideau locations. Even that isn't ideal. It's needed on George or York. Where the crime is. Granted that's exactly what they don't want as then they would have to deal with it. (Yes I know they are in a tough spot).

[rocketphish]

Police board approves Ottawa Police Service outpost in ByWard Market
The lease agreement for a 2,600-square-foot “neighbourhood operations centre” will open at 50 Rideau St. in February 2024.

Marlo Glass, Ottawa Citizen
Published Oct 24, 2023 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 3 minute read

The Ottawa Police Service has received the green light from its board to set up shop in a Rideau Centre storefront despite calls from community activists to reallocate funding to other community services.

The lease agreement means a “neighbourhood operations centre” will be set up in the 2,600-square-foot space at 50 Rideau St. beginning in February 2024, with a price tag of approximately $246,000 for the first year.

Sam Hersh of Horizon Ottawa asked the Ottawa Police Services Board to delay approving the lease to make time for “real, transparent consultation on this project,” saying residents of the neighbourhood hadn’t been consulted.

“The ByWard Market is over-policed, but doesn’t have lower rates of crime,” Hersh said. “I’m not sure how this would fix that.”

Deputy Chief Paul Burnett told the board the space would be used to “bring together social services” in the neighbourhood, adding more than a dozen community groups were working with police.

“We have no issues dealing with the criminal element, but we want to give enough attention to those individuals not committing crime,” Burnett said. “Homelessness is not a crime. Drug addiction is not a crime.”

The location will provide police officers with a space to meet and collaborate with area community groups in the area, a report submitted to the police board said, but it won’t be open to the public, something Robin Browne of 613-819 Black Hub took issue with at Monday night’s police board meeting.

Browne noted a report submitted to the police board said access for the public “is being considered for future years once additional agencies and service providers can be brought on board and based on the activities of the Community Engagement Team.”

“Really?” he said. “Aren’t they on board now?”

Chief Eric Stubbs clarified community groups currently working with the police service would have access to the space once it opened, but the space wouldn’t be open to the general public.

The operations centre is opening amid a spate of violence in the ByWard Market. Last Thursday, a man was taken to hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries after a daytime shooting on York Street. No arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon, police said. In September, two Halton Regional Police Officers were assaulted in the Market in the early hours of a weekend morning. In June, a shooting left four people with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.

The police board report described the Rideau Centre as a place of “high activity and high population density” for a neighbourhood operations centre and said it would allow neighbourhood-based police to “continue its functions with minimal downtime, while increasing their visibility throughout the day.”

Justin Piché, an assistant professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa and a member of the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project, said setting up a police outpost in a shopping mall was “saying the quiet part out loud in terms of who the police service and protect.” He asked whether or not alternatives to the centre had been considered, with funding going toward other social services.

“Why do we need a new police service in the Market to bring social services together?” he said. “Do we need police to do that?”

Piché also asked for the board to ask police to give the full cost of the five-year project, including costs for retrofitting the space, the cost of on-site equipment and the cost of officers working there.

Deputy Chief Steve Bell said the cost of renting the space would be funded through the force’s facilities budget, along with costs to retrofit the space.

The police board unanimously approved the lease and directed police leadership to present a high-level plan for future activities at the operations centre at its December meeting.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/police-board-approves-ottawa-police-service-outpost-in-byward-market

[J.OT13]

“We have no issues dealing with the criminal element, but we want to give enough attention to those individuals not committing crime,” Burnett said. “Homelessness is not a crime. Drug addiction is not a crime.”

well... last time I checked, drug possession and use is still a crime, and thus, drug addiction is by extension... a crime. We don't do anything about that anymore, but it is still technically a crime.

In September, two Halton Regional Police Officers were assaulted in the Market in the early hours of a weekend morning

Why is it important to mention they were police from outside the region? Hate crime against off duty police? Do we report the career of everyone who is assaulted or shot in the Market?

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

well... last time I checked, drug possession and use is still a crime, and thus, drug addiction is by extension... a crime. We don't do anything about that anymore, but it is still technically a crime.



Why is it important to mention they were police from outside the region? Hate crime against off duty police? Do we report the career of everyone who is assaulted or shot in the Market?

Is it possible they were in uniform? There were officers from multiple jurisdictions in Ottawa the 22nd-24th of September for the Canadian Police and Peace Officers' National Memorial Day.

[Acajack]

My guess is the reference to Halton police officers is to underscore how bad things have gotten in the market, since cops generally are very aware of their surroundings (even when off-duty) and able to handle themselves.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Catenary

Is it possible they were in uniform? There were officers from multiple jurisdictions in Ottawa the 22nd-24th of September for the Canadian Police and Peace Officers' National Memorial Day.

It's possible, but seems unlikely someone would assault a uniformed officer unprovoked. Don't know what time the ceremony ended, but seems odd they were still in uniform at that time.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by Catenary

Is it possible they were in uniform? There were officers from multiple jurisdictions in Ottawa the 22nd-24th of September for the Canadian Police and Peace Officers' National Memorial Day.

No, they weren't:

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...lice-officers-assaulted-in-byward-market