Several goals met for Rivers Police
- Details
- Published on Saturday, February 7, 2015
By Bruce Klassen
Chief of Police. Town of Rivers
Part of my annual report to our police board and council includes the three-year policing plan which was revised this year to carry us through to 2017 when it will once again be reviewed.
Rivers Police Service is dedicated to improving the quality of service to our citizens, while serving the residents of Rivers in the most professional and courteous manner. The police service is continuously seeking new and innovative methods to improve the effectiveness of our agency. In an effort to do so, we developed a plan which is the culmination of a process involving council, citizens and police staff. Through this community feedback, we have worked to identify the law enforcement-related problems and needs of the community and to develop strategies to fulfill those needs through an active, on-going partnership with the citizens we serve.
The following goals have been selected to guide police in serving the community: crime control; maintain traffic safety through community education and enforcement; provide a presence in the schools; develop a plan to respond to violent situations in schools; work with local media; develop and maintain new and existing programs, update bylaws; partner with neighboring services to reduce crime; update technological needs of the service.
Rivers Police Service will work effectively to respond to the needs identified by the community. Our vision is to keep Rivers safe.
Responsibility for preventing and detecting crime and anti-social behaviour is not the work of police alone. To quote the founder of modern day policing, Sir Robert Peel, “The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interest of community welfare and existence.” It is essential that the police and the public form partnerships and work together in order to maintain a law-abiding society and thereby strengthen our community and keep it safe. In fulfilling the vision, every Rivers Police Service member is committed to our community pledge. This pledge demonstrates how every member of our staff will conduct themselves when dealing with you, the public. All staff must be: attentive – by listening to individuals and the community; responsive – by responding to the needs of individuals and the community; reliable – by maintaining the community’s respect; skilled – by having staff with the right tools and abilities to do the job; polite – at all times to all members of the community; fair – at all times in carrying out our duties.
Goal 1 is crime control with all paid and volunteer staff continuing to maintain a visible police presence at events and on general patrol; this goal has been accomplished. We also want to provide aggressive criminal law enforcement; a number of police-initiated cases and investigations have been cleared. The third item in this category is to work closely with Riverdale Justice Committee as a means of effective case referral.
Goal 2 is to maintain traffic safety through community education and enforcement. This is being met in part by preparing articles on road safety for Rivers Banner. Check stops have been conducted in conjunction with other police services and a number of check stops initiated. There are general patrols and traffic enforcement throughout all residential and commercial areas of town. Futrell and I have seen a number of impaired drivers prosecuted because of our vigorous enforcement of driving while impaired laws.
Goal 3 is to provide a presence in schools by delivering talks on relevant community and youth issues such as bullying/cyber bullying, personal safety, bicycle and road safety (Use your Head campaign), texting and driving.
Goal 4, to develop a plan to respond to violent situations in schools, is a work in progress.
Goal 5 is to develop and maintain existing police programs, so foot patrols continue in commercial and residential areas. Strengthening partnerships with other organizations is implemented with information sharing and two-way communication.
Goal 6 has been completed with all Town of Rivers bylaws updated and rewritten when necessary; I worked with the town’s chief administrative officer Kat Bridgeman on this project.
Goal 7 slightly overlaps with Goal 4 in that we share information and two-way communication with other police agencies (rather than organizations). We have initiated the development of a number of new programs with other police agencies.
We created a police service Technology Master Plan which has been completed, thus meeting Goal 8, to update the technological needs of the police service.
