ONTARIO CIVILIAN COMMISSION ON POLICE SERVICES
IN THE MATTER OF an application for consent to the abolition of the Listowel Police Service
Presiding Members:
Frederic G. Farrell, Q.C., Member
Karlene J. Hussey, Member
Appearances:
Les Tervit, Chief Administrative Officer, Town of North Perth
Vincent Judge, Mayor, Town of North Perth
Ken Lawrence, Chair, North Perth Police Services Board
Douglas Ashbourne, Chief, Listowel Police Service
Constable John Mahoney, President, Listowel Police Association
Staff Sergeant Al Quinn, Ontario Provincial Police, Sebringville Detachment C.F. (Bud) Brennan, Police Services Advisor, Policing Services Division, Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services
Hearing Date: Thursday, March 4, 1999
Background:
On June 26, 1997, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing issued an order authorizing the restructuring of the County of Perth. On January 1, 1998, the Minister’s restructuring order became effective. One result was the creation of the Town of North Perth from what had formerly been the Town of Listowel and the Townships of Elma and Wallace.
The Town of North Perth is situated in central Ontario. It has a population of approximately 12,000, with a total land area of 485 square kilometers. The composition of the population is different from most in that the population has fewer citizens under the age of 15 and more citizens over the age of 70 years of age. The former Town of Listowel was primarily urban/commercial while both Elma and Wallace Townships are predominantly agricultural.
The former Town of Listowel has its own police service, namely the Listowel Police Service which has served the community for 135 years, being established in 1863. This police service consists of a chief of police, sergeant, six patrol constables (for a total of eight uniformed officers) and two part time clerical
support staff. The service has three marked police vehicles. The headquarters for the Listowel Police Service is located at 330 Wallace Avenue North, in the Town of Listowel.
By comparison, the former Townships of Elma and Wallace have received police services without a contract from the Ontario Provincial Police through its Listowel OPP Detachment located at 360 Wallace Avenue North, Listowel. The Listowel OPP Detachment has three marked vehicles. The Listowel OPP Detachment is a satellite of the Sebringville OPP Detachment, which also is the host detachment for three other contracted locations within Perth County: i.e. the Town of St. Mary’s, Town of Mitchell and the Village of Milverton.
The Listowel OPP staffing is as follows: Police:
sergeant (dedicated)
.16
sergeant (integrated)
.82
patrol constable
6.90
Total uniform compliment:
Civilian:
clerical support caretaker
Total civilian:
7.88
.49
.16
.65
Both the Listowel Police Service and the OPP have 24 hour a day telephone availability with emergency access.
The Process:
As stated above, on June 26, 1997 the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing issued an order authorizing the restructuring of the County of Perth which order became effective on January 1, 1998. Also at that time, the Town of Listowel Police Services Board became the Corporation of the Town of North Perth Police Services Board. On March 27, 1998 the newly created Town of North Perth formed a working group to establish the Request For Proposal (RFP) process in order to determine how policing services would be delivered to the Town of North Perth. The working group was composed of the following:
Chief of Police Doug Ashbourne, Listowel Police Service
Staff Sergeant Al Quinn, Ontario Provincial Police, Sebringville
Detachment
Constable Kevin Humel, Ontario Provincial Police Association
Dennis Player, Police Services Advisor, Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services
Bud Brennan, Police Services Advisor, Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services
Gordon Burns, Clerk, Town of North Perth
Les Tervit, Administrator, Town of North Perth
The working group was charged with the following task:
define the level of police service;
define an appropriate method for area rating police servicing and to obtain approval from the North Perth Town Council;
define an appropriate format for a RFP to deliver police services at a fixed price for a period of three years and obtain approval of the North Perth Town Council; and
provide for appropriate public input to ensure steps 1 and 2 above adequately address the policing concerns for the citizens of North Perth.
Thereafter, North Perth Town Council approved the creation of a committee to evaluate the proposals which were received pursuant to the RFP. The Committee consisted of the following:
Councilor Daniel McIntosh, North Perth Town Council
Dennis Player, Police Services Advisor, Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services
Bud Brennan, Police Services Advisor, Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services
Gordon Burns, Clerk, Town of North Perth
Les Tervit, Administrator, Town of North Perth
The committee’s responsibilities were as follows:
(a) evaluate the proposal;
(b) cost out the issues not included in the proposal;
(c) determine the appropriate amortization period to apply costs in (b) above to the annual cost proposed; and
(d) recommending a preferred police provider to the North Perth Town
Council.
A questionnaire was prepared and sent to the existing policing services providers, i.e. the OPP and the Listowel Police Services Board.
Public meetings were held in all three communities which would be affected by this decision, i.e. Elma on June 17, 1998, Listowel on June 16, 1998 and Wallace on June 18, 1998. At these public meetings, there was a panel discussion with participation by the Chief of the Listowel Police Service, the Sebringville Detachment Commander of the OPP and representatives of the Ministry of the Solicitor General and the Town of North Perth Administrator.
On September 21, 1998, North Perth Town Council unanimously approved in principle the selection of the OPP as the preferred policing provider for the Town of North Perth subject to three caveats, i.e. final negotiations of policing contract, the outcome of a Commission hearing and clarification of the availability of the Community Policing Partnership program. On October 19, 1998, the North Perth Police Services Board passed a resolution supporting the foregoing decision. On January 11, 1999, North Perth Town Council unconditionally approved the selection of the OPP as the policing provider for the Town of North Perth.
Thereafter, the Town of North Perth applied to the Commission for permission to disband the Listowel Police Service in order to enter into an agreement with the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services to receive policing services from the OPP. Upon receiving the required application and appropriate documentation from the Town of North Perth, this request was tabled at the Commission’s January 11, 1999 meeting. It was determined that a public meeting would be held in Listowel on March 4, 1999. Notices to this effect were published in local newspapers.
The Law:
Policing in Ontario is governed by the provisions of the Police Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.15 as amended (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”).
Section 4(1) of the Act imposes upon municipalities the obligation to provide
“adequate and effective police services in accordance with its needs”. This may
be accomplished in a number of different ways. A municipality may establish and maintain its own police force, enter into a joint policing arrangement with another municipality, or contract for policing services from the OPP.
For a police service to be “adequate and effective” it must have the necessary staff, administration, equipment, infrastructure and facilities to perform certain functions. According to section 4(2) of the Act these include crime prevention, law enforcement, assistance to victims of crime, public order maintenance, and emergency response.
Once a municipal police force has been established, it can only be abolished for the purpose of putting in place one of the other policing options (i.e. OPP contract policing) after following the procedures set out in the Act. Specifically, section 40 provides that:
40(1) A board may terminate the employment of a member of the police force for the purpose of abolishing the police force… if the Commission consents and if the abolition … does not contravene this Act.
(2) The Commission shall consent to the termination of the employment of a member of a police force under subsection (1) only if,
a) the member and the board have made an agreement dealing with severance pay or agreed to submit the matter to arbitration; or
b) the Commission has made an order under subsection
(3).
(3) If the member and the board do not make an agreement dealing with severance pay and do not agree to submit the matter to arbitration, the Commission, if it is of the opinion that it would be appropriate to permit the abolition of the police force … may order the board to submit the matter to arbitration and give any necessary direction in that connection.
If the Commission is of the view that these requirements have been met, then a municipality may enter into a contract with the Solicitor General under section 10 of the Act for policing to be provided by the OPP.
The Issues:
The nature of this scheme is to ensure that no municipal police force is abolished unless arrangements are in place which will satisfactorily meet the policing needs of the community in question. Any new arrangement must provide for the appropriate staff, equipment and facilities to ensure adequate and effective policing. In addition, no member of a municipal police force is to be terminated without steps being taken to allow for proper severance.
There are two fundamental issues to be dealt with. First, does the proposed new arrangement appear to provide adequate and effective police services that meets the needs of the community? In this respect, the Commission will receive and review the proposal which has been accepted by the town council and the police services board and consider any public comment and submissions.
The next issue is whether or not under the proposal the current members of the police service which are the subject of the abolition are being dealt with on a fair and reasonable basis. If any member is to be terminated as a consequence of the abolition, the question then becomes whether or not the parties have reached an agreement with respect to severance or have consented to having any outstanding matters referred to arbitration. If so, the Commission is satisfied and our involvement in this issue would be at an end.
However, if no agreement has been concluded, then the Commission may order the parties to arbitration on the outstanding issues. It should be noted that under section 40, the Commission does not decide between alternative proposals or assess which method of providing policing services will be most economical or otherwise preferred. Those decisions rest solely with the local community through the appropriate municipal council and police services board. Further, it is not the function of the Commission to determine what may or may not be an appropriate severance agreement. This function rests solely between the bargaining parties and failing an agreement, for arbitration.
Proposal:
The OPP proposal was outlined for the Commission at the hearing by Staff Sergeant Al Quinn (Sebringville Detachment) and is hereinafter described in detail.
A) Staffing:
The proposal is based upon an integrated detachment model. The proposal provides as follows:
Position
North Perth OPP
Inspector-Detachment Commander
.30
Sergeant-Team Leader (Dedicated)
1.00
Sergeants-Team Leaders (Integrated)
.91
Sergeants- Team Leaders (Contracts)
Detective Sergeant
Detective Constables
1.00
Patrol Constables
12.50
Patrol Constables (Contracts)
Constables - Court Case Management
1.00
Constables- Community Services Officers
1.00
Total Uniform
17.71
The proposal provides for 17.71 full time uniformed police officers who will be dedicated to policing the Town of North Perth. In addition there will be one dedicated clerical worker. Since the proposal is based on an integrated detachment model, there is the availability of additional full time uniformed police officers from Perth County at large. Sebringville OPP Detachment is the host detachment and will provide an increase of 2.60 front line constable positions, a supervisor to constable ratio of one to seven, and a policed citizen ratio of one to
656 citizens.
Police services will be provided 24 hours per day, seven days a week, deploy a
12 hour platoon schedule, three to four officers available at any given time. The Town of North Perth will be divided into three patrol zones consisting of the former Township of Elma, the former Town of Listowel and the former Township of Wallace. All uniformed members of the Listowel Police Service have received offers of employment with the OPP.
B) Communications:
The North Perth OPP will be dispatched by the OPP communications centre in Mount Forest. This operation has 24 full time and two part time dispatchers, six sergeants and one staff sergeant. A sergeant will be on duty 24 hours a day with logger recordings of telephone. There will also be radio and emergency backup. The OPP radio system is a microwave linking of towers capable of several methods of communication. Each officer will have a portable radio, which radio is also capable of officer-to-officer communications. And an emergency 911
system will be in place 24 hours a day, together with public toll free lines to the communications centre. A local number will also be available to call the North Perth OPP office.
C) Vehicles and Equipment:
The North Perth OPP will be equipped with five marked vehicles and one unmarked vehicle. Also, they will have at their disposal one Borkenstein Breathalyzer, two Alco Testers, two radar units, C Sauer semi-automatic pistols and one spike belt.
It should be noted that the Ontario Municipal and Provincial Police Automated Co-operative (OMPPAC) will continue to be used as the records management system.
D) Facilities:
The current Listowel Police Service building at 330 Wallace Avenue North, Listowel, will be renovated and serve as the new facility for the North Perth OPP. The building is currently being renovated to accommodate the increase of staff and to provide an enhanced policing capability for the community. The existing Listowel OPP station which is a leased facility in the Town of Listowel will be closed. It should be noted that a community policing office (CPO) will be established within the Village of Monkton.
Decision:
Does the proposal, as presented by the OPP and approved by both the Town of North Perth, Town Council, and the Town of North Perth Police Services Board, provide the community with “adequate and effective police services”?
The Act does not currently define what constitutes adequate and effective police services. However, interpretive aids are available to assist in this determination as to what constitutes adequate and effective police services, namely: the provisions of the Act itself and precedent, i.e. past decisions of the Commission. In particular, section 4(2) of the Act states:
4(2) Adequate and effective police services must include, at a minimum, all of the following police services:
Crime prevention.
Law enforcement.
Assistance to victims of crime.
Public order maintenance.
Emergency response.
Section 4(3) sets out that a municipality must provide “all the infrastructure and administration necessary for providing such services, including vehicles, boats, equipment, communication devices, buildings and supplies”.
Commission decisions in various contexts have articulated different tests to assess or determine adequacy. At page 15 of Municipality of Chatham-Kent (14
August, 1998) we stated:
Broadly these tests have been comparative or alternative. The comparative tests may be applied historically or geographically. Where it is applied historically, the current or proposed staffing level is compared to that which the municipality has received in the past. If past staffing levels were considered adequate the proposed or current level is normally presumed to be adequate and effective.
Where the comparative test is applied geographically, the proposed or current staffing level is measured against those found in communities of similar size or needs. If the levels are considered adequate in those communities a similar level proposed is generally presumed to be adequate and effective. These presumptions are by definition rebuttable.
How does this test apply to the facts of this case?
The Town of North Perth is composed of three former municipalities, i.e. the Town of Listowel, the Townships of Elma and Wallace. The Town of Listowel received policing from the Listowel Police Service while Elma and Wallace Townships received policing from the OPP (no contract). The Listowel Police Service had eight uniformed police officers. Listowel OPP Detachment served Elma and Wallace Townships operating out of its own facility in the Town of Listowel and provided 7.88 uniformed officers.
Under the proposal, the North Perth Municipal OPP will have 17.71 uniformed officers exclusively dedicated to policing the Town of North Perth which figure consists of 15.5 front line constables, .30 inspectors, 1 dedicated sergeant and
.91 integrated sergeant.
It should be noted that the 17.71 figure has the
advantage of providing the community with one community services officer (constable), one detective constable and one court case manager/constable. As well, there would be one dedicated clerical worker. The proposal will provide at least 26,514 hours of policing annually to the Town of North Perth.
The North Perth Municipal OPP being an integrated structure will have the assistance of the Sebringville OPP Detachment (the host detachment) and will have the availability of a significant number of additional uniformed police officers if needed from Perth County at large. The supervisor to constable ratio will be one to seven and the police to citizen ratio of one to 656. In addition, under the proposal, services will be provided 24 hours per day, seven days a week, 12 hour platoon schedules, three to four officers available at any time and three patrol zones. The three patrol zones will encompass the entire Town of North Perth, i.e. in Zone One the former Township of Elma, Zone Two the former Town of Listowel and Zone Three the former Township of Wallace. The proposal should have the effect of increasing and enhancing the front line constable compliment and at the same time, reducing policing administration as it now exists. Accordingly, the proposal would appear to significantly raise the capabilities of the new police service.
The Town of North Perth is a mixture of part rural and part urban. From a comparative standpoint, the proposal would appear to be sound if not better than other rural areas in Ontario. For example, the Town of Goderich has one uniformed police officer for every 726 citizens. Chatham-Kent has one uniformed officer for every 738 citizens. The Town of North Perth will have one uniformed police officer for every 656 citizens. The span of control, i.e. supervisor to constable, also is consistent with provincial standards. The span of control between supervisor to constable will be one to seven. It should also be noted that the Town of North Perth has fewer people under the age of 15 and more people over the age of 70 years of age in comparison to other urban communities in Ontario.
The proposed level of staffing, deployment and supervision would appear to be appropriate and allow for adequate and effective policing. The same would apply to the proposed communications arrangement and equipment.
The existing facility currently utilized by the Listowel Police Service will serve as the new headquarters for the North Perth Municipal OPP. This facility is currently undergoing renovations. It is indeed appropriate that the existing building be utilized for a number of reasons besides economics. The facility has been used as a multi function facility providing not only the centre for policing the community, but also serving as the municipal council chamber and a courtroom. Accordingly, the public have come to look upon the facility both for protection and
the fulfillment of their civic and judicial needs. In an ever changing world, certain constants should be preserved to add stability to the process.
Following the hearing, members of the Commission had the opportunity to tour the facilities which, as stated, are undergoing renovations. The renovations are scheduled for completion in May or June of 1999, depending on weather conditions. The facilities need to be renovated in order to accommodate the increase in staff, to properly serve a greater segment of the community following the implementation of the restructuring order creating the Town of North Perth, to have a greater degree of modernization and to achieve a higher degree of security within the premises. We also had an opportunity to review the architectural plans for the renovations. We inspected the premises with Mayor Vincent Judge, Chief Administrative Officer Les Tervit and other officials, who answered our questions on certain aspects of the renovations. We are satisfied that these facilities when the renovations are completed will be adequate to meet the requirements of both the staff and the community at large.
Taken in its entirety, we are satisfied that the OPP proposal will provide adequate and effective policing for the new community of the Town of North Perth. At the hearing itself, Les Tervit, Mayor Vincent Judge, Ken Lawrence, Douglas Ashbourne, Constable John Mahoney, Staff Sergeant Al Quinn and C.F. (Bud) Brennan expressed their support to the proposal. Members of the public were encouraged to participate in the process and to make their comments and criticisms known at that time. There were no objections from the public who were present.
The formal proposal, the written submissions delivered in advance of the hearing, and the oral submissions at the hearing were very detailed and demonstrated the significant amount of effort and input by municipal officials, the OPP and all concerned. It was quite evident that every effort was made to inform and indeed educate the public on the proposal and to address the concerns of the community at large. No doubt all of these efforts were instrumental in building a consensus within the community and amongst the stakeholders.
This brings us to the important issue of termination and severance, i.e. whether or not a member of the police service is to be terminated as a consequence of abolishing the Listowel Police Service and, if so, whether the parties involved have reached an agreement with respect to severance or have the parties involved consented to have the matter referred to arbitration. Under the proposal, there will be no longer a need for a chief of police. At the hearing, the current Chief of Police, Chief Douglas Ashbourne announced that he had reached a satisfactory agreement with the North Perth Police Services Board. The two part time clerical support staff will remain municipal employees and the two auxiliary members will join a Wellington County unit.
This brings us to the status of the current uniformed members of the Listowel Police Service. We were advised that all current uniformed members of the Service have been offered employment with the OPP. However, no agreements have been reached and there are still outstanding issues to be resolved. The Town of North Perth Police Services Board requested that the customary order directing that all severance matters be referred to arbitration. Accordingly, no agreement having been reached between the parties, the following order is hereby granted:
That if there are any unresolved severance issues with respect to members of the Listowel Police Service within 45 days of this decision, then such matters shall be referred to arbitration. Arbitration shall commence no later than 90 days after the date of this decision.
Accordingly, pursuant to section 40 of the Act, we hereby consent to the abolition of the Listowel Police Service in order that policing can be provided by means of a contract with the Solicitor General for the services of the Ontario Provincial Police, subject to compliance with the above order pertaining to arbitration.
We would like to publicly acknowledge the Listowel Police Service for its 135 years of service to the citizens of the Town of Listowel and to the Province of Ontario for a job well done. While this police service is being abolished, it will never be forgotten. The men and women who will now wear the OPP uniform in the Town of North Perth should be inspired by their predecessors who served their community with dedication and distinction for well over a century.
In conclusion, we would like to express our appreciation to all the presenters at the hearing and the professional manner in which the entire process was carried out.
DATED THIS 3RD DAY OF MAY, 1999
Frederic G. Farrell, Q.C. Karlene J. Hussey
Member, OCCPS Member, OCCPS