ONTARIO CIVILIAN COMMISSION ON POLICE SERVICES
IN THE MATTER OF an application for consent to the abolishment of the North Glengarry Police Service
Presiding Members:
Brenda Weese, Member
Sam Cancilla, Member
Appearances:
Lynda A. Bordeleau, Solicitor for the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and
Glengarry Police Services Board
Mike Hopkins, Inspector, Ontario Provincial Police
Roger Cole, Warden, United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
Charles Sangster, Chair, United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
Police Services Board
Paul Deveau, Chief, North Glengarry Police Service
Bart Caron, Advisor, Policing Services Division, Ministry of the Solicitor General
Tom Swabey, Solicitor for the North Glengarry Police Association
Grant Crack, Reeve, Township of North Glengarry
Hearing Date: May 19, 1999
This is an application by the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
(the “United Counties”) pursuant to section 40 of the Police Services Act, R.S.O.
1990, c. P.15 as amended (the “Act”) for consent to the abolishment of the North Glengarry Police Service (the “Service”). This is for the purpose of having all policing in the United Counties provided by the Ontario Provincial Police (the “OPP”).
Background
The Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry were united by the establishment of municipal government throughout Upper Canada in 1850. They are located along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River from the eastern limit of the Province of Ontario. They extend westerly for a distance of 96 kilometers
and northerly 32 kilometers to comprise an area of approximately 3,100 square kilometers.
The United Counties are a mixed rural and urban region with a population of
61,951 and 25,165 households. It has 3,267 kilometers of county and township roads, 161 kilometers of provincial highways and 90 kilometers of provincial waterways.
In 1997 the United Counties submitted a restructuring proposal to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The proposal provided for a continuation of a two- tier system of government.
The 20 local municipalities were to be amalgamated as follows:
Township of Charlottenburg, Township of Lancaster and the Village of Lancaster would become the Township of South Glengarry
Township of Kenyon, Township of Lochiel, Town of Alexandria and the Village of Maxville would become the Township of North Glengarry
Township of Osnabruck and the Township of Cornwall would become the Township of South Stormont
Township of Finch, Township of Roxborough and the Village of
Finch would become the Township of North Stormont
Township of Matilda, Township of Williamsburg, Village of Iroquois and Village of Morrisburg would become the Township of South Dundas
Township of Mountain, Township of Winchester, Village of Chesterville and Village of Winchester would become the Township of North Dundas
The submission also detailed the services to be provided and maintained by the upper tier. This included policing.
The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing issued an Order on May 13, 1997 under subsection 25.2 (4) of the Municipal Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.45 as amended creating the six amalgamated townships effective January 1, 1998. Section 9.3 of the Order provided that the Town of Alexandria Police Services Board would become known as the Corporation of the Township of North
Glengarry Police Services Board. The Order also prescribed the new board would continue to provide police services to the ratepayers of the geographic area of the former Town of Alexandria. The balance of the Township of North Glengarry as well as the rest of the United Counties would continue to be policed by the OPP.
During the months of March and April of 1998 all the new Townships with the exception of North Glengarry voted to have policing be an upper tier responsibility.
On April 20, 1998 the United Counties passed By-law No. 4525 assuming this authority. On June 29, 1998 the United Counties Council approved the creation of the United Counties Police Service Board.
The Current Policing Arrangement
As noted earlier, the United Counties are policed by two forces: the North Glengarry Police Service and the OPP. For the purposes of this proceeding it is important to understand how both are structured.
First, the North Glengarry Police Service polices the former Town of Alexandria which has a population of approximately 3,500. The force was established in
The Service operates out of a municipally owned building located at 7 Main Street North. It is headed by Chief Paul Deveau. Chief Deveau has been a member since March 5, 1979. He has been Chief of Police since July 1, 1988.
There are five full-time police officers. One is an acting sergeant who works a day shift Monday to Friday. There are also two part-time officers employed as fourth class constables. Accordingly, the total uniformed complement is 7.5 officers.
The Service has a 12-hour shift system. Each full-time officer works two day shifts, followed by two night shifts, then four days off. It takes eight weeks for each officer to work a full rotation. During that eight week rotation, each officer takes an additional 16 hours off, so that over the eight week period, the total hours worked are 320, or an average of 40 hours per week. Any time taken off is covered by part-time officers.
There is usually one constable on duty at a time, except on Friday and Saturday in the summer months, when there are two constables on duty during the evening and early morning hours. Again, these hours are usually covered by part-time officers.
All officers are generalists, investigating whatever occurrence might happen during their tour of duty. In the case of serious occurrences, the force relies on the OPP. The Service also has access to OPP specialized units such as canine, crowd containment, breathalyzer, hostage negotiators, and identification services.
The Service employs a full-time secretary and a part-time Court Security Officer. In April of 1998, the North Glengarry Police Service implemented a 911 communications system and six part-time dispatchers were hired on an hourly basis.
As noted earlier, the OPP polices the balance of the United Counties.
The OPP operates from five detachments. They are located in Long Sault, Winchester, Morrisburg, Lancaster and Maxville. Dispatching is provided from the OPP Communications Centre in Kanata. Policing is provided on a seven days a week, 24 hour basis.
We are informed that the total current authorized OPP complement for the United Counties is 98 uniformed officers and 11.6 civilian employees. A certain number perform specialized functions. The full breakdown is as follows:
1 inspector
1 staff sergeant
8 sergeants
8 detective constables
3 community service constables
4 court constables
73 patrol constables
7 clerical staff
4.6 caretakers
We are advised that there are also six part-time guards and an auxiliary unit with an authorized complement of 30 operating from Long Sault.
OPP personnel provide both provincial and municipal policing. Provincial policing includes such matters as patrolling certain highways and waterways and emergency response. Such policing is provided by the OPP throughout Ontario to all communities. We are advised the current OPP staff allocated to provincial policing functions is 30.09 uniformed officers and 3.78 civilian staff.
For our purposes, the primary concern is municipal policing. Leaving aside the dispatchers, part-time custodial staff and auxiliaries the current combined North Glengarry Police Service and OPP staff dedicated to municipal policing in the United Counties is 75.41 uniformed officers and 9.82 civilian employees.
The Application
During the summer of 1997 in anticipation of municipal restructuring the United
Counties began to examine policing services.
The Cornwall Police Service, Alexandria Police Service and OPP were requested to submit proposals for a single United County police service. Almost a year later, on September 9, 1998 a public meeting took place before the United County Council to hear presentations by the Ontario Provincial Police and the Cornwall Police Service.
On September 21, 1998 the United Counties Standing Committee on Finance recommended Council accept the Ontario Provincial Police proposal subject to approval by the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services (the “Commission”). Council approved the recommendation.
Subsequently, the Commission received a request to convene a meeting under section 40 of the Act and it was agreed that this would take place on May 19,
1999 in Alexandria. Notice of this meeting was published in local newspapers.
It took place as scheduled. We received submissions from several individuals. Written material and other documents were provided. As well, since that time, we have requested and received further details about certain aspects of the proposal.
The Law
Section 4(1) of the Act states that every municipality shall provide adequate and effective police services in accordance with its needs. For the purpose of this application this refers to the United Counties.
Section 4(2) defines “adequate and effective” as the ability to provide policing services under the five following categories: Crime Prevention, Law Enforcement, Assistance to Victims of Crime, Public Order Maintenance and Emergency Response.
Section 4(3) states that a municipality shall be responsible for providing all the necessary infrastructure and administration required to provide adequate and effective police services.
A municipality may meet this obligation by establishing and maintaining its own force, entering into a joint agreement with another municipality or contracting for the provisions of services by the OPP. However, once a municipal police force has been established, section 40 of the Act defines the procedure that must be followed to allow its abolishment.
Specifically, section 40 states:
(1) A board may terminate the employment of a member of the police force for the purpose of abolishing the police force if the abolition does not contravene this act.
(2) The Commission shall consent to the termination of the employment of a member of the 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 abolishment of the police force, may order the member and the board to submit the matter to arbitration.
The Issues
The first concern of the Commission is to ensure that no municipal force is abolished unless arrangements have been made to meet the policing needs of the community. Any new arrangement must provide the infrastructure, (i.e. staff, equipment and facilities) to ensure adequate and effective police services. To this end the Commission reviews the proposal accepted by Council and considers all public comments and submissions.
Given that the proposal in question not only provides to disband the North
Glengarry Police Service but replace it with a unified County wide arrangement, it
is the Commission’s position that it will be necessary to examine the proposal as a whole.
The second issue is whether or not under the proposal the current members of the police service, which are subject to 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 no agreement has been reached, then the Commission may order the parties to arbitration.
The Proposal
The proposed policing arrangement was described to us in detail by Ms. Bordeleau. Essentially, what is being advanced is the integration of all policing in the United Counties under a single OPP contract.
The integrated County arrangement would consist of 100.5 uniformed officers and 12.6 civilians. In addition there would continue to be six part-time guards and an auxiliary unit of 30. They would provide the United Counties with 24 hour, seven days a week policing.
Of this complement, 30.09 uniformed officers and 3.78 civilians would be allocated to provincial policing. This corresponds with the present arrangement. The other staff would provide 102,517 hours of municipal policing. The figure was reached by an examination of 1996 and 1997 OPP statistics and estimates relating the policing needs of former Town of Alexandria. The decision to estimate the policing needs of Alexandria arose from concerns about the reliability of existing crime statistics.
The proposed municipal complement would consist of 70.41 uniformed officers and 8.82 civilians. The breakdown would be as follows:
.70 inspector
.70 staff sergeant
6.3 sergeants
8 detective constables
2.1 community services constables
2.8 court constables
49.81 patrol constables (including 1.5 part-time)
5.6 clerical workers
3.22 caretakers
This represents a reduction of five uniformed officers and one clerical worker from the existing current United County total municipal policing complement. As well, it is proposed to terminate the six part-time North Glengarry Police Service dispatchers and have communication services provided from Kanata.
It is proposed that the 73 municipal and provincial patrol constables be combined into four platoons. Each platoon would have a minimum of 18 officers. They would work a 12-hour rotational schedule. They would be deployed in six municipal (one for each township) and three provincial (park, marine and highway) patrol zones. Each platoon would have a sergeant team leader.
Staff would operate from five detachments and seven Community Policing Offices. This includes the four existing OPP detachments in Lancaster (3,721 sq. ft.), Winchester (4,572 sq. ft.), Morrisburg (2,730 sq. ft.), and Long Sault (12, 369 sq. ft.). The Long Sault detachment has two cells.
The existing OPP detachment in Maxville would be closed and a Community Policing Office established in that community. This would add to the existing Community Policing Offices located in Ingleside, St. Andrew’s, Moose Creek, Finch, Chrysler, and Glen Roberston. The Maxville detachment staff would be relocated to Alexandria.
The existing North Glengarry Police Service building is considered to be poorly located and has only one parking space. Accordingly, it is proposed to create an Alexandria detachment two kilometers south at the Eastern Ontario Health Unit Office located at 624 Main Street.
This accommodation after retrofit will provide 3,000 square feet of modern office space, surrounded by ample parking for police service vehicles and the public. The new building will provide general office space, interview rooms, cells/holding rooms, vaults, locker and lunchrooms. The money required for retrofit is in the current County Council budget.
The proposed location is in the new downtown area; many businesses, shopping malls and new residential developments surround the proposed site, which is scheduled to be operational in the fall of 1999. Until such time as it is completed both the Maxville and Alexandria sites would remain staffed and operational.
The new facility would accommodate two sergeants, 15.5 constables, two detective constables and two civilian employees. As noted earlier the Township of North Glengarry will be a patrol zone. Three officers will be on patrol within the
area at any time. As the former Town of Alexandria contains approximately one third of the new Township, one officer will be assigned to this area.
Each of the five detachment offices would have a sergeant team leader. They would provide general supervision during normal business hours from Monday to Friday. Supervision during other hours would be provided by a staff sergeant/platoon team leader or a duty sergeant at the Kanata Telecommunications Unit.
The eight detective constables would be deployed from the five detachments. They would work a nine hour shift rotating between days and afternoons. Three community service and four court constables would be deployed from Winchester, Long Sault and Lancaster working an eight hour shift, Monday to Friday. The United Counties courts sit in Morrisburg, Cornwall and the former Town of Alexandria.
The officers would be equipped with 23 marked cruisers, three unmarked cars, six plain cars, one van and one truck. Two boats would provide marine coverage. All officers would be provided with Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistols in addition to portable and car radios. Other equipment would include five Borkenstein Breathalyzers, eight Alcotesters, eight Radar Units, and eight spike belts.
All officers would have access to OMPPACC (Ontario Municipal and Provincial Police Automation Cooperative) an electronic record keeping system. All Service operations files would be transferred to the OPP. Officers would also have access to PLAS (Police Legal Access System) through the OPP Intranet. This provides information on legislation and case law. CPIC administration would be provided out of Long Sault.
Dispatching would be provided from the OPP Communications Centre in Kanata, Ontario. This communications centre, operational since 1990, has an uninterrupted power supply and full radio coverage for Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry. This service has fully enhanced 911, a toll free “888” number, cellular phone service and bilingual service.
The Kanata facility is currently staffed by one staff sergeant, six sergeants, 27 full-time and one part-time dispatchers. One sergeant is on duty at all times.
It is proposed that citizens would be advised of the changes by local media releases, inserts in utility mailings and the distribution of promotional items with police telephone numbers.
We are informed that all uniformed members and the one full-time civilian employee of the North Glengarry Police Service have been offered employment with the OPP. They will receive a one week orientation.
It is proposed that the part-time dispatchers and court officer be terminated. There are outstanding unresolved issues with respect to prior collective agreements, severance and the status of the part-time dispatchers and uniformed members (both current and former).
Decision:
Is the proposal presented by the OPP and accepted by both Council and the Board likely to provide the United Counties with adequate and effective police services? The Act does not define what constitutes “adequate and effective police services”. However, some assistance can be found in certain provisions of the Act and prior Commission decisions. 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 services:
Crime prevention.
Law enforcement.
Assistance to the victims of crime.
Public order maintenance.
Emergency response.
Section 4(3) sets out that a municipality must provide “all 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?
At the present time the United Counties are policed by two forces. Collectively they dedicate 75.41 uniformed officers and 9.82 civilian employees to municipal policing. It is proposed to integrate these resources into a new structure with
70.41 uniformed officers and 8.82 civilian employees.
On the face of it, this would represent an overall reduction of the resources historically allocated to municipal policing in the region. Even leaving aside the proposed termination of North Glengarry dispatchers this would represent five fewer uniformed staff and one less civilian.
It is clear that some aspects of this can be attributed to a flattening of management and a consolidation of support services. However, how does the result compare to communities of a similar character, size or needs?
On July 19, 1999 this Commission approved a proposal for the creation of a unified OPP policing arrangement for the County of Wellington. That application bears many similarities to this case.
The County of Wellington is a mixed rural and urban community. It has a total population of 63,500 with of 24,093 households. The 2,571.8 square kilometer region has 2,600 kilometers of county and township roads and 155 kilometers of provincial highways.
As noted earlier the United Counties are mixed rural and urban. The total population is 61,951 with 25,165 households. During the summer the population increases significantly (by more than 10,000) because of the many parks, camping areas and cottages. The 3,100 square kilometer region has 3,267 kilometers of county and township roads, 161 kilometers of provincial highways and 90 kilometers of provincial waterways.
On the face of it Wellington County and the United Counties are both mixed rural and urban communities with similar populations, households and lengths of provincial highways. The United Counties, however, are almost 500 square kilometers larger and have 500 more kilometers of County and Township roads. The latter two factors suggest a greater challenge for municipal policing (given the greater area to patrol) in the United Counties. Similarly, the 90 kilometers of waterways add some additional workload to the provincial policing mandate.
The approved integrated arrangement for Wellington County called for the deployment of 102 uniformed staff and 11 civilians. This does not take into account a number of contract guards and an auxiliary force. The total ratio of officers to citizens in this integrated arrangement is 1:622.
The proposed integrated arrangement for the United Counties calls for the deployment of 100.5 uniformed staff and 12.6 civilian staff. This excludes a number of contract guards and auxiliary officers. Leaving aside summer residents, the total proposed ratio of officers to citizens in the proposed integrated arrangement is 1:616.
On September 25, 1998 this Commission approved an integrated OPP policing arrangement for the Regional Municipality of Haldimand-Norfolk. That approval was for a total of 160 officers to police a mixed rural and urban community of
2,876 square kilometers with a total population of approximately 69,000. The total proposed ratio of officers to citizens in this integrated arrangement was
1:612.
Accordingly, it would appear that the total proposed uniformed complement for the United Counties corresponds with similar arrangements with other communities with common characteristics.
However, as noted earlier, the main focus of our examination is the obligation to provide adequate and effective municipal policing. As such it is necessary to closely consider the proposed municipal policing complement.
To this end, it is also useful to examine the recently approved OPP arrangement in Wellington County. Of the total 102 uniformed staff 84.2 were allocated to municipal policing. This represents a municipal police officer to citizen ratio of
1:754. The remaining 17.8 uniformed staff were approved for provincial duties. The Commission has also recently approved similar municipal policing ratios in a number of mixed rural and urban communities. These include Chatham-Kent at
1:738, Haldimand-Norfolk at 1:726, Oxford (Woodstock, Norwich, Tavistock, Blandford-Blenheim, East Zorra-Tavistock) at 1:766 and Leamington-Mersea at
1:743.
The proposed municipal policing arrangement in the United Counties calls for
75.41 municipal officers. Leaving aside the approximately 10,000 summer residents, the proposed ratio of citizens to dedicated municipal officers is 1:880.
To our mind this seems low. In particular, a proportional difference of more than
14 percent fewer dedicated municipal police officers in the United Counties as compared to Wellington is difficult to justify. This is more striking given the 500
extra square kilometers of territory, 500 extra kilometers of roads in the United Counties and the large number of summer residents that require municipal policing.
Certainly, the fact that the United Counties have 90 more kilometers of provincial waterways and a number of parks suggest a somewhat greater provincial policing responsibility. However, it is not obvious to us that this justifies the difference between 30.09 and 17.8 provincial officers. On the face of it the proposed provincial complement for the United Counties is high.
There is no doubt that municipal policing needs can be affected by a number of factors. The most obvious is the crime rate. The higher the crime rate or calls for service, the greater the need for police officers.
The data on calls for service and crime rates for the United Counties is less than complete. In any event, we are hard pressed to accept that the crime rate in the United Counties is sufficiently different from Wellington (with its large Mennonite population) to warrant almost 14 fewer municipal police officers.
In conclusion, we find the total proposed complement for the contract to be within the appropriate range, but the proposed municipal complement to be unacceptably low. At a minimum we believe that it should be increased to 80 uniformed officers. This can be accomplished by a reallocation from the proposed provincial complement, additional hiring or a combination of both.
The next issue is facilities. The proposed arrangement is excellent. Certainly, the citizens of the former Town of Alexandria will benefit from the new building. The new facility will provide a more modern and better-equipped work place for officers that is handicapped accessible. The facility in Alexandria will be assigned four marked patrol cars and one unmarked car instead. This is a definite improvement.
As well, the citizens of North Glengarry and the former Town of Alexandria will receive obvious advantages from the presence of a sizable detachment in their community. The proposal also seems to reflect an appropriate consideration for equipment.
In Town of Goderich (15 April, 1996, OCCPS, page 8) the Commission stated:
It is self evident that a proper communications and dispatch system is a key element of “adequate and effective” policing. Citizens of a community must be able to readily contact their local police force in cases of emergency. The police force must have an effective means to respond to such calls for service.
We have heard evidence about the Kanata Communications Centre. We are satisfied that it has the capacity to deal with the increased number of calls from the former Town of Alexandria. Certainly, there is obvious value in having all policing calls from the United Counties dealt with from one location.
Our meeting of May 19, 1999, was attended mainly by members of the two police services, municipal officials, and only one member from the general public. All present expressed support for the OPP contract policing proposal. The absence of the general public at the hearing gave the impression that the process followed and information given at previous meetings generally may have satisfied public concerns regarding policing issues.
There were two speakers who gave comments of special interest to the decision facing the Commission concerning the abolishment of the North Glengarry Police Service.
Chief Paul Deveau spoke of the many costing proposals Alexandria has had regarding policing over the past 30 years. Chief Deveau said in light of new Provincial Adequacy Standards, it is time to put the policing question to rest and bring in the OPP. He cited costs for implementation of adequacy standards making it impossible for most small forces to survive. “The question is not will the OPP give adequate and effective service, but will we be able to maintain adequate and effective police service if we do not go to the OPP?”
Bart Caron, Policing Services Advisor with the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services, spoke about a previous investigation of the Alexandria Police Service which highlighted 77 areas of concern. Mr. Caron stated that a significant number of these concerns were still outstanding. Overall, subject to the increased dedicated municipal complement, the OPP proposal should provide a solid foundation to address these concerns.
Accordingly, pursuant to section 40 of the Police Service Act we hereby consent to the abolition of the North Glengarry 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.
This consent is subject to two conditions. First, the proposed dedicated municipal policing complement for the United Counties must be increased within 60 days of this decision to a minimum of 80 uniformed officers.
Second, if the parties are unable to resolve their outstanding disagreements with respect to contracts, status, and severance within the same period then these
matters shall be referred to arbitration. Such arbitration shall commence no later than 90 days after the date of this decision.
At this time, we would like to acknowledge the North Glengarry Police Service, formerly the Alexandria Police Service, which for over 100 years has served the citizens of North Glengarry.
In conclusion, we would like to express our appreciation to all the presenters at the hearing for the professional manner in which the entire process was carried out.
DATED THIS 15TH DAY OF OCTOBER 1999.
Brenda Weese Sam Cancilla
Member, OCCPS Member, OCCPS