Chief of Police
Armand P. La Barge
York Regional Police
17250 Yonge Street, Newmarket, Ontario, Canada L3Y 4W5
1866-8POLICE TTY 1-800-668-0398 Fax 905-853-5810 www.yrp.ca


THE REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY OF YORK
POLICE SERVICES BOARD

REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE

23 JANUARY 2008

__________________________________________

Re: Quality Assurance Process

__________________________________________


RECOMMENDATION:
  1. That the Board receive this report pursuant to the draft Quality Assurance Process Board Policy 01/08.
SYNOPSIS:

A new Board Policy 01/08, titled Quality Assurance Process, was recently developed after consultation with the Office of the Chief of Police, Chairman Danny Wheeler and the Board's Executive Director, Connie Phillipson. This policy outlines a requirement for an annual schedule of audits to be presented to the Board at the January meeting.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:

No financial implications.

BACKGROUND:

Section 35 of the Adequacy and Effectiveness of Police Services Regulation 3/99 made under the Police Services Act requires that every Board and Chief of Police implement a quality assurance process relating to the delivery of adequate and effective police services and compliance with the Act and its regulations.

Recent consultation with the Board was undertaken and a board policy titled Quality Assurance Process was drafted. This policy requires that an annual schedule of audits of adequacy standards be reported to the Board at the January meeting. This report will identify specific adequacy standards that will be audited during the year, by the York Regional Police Quality Assurance Bureau, along with the rationale for these audits. A review of these audits will be presented to the Board at the end of each year.

It has been determined that an audit of the following adequacy standards will be conducted by the Quality Assurance Bureau during 2008:
  • Business Planning Procedure AI-001
  • Prisoner Care and Control Procedure LE-016
  • Traffic Management, Enforcement and Road Safety Procedure LE-017
  • Use of Force Procedure AI-012
  • Property Management and Evidence Control Procedure LE-020
  • Waterways Policing Procedure LE-035
The first four adequacy standards will be audited in preparation of the upcoming cycle in the Police Services Inspection Program undertaken by the Police Quality Assurance Unit of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. Our Quality Assurance Bureau has recently initiated the audit process for these four adequacy standards.

An audit of the Property Management and Evidence Control Adequacy Standard is undertaken on an annual basis as required by the Police Services Act, Board Policy and York Regional Police procedures.

After consultation with the Quality Assurance Bureau, it has been determined that the Waterways Policing Adequacy Standard will also be audited. Our service is responsible for policing in excess of 744 square kilometers of waterways that include Lake Simcoe and smaller kettle lakes throughout the Region. Our Marine Unit is based in the Georgina area and includes a year round response utilizing four vessels, ATVs, snowmobiles and an airboat that assist with patrolling during the winter months. The Marine Unit partners with 7 emergency response related agencies and during 2007, they attended 396 calls for service. In light of the increased use of these waterways and our calls for service, it was determined that Waterways Policing would be a very appropriate adequacy standard to audit during 2008.

Respectfully submitted,

Armand P. La Barge,
Chief of Police.