City to help collect public opinion about policing
Article content
The city will collect information from the public to help the Brantford Police Services Board set its objectives and priorities.
At a meeting on Tuesday, city councillors approved a resolution calling for city CAO Brian Hutchings to gather public opinion about policing by holding two “engagement sessions” with city leaders and stakeholder groups; by conducting two public town hall gatherings at city hall; and by using Let’s Talk Brantford, the city’s online public engagement tool, to offer a survey, forum and a way for the public to share ideas.
“This is an opportunity for the board to inform itself of what the community priorities are with respect to policing,“ Coun. Dan McCreary, who is a member of the police services board, said on Tuesday. “Every one of us in this room hears on a daily basis the desires of our community both in respect to the positive things that are being done by police, as well as the things they consider to be deficits with respect to how we police our community.”
“This is an opportunity for the public to tell us what they think.”
McCreary encouraged Brantford residents to “come talk to us, to comment online, and to email us to clearly establish what the policing priorities can and should be.”
Police services boards, made up of two municipal council members, a community member and two provincial appointees, oversee the provision of policing in a community. Internal operational policies are governed by the police chief and senior administrators and can’t be reviewed by the board.
In February, McCreary who had recently become a member of the police services board, also received support for a resolution calling for the board to conduct a review of its policies.
At the time, McCreary said the police service has “experienced significant changes, which, in turn, has created significant challenges for the police force management, sworn and civilian employees and volunteers.”
The policy review is being conducted by a subcommittee that includes McCreary and fellow police board members Mark Littell and Tammy Bonner. A final report is to be presented to the board no later than June 30.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.