Community Safety and Well-Being

Incident response is where we spend the majority of our time responding to calls for service, investigating crime and supporting victims. Carrying-out our core policing functions to ensure the safety of our communities will always be the most important priority of the Service.

Officers, however, are being called upon increasingly to situations that are the result of mental health, addiction, homelessness and other complex social issues, whichcannot be resolved through a traditional police response. Through a CSWB lens, our goal is to identify and address the root causes of these calls for service and put people on a pathway to get the support they need.

Some key actions in this area of the framework:

• Identify CSWB issues throughout our continuum of incident response (e.g., calls for service, investigations, occurrence reports).
• Equip members with tools to provide information on community resources.
• Continue to seek opportunities to integrate community partners in how we respond to calls for service where there is a need for social supports, including mental health calls where police involvement is not required.

Risk intervention is about addressing situations where there is an elevated risk of victimization or harm i.e., stopping a situation from boiling over into a crisis. Our key goal in this area of the framework is to connect people to community supports and resources to address underlying issues prevent unnecessary calls to police. This results in better outcomes for the individuals and communities we serve and enables officers and investigators to focus more on the calls for service and incidents where they are needed the most. Partnerships with other frontline service providers (e.g., Situation Table) are critical to this area of the framework.

Some key actions in this area of the framework:

• Launch Divisional CSWB Hubs to address local safety and well-being issues in coordination with stakeholders.
• Follow-up on incidents where there is a need for social supports through the Divisional and Community Mobilization units to make connections to resources.
• Continue to leverage the Peel Situation Table to facilitate access to wraparound supports for individuals at an elevated risk of harm.

Prevention is about proactively identifying and addressing and reducing risks to safety and well-being well before they result in crime, victimization or other harms. This includes situational measures (e.g., working with local business owners to proactively prevent break and enters) and policies and programs to address broader community priorities and needs (e.g. developing strategies to address priorities like road safety and to ensure we respond effectively to issues that involve mental health). Leveraging data and sharing information with partners is particularly important in this area of the framework. Our goal is to proactively address community needs and reduce risks to safety and well-being of individuals and communities before i.e., to get ahead of the curve.

Some key actions in this area of the framework:

• Establish a road safety strategy to formalize and expand on a wide range of proactive approaches to keep our roads safe.
• Promote the use of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) assessments to reduce risk factors through modifications to places and spaces.
• Work with community partners and other stakeholders to enhance data and information sharing practices to identify emergent CSWB issues.
• Mobilize knowledge on key issues impacting the community.

Social Development is about moving further upstream through efforts that build resiliency and promote and maintain the safety and well-being of individuals and communities. This includes working with multi-sector partners to address community priorities from a wide range of perspectives. It is also about taking steps to ensure people are aware of the resources available to them and that support systems have the capacity to meet the needs of our residents and many diverse communities. Our goal is to work with our partners and our communities to actively contribute to efforts that maintain and enhance safety and well-being for all.

Some key actions in this area of the framework:

• Develop a strategy to strengthen how the Service engages with and supports positive outcomes among young people in Peel.
• Explore how we can work with our partners to best meet the needs of a wide range of priority populations by building and expanding upon integrated models of service delivery.
• Continue to work with Peel Region and community partners to achieve the goals and objectives of the Peel regional CSWB plan.