Our Work 2022

Innovative Technology Solutions to First Responders

Peel Regional Police are advancing 5G innovation and deploying new technologies that will keep our communities safe. The goal is to support mission critical communications, protect the well-being of communities and connect first responders quickly and efficiently with members of the public in emergency situations. These technologies will assist when connecting individuals in crisis with virtual mental health services and equipping first responders with improved multimedia tools and real-time data, enabling them to better assess emergency situations and provide urgent support.

Technological innovations will focus on three pillars: 

• Advancing Connection to First Responders will allow opportunities to leverage joint network assets and ensure first responders have access to the most effective tools, resources and critical communications.
• Enhancing Next-Generation 9-1-1 will explore new innovative ways to leverage emerging technology, co-create new public safety applications, increase efficiencies and improve the tools that public safety personnel rely on to support the public during times of crisis. The goal of this work will be to reduce wait times, divert a greater number of non-emergency calls and increase the level of supportive resources for frontline call takers and dispatchers.
• Mental Health Support for the Community will allow Peel Regional Police to leverage the best practices, technology, and support of services to help individuals in crisis and connect them quickly and efficiently with the mental health services they require. This innovation will also help support Peel Regional Police’s Community Safety and Well-Being Plan, of which mental health and addictions is a key priority area in the Region of Peel. 

Learn more about our Community-Centric Digital Transformation.

Introducing NEW On-Demand Remote Video Interpreter Tool

Peel Regional Police has rolled out another high demand app for our mobile devices. The Video Interpreter app provides a professional language interpreter for over 240 languages and dialects, including American Sign Language. The Interpreter app is accredited for courts and for privacy reasons, does not record calls. Officers can utilize the mobile support for rights to counsel, cautions and Drug Recognition Experts/Breath Demand Videos. 

The Launch of PremierOne (P1) CAD System

Peel Regional Police is committed to providing appropriate tools and technology to support innovation.  This includes making changes to one of the most critical pieces of our infrastructure, the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system.

In the fall of 2022, Peel Regional Police launched the new PremierOne (P1) CAD system as part of an overarching program that will integrate a number of technical solutions. Over the past 20 months, a CAD team comprised of subject-matter experts from Communications, frontline officers and Information Technology, have been working diligently to configure, test and launch the PremierOne CAD system. This new system provides the tools for our Communications Bureau and frontline officers to get their jobs done effectively and efficiently. PremierOne CAD contains many significant upgraded features, such as: intuitive command lines, pinch and zoom mobile maps, multiple work areas within the CAD system and an integrated driver’s license scanner.

PremierOne CAD is the foundational infrastructure that will allow us to build for the future. This includes integration with Next Generation 9-1-1, along with enhanced processes within the Real-Time Operations Centre to provide the support when needed, such as live data and video streams. The implementation of P1 CAD is one step on the journey to be the most progressive and innovative service.

Deployment of First Electric Vehicle

Peel Regional Police’s first-ever electric police vehicle was delivered just in time for Earth Day. This 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-SR all-wheel drive, is the first in a pilot project in which we will determine the requirements and feasibility of expanding electric vehicles throughout our fleet. 

This exciting new addition to the fleet is the next step after introducing the Ford Interceptor Hybrid Electric Vehicle in marked patrol use. Peel Police was one of the first police services in Canada to implement the use of fully marked hybrid vehicles for patrol in 2020 and is now the first police service in Ontario to introduce an electric police vehicle.

Peel Regional Police is committed to being the most progressive, innovative and inclusive police service in the country. Electric vehicles are a great way to lower greenhouse gas emissions as well as reduce air pollution in our community. An all-electric vehicle also offers significant fuel and maintenance cost savings. Peel Regional Police is excited for this next phase of policing in which we can assist our community by reducing our carbon footprint.

Prioritizing Human Rights and Systemic and Anti-Black Racism

The Human Rights Project is a comprehensive anti-racism effort undertaken by Peel Regional Police, which includes committing to a legally binding agreement with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) to implement dozens of specific changes to police policies, procedures, training and practices. With a renewed focus on human rights and police governance and responding to feedback from community groups and local residents, the Peel Police Services Board has announced changes to its board committees. The current Diversity and Inclusion Committee will be incorporated into the newly formed Governance and Human Rights Committee.

The committee's objective is to apply a human rights lens to policing governance to better address the challenges of Peel Region’s diverse community from a Community Safety and Well-Being perspective. As part of developing its mandate and approach, the committee will retain a third-party academic with expertise in human rights and governance to help redefine the committee’s mandate, review existing Board policies from a human rights perspective, and meaningfully engage with community members to translate lived experiences to Board governance, policy, and changes in strategic priorities.

This year, Peel Regional Police hosted Human Rights Project Engagement sessions with members of our organization. This member engagement process helped Peel Regional Police and OHRC identify needed changes and possible corrective actions that will become part of the organization’s legally binding commitment. As the work of the Governance and Human Rights Committee progresses, updates will be communicated to the public, community partners and the police service.

“For the last three years, the Peel Police Services Board has been addressing systemic racism in policing through a range of initiatives, including the Memorandum of Understanding with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, introducing body worn cameras, and the establishment of an anti-racism advisory committee. While this is not a new priority, the Governance and Human Rights Committee will bring a renewed level of accountability in overseeing these initiatives, advancing further efforts, and directly engaging with the community at the governance level.”

-Committee Chair Sumeeta Kohli

Learn more about our Human Rights Project.

New Anti-Racism Advisory Committee

Peel Regional Police, Peel Police Services Board and the Ontario Human Rights Commission are developing a comprehensive plan to identify and address systemic racism in policing.  An important part of this initiative is the formation of a diverse, independent Anti-Racism Advisory Committee (ARAC). The ARAC is comprised of 21 residents from Peel Region, with diverse backgrounds and understandings of our community. The committee will engage and work collaboratively to address a number of commitments undertaken by the service to identify systemic barriers. This includes providing advice and feedback on Peel Regional Police’s anti-racism practices and the impact of policing within diverse communities in the Region.

Since 2018, Peel Regional Police has recognized and has taken proactive steps to implement a human rights-centered approach across the organization. This includes mandatory training offered by subject-matter experts on the topics of unconscious bias awareness, racial profiling, and procedural justice as well as understanding the realities of racism from a historical context.

“We look forward to working with our ARAC representatives and continuing to make impactful changes together that will lead to better outcomes for everyone in Peel Region. The formation of an Anti-Racism Advisory Committee is a critical component in our collective commitment to human rights-centered work in dismantling systemic racism.”

-Chief Duraiappah

Learn more about our Anti-Racism Advisory Committee.

$17.5 Million from Funding Partnerships

1. Ministry of the Solicitor General 2. Canadian Mental Health Association 3. Chief Firearms Office for Ontario 4. Minister of Children, Community and Social Services / The Regional Municipality of Peel Police Service Board 5. Department of Justice 6. Other: Cannabis & SFST ($0.14M)(1), Technical Investigative Cooperative ($0.14M)(Halton Regional Police Service), Victim Support Grant ($0.10M)(1), Proceeds of Crime Law Enforcement ($0.09M)(1), Youth Engagement and Anti-Racism Initiative ($0.06M)(1), Building Local Internet Child Exploitation Unit Capacity in Ontario to Combat Child Sexual Exploitation Online ($0.04M)(Federal funding from the Ministry of the Solicitor General), CMHA ($0.03M)(2), HCEIT - Hate Crimes and Extremism Terrorism ($0.01M)(Waterloo Regional Police Service). Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Government Grants

We are pleased to announce that Peel Regional Police has received $22.9 million over three years through the Ontario Community Safety and Policing (CSP) Grant to support Community Safety and Well-Being (CSWB) priorities in collaboration with community partners.

The Community Safety and Policing Grant will:

• Enhance Peel Regional Police’s analytics capabilities to catalogue and analyze data pertaining to CSWB priorities, and to have a better response with initiatives and projects for the community’s needs.  
• Establish and pilot Complex Care Response Teams, which will pair officers with social workers to respond to non-violent intimate partner disputes, and provide help to women and their families who are at-risk of violence. This will be a first of its kind in Ontario. 
• Support the Divisional Mobilization Units, who have been impactful with proactive engagements, following-up on occurrences and connecting priority populations to services and the help they need. 

In addition, with the support of the federal government, the Minister announced $1.5 million over three years to support Peel Regional Police’s Guns and Gangs Strategy. This will support investigative work and seizures of illegal guns and illicit drugs, disrupt gang activity and help prevent human trafficking into and across Peel Region. It will also support work with community partners to develop proactive measures for at-risk youth and gang activity.

Peel Regional Police also received $200,000 through Ontario’s Victim Support Grant for two additional 24 hour counsellors at the Safe Centre of Peel to support survivors of intimate partner violence and human trafficking. The funding will also be used to develop and provide specialized human trafficking training to all frontline and operational Peel Regional Police officers, which will be another first of its kind. This will allow officers to better recognize the signs of human trafficking, get victims help and save lives.

New Indoor Range Boasts State-of-the-Art Design

Originally built in 2005, the existing indoor firing range at 180 Derry Road East was nearing its end-of-life cycle. Facilities Management, in close coordination with the Incident Response Training Unit managed renovations to prolong the use of the facility infrastructure, as well as include necessary upgrades in response to current training needs. 

New features of the renovated indoor range include: a redesign from a static range to a tactical range, increased safety measures, improved target systems and the installation of LED light bars. These new features will allow for a diverse range of training scenarios and heighten the overall training experience.

The indoor range renovation project also included the replacement of existing supply air and exhaust air units, and the redesign of the exhaust duct distribution system. This ensured all systems met the Ontario Chief Firearms Office (CFO) guidelines for indoor range designs. With CFO officially signing-off on the project, substantial performance was achieved. 

This new indoor firing range is a state-of-the-art design that will dramatically enhance shooter training and safety, while minimizing environmental hazards and improve sustainability and stewardship.

Paramedics and Police Working Together

Peel Regional Police and Peel Regional Paramedic Services have had a long-standing working relationship engaging on emergency calls together. Recently this relationship has expanded to incorporate Peel Regional Police training components for new Peel Paramedic recruits who are preparing to be deployed to the road. Officers from Regional Community Mobilization, Intimate Partner Violence and Special Victims Unit are the specialized units facilitating the training. 

The Regional Community Mobilization officers provide education on mental health and elder abuse calls. The recruit paramedics are given information on how to deal with people they may come across, and how to engage Peel Regional Police when reporting or referring incidents of concern. This includes an overview of Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Team (MCRRT), Crisis Outreach and Support Teams (COAST) and the recently deployed Clinician Crisis Rapid Response Team (CCRRT), who are deployed by our Communications Bureau. The Intimate Partner Violence officers communicate the importance of notifying police if they go to a medical assist and believe it is a choking, strangulation or domestic assault incident. The Special Victims Unit officers provide education related to sex assault investigations, child sex offences and the importance of scene preservation. They detailed the process for Chantel’s Place and what signs to look for when dealing with a sex assault victim.

This successful collaboration is an example of the continued support and partnership between Peel Regional Police and Peel Regional Paramedics within the Region of Peel.

3.1 Collaboration, Partnerships and Shared Services

Co-lead the Community Safety and Well-Being System Leadership Table to improve collaboration and information sharing with community partners, and create opportunities for additional partnerships and shared services agreements.

3.1.1
Peel Regional Police Chief continues his position as the co-chair of the Community Safety and Well-Being (CSWB) System Leadership Table with the Commissioner of Health Services from the Region of Peel. The CSWB Plan was approved by Peel Regional Council in October 2020. The System Leadership Table continues to meet approximately three times per year to provide overarching governance of the Peel CSWB Plan. 

3.1.2
Peel Regional Police currently has over 110 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) to outline roles and responsibilities with partnering agencies. Some partners include Safe City Mississauga, Sheridan College, University of Guelph-Humber and the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

3.1.3
Shared services and technologies projects exist, including:

• Peel Regional Police Deputy Chief continues to be the Managing Director of the Public Safety Broadband Network Innovation Alliance, a group that provides Canadian Public Safety Wireless Broadband Services governance, international coordination, and Strategy for Emergency Communications.
• The Ministry of the Solicitor General has demonstrated interest in the Peel-Halton collaboration of a public safety network. Peel Regional Police has operationalized the Public Safety Broadband Network in Peel Region, with VCOM and are running approximately 80% traffic over the network with future cost savings expected in 2023. 
• Lead the province with the implementation of the Provincial Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) resulting in re-imbursement from the province.   
• Collaborated with the Region of Peel for procurement of Enterprise Resource Planning, including Human Resource Management and Financial Management functions. Peel Regional Police has dedicated staff from Finance and Human Resources working directly on this project lead by the Region and is engaging internal staff as required. 
• Continued to collaborate with the Region of Peel for implementation of the Enterprise Asset Management to meet the requirements of O. Reg. 588/17: Asset Management Planning for Municipal Infrastructure. 
• Provincial collaboration with the Ministry of the Solicitor General to deploy 400 Highway Series closed-circuit television cameras has been completed and the cameras have been installed. Technical capabilities are currently being tested and resolved.   

3.1.4
Completed 13 Joint Force Operations to help combat criminal operations.

3.2 Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity In Our Workplace and Our Community

Develop and implement initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplace and in the community.

3.2.1
A Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Speaker Series was created with DEI Lunch and Learns and culturally responsive events held. Engagement and education pieces, directive updates and development occurred with the overall improvement of Peel Regional Police’s DEI lens both internally and externally. DEI, in partnership with Community Safety and Well-Being (CSWB) is a part of the Public Safety Canada Grant for a train-the-trainer project, Building Organizational and Community Capacity for Countering Hate and Violent Extremism.

3.2.2
Implementation of action items outlined in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy continued throughout 2022:

• Launch of an additional Internal Support Network (bringing the total to seven).
• Taking steps to continue to provide a culturally responsive approach to priority populations including partnerships with Punjabi Community Health Services and Roots Community Services to address mental health and addiction.
• Hosted a Diversity Summit.

The Race Against Racism Campaign was relaunched to support diversity scholarships for five Region of Peel youth and the Faces of Peel Campaign continued to be implemented to boost recruitment of under-represented groups.

3.2.3
A Race and Identity-Based Data Strategy was developed to determine best practices to collect, analyze and share data to continue building trust and transparency with the communities we serve. In addition, an Indigenous awareness training program was co-created with Indigenous elders; and the OHRC’s “Call it Out – racism, racial discrimination and human rights” online program continues to be offered to members.

3.2.4
Continued to integrate a human rights lens and focus into all recruit level training, incident response training and Leadership in Police Organization training. All current employees are required to have completed Fair and Impartial Policing Training. All training will continue to focus on bias-free strategies, and implicit bias awareness is being weaved through all aspects of our training.

3.3 Fiscal Responsibility and Sustainability

Conduct business practices ensuring fiscal responsibility and sustainability for effective service delivery.

3.3.1
Renewed long-standing funding partnerships with all levels of government resulting in Peel Regional Police receiving $17.5 million in funding to support community safety.

3.3.2
The 2023 Budget was approved by the Peel Police Services Board and Peel Regional Council and includes approval for hiring an additional 70 officers and 50 civilians in 2023.

3.3.3
The 2023 Ten-Year Capital Plan was developed and approved by the Peel Police Services Board in November 2022.

3.4 Public Trust and Confidence Through Accountability and Transparency

Implement accountability and transparency initiatives to foster public trust and confidence. 

3.4.1
As of December 31, 2022 there were 339 directives to ensure compliance with the Ontario Policing Standards and applicable legislation. Directives are reviewed on a regular basis.

3.4.2
The most recent 2020 Residential and Business Community Survey to measure community attitudes, trust and confidence indicated most residents (74 per cent) and business owners/managers (77 per cent) feel that Peel Regional Police is doing a good or excellent job. Eight in 10 residents, and close to seven in 10 business owners/managers are satisfied or very satisfied with their personal safety from crime. A survey will be conducted in 2023 as part of the next strategic planning cycle.

3.4.3
Conducted focus groups and prepared draft application for Order of Excellence level certification for the Organizational Excellence Standard. This standard focuses on leadership, planning, customers, people, process and partners, ensuring a continual improvement approach throughout the organization. During this process, identified opportunities for organizational improvements. Work continues to prepare Peel Regional Police to apply for Silver Level certification in the Healthy Workplace Standard.

3.4.4
The Corporate Strategy Bureau is continuing to lead a Data Governance Committee responsible for the development of an open data policy. Full sets of records data have been published to our external mapping portal and the Crime Occurrence Mapping Portal has been revamped, expanding the major crime categories available, providing data for the last 12 months, adding new search options and additional map layers. Basic crime statistics are now also available: www.PeelPolice.ca/CrimeMap

3.4.5
Created policies and procedures governing the use of Body-Worn Cameras (BWC) with input from community consultations. Rolled out 2,200 frontline BWC’s. Live-stream into the Real Time Operating Centre (RTOC) is operational and several demonstrations of capabilities have been conducted.

3.4.6
Published eight Police Services Act decisions on our external website.

3.4.7
The Police Service Board receives quarterly reports on Public Complaints. In 2022, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) received 97 public complaints about Peel Regional Police and concluded 103 reviews.

3.5 Service Excellence Through Innovation, Technology and Risk Mitigation

Identify and implement innovative processes, combining technology and risk mitigation to ensure service excellence to the community and within the organization.

3.5.1
Mitigated risk by completing and reporting eight operational audits to the Chief Management Group (CMG). 

3.5.2
An Innovation and Technology Strategy was created for implementing and supporting technology, which included:

• Advancing technical capabilities of the Real Time Operating Centre (RTOC), with various stakeholder’s camera feeds accessible, additional closed circuit cameras will be granted access in 2023. The RTOC is expected to be fully staffed and operating 24/7 by the end of 2023.
• Design for a new centre and co-location with an Emergency Operations Centre at the Operations Support Facility are underway.
• Completed and launched the new Communications Backup Centre which marks improvements from a space, technology and process standard. 
• Implemented the auto attendant switchboard. Automation has been successful resulting in financial savings and reduced call volume into the Communications Centre.
• Continued to embrace technologies to enable remote court testimony and document submission. 

3.5.3
Continued to implement initiatives based on the Service Delivery Review. These initiatives included a Record Services process and staffing review, Communications studies and Information Technology Morale Committees.

3.6 Sustainable Environmental Practices

Identify and engage in sustainable environmental practices.

3.6.1
Undertook a vehicle idling study which led to an Anti-Idling Campaign to reduce unnecessary vehicle idling. Increased our electric vehicles from one in 2021 to five in 2022 and our hybrid vehicles from 61 in 2021 to 83 in 2022.  

3.6.2
Completed an Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Study to determine the feasibility and estimated costs to transition to electric vehicles over the next ten-year period.