Our People

In 2022, our Safeguarding Program was replaced by the new Wellness Check-In Program. This program supports the mental health and well-being of our members by focusing on those assigned to ‘at risk’ bureaux as well as all frontline officers. Members are required to speak with one of the three participating psychologists who are governed by the Ontario College of Psychologists. With the roll out of this new program, members are now able to discuss the matters which are important to them without the use of psychological tests and profiles. This gives members more freedom to address anything they feel will support their mental health and well-being in a confidential setting.

It was identified that the Wellness Check-In Program can have a great impact on an officer’s well-being, especially in their first five years of duty. As a result, resources were made available to ensure frontline officers were integrated into the program.

In 2022, Human Resources expanded their Respectful Workplace training program by adding an in-house designed interactive eLearning course called Expect Respect. The course included a number of videos featuring employees and leaders at all levels in addition to Chief Duraiappah, the Human Resources Employee Relations team, and representatives of the Peel Regional Police Association to demonstrate our commitment to work together to ensure everyone knows that they are physically and psychologically safe in the workplace and can ‘expect respect’ when they come to work each day. In addition to completing the Expect Respect course, all supervisors and members of senior management also attended a two-part discussion-based Harassment Prevention for Supervisors course facilitated by external experts. The addition of these two new courses to our existing Respectful Workplace training curriculum puts more emphasis on the importance of addressing disrespectful workplace behaviour, deepens employees’ understanding of sexual and gender-based harassment, and provides employees with bystander intervention strategies.

The goal of the Respectful Workplace Program is to ensure that organizational leaders and members adopt and model an inclusive and equitable work environment. Employees are provided with training and expert guidance so they can feel empowered to foster a respectful workplace. Internal and external supports include:

• Multiple ways to report workplace discrimination and/or harassment.
• Optional training material available beyond the mandatory training.
• Resources for supervisors to help those dealing with common sources of conflict.
• Tools to restore the work environment following an investigation.

Peel Regional Police has an organizational commitment to providing the most effective and respectful service to our community. Proactive steps have been taken to implement a human rights-centered approach across the organization that includes mandatory training for all members. The training was developed collaboratively with leading subject matter experts to include: unconscious bias awareness, racial profiling, procedural justice and interacting with children under 12 years of age. Training programs currently in development include: trauma informed approach and implicit bias, understanding the realities of racism (from a historical context) as well as an Indigenous awareness program.

Additionally, and as a part of our organizational Human Rights Project, Peel Regional Police is working to enhance our Race and Identity Based Data (RIBD) Strategy to establish evidence-based processes for collecting and sharing race and identity-based data. The synergy of these training pieces, coupled with our RIBD Strategy, gives our officers a holistic view of biases in policing, and the awareness, recognition and strategies to respond and engage more effectively with our community members.

Learn more about our Human Rights Project.

In an effort to continuously improve employee experiences and to ensure the voices of all members are heard, an Employee Engagement Survey was sent out service-wide in 2022. This survey was one step in the strategy for Peel Regional Police to improve the employee experience in the organization. The feedback that was provided was important to determine where we need to focus to make meaningful and effective change.

Anonymity was an important consideration for the participants to feel that they could provide honest feedback. The feedback from this survey guides better decision making to improve everyone’s work experience. A number of insights and themes emerged through the open-ended responses:

• Loyalty: 80 per cent of respondents indicated they are likely to remain with the organization in a year’s time, and 80 per cent indicate they’re likely to continue working at Peel Regional Police in five years.
• Trust and Safety along with Career Growth were noted as areas, that if improved, could have the greatest impact on overall engagement.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Direct Manager: The overall DEI score and Direct Manager score suggest members feel included and supported by their teams and direct Supervisors. 
• Action and Change: Results identified room for improvement with respect to change readiness, support of Senior Leadership and taking action on feedback. Concern was also raised about the promotion and transfer process.
• Important Competencies for Leaders identified by the membership include:
  • Strong communication and decision making via strong emotional intelligence
  • Empathy and ability to cultivate trust
  • Open to new perspectives and feedback
  • Knowledgeable

The results of the survey have been shared with the entire organization. The Chief’s Management Group and Senior Leadership Team will lead the development of action plans to address identified areas for improvement and these action plans will be communicated to the organization.

Peel Regional Police’s Women in Leadership Committee, in partnership with Corporate Learning and Development, hosted the 2022 Women’s Leadership Symposium as part of the internal Leadership Development Program to support women.

This event took place in the spring of 2022 and was comprised of both civilian and sworn members, who are formal and informal leaders in the service, to ‘Inspire, Empower and Lead’. The event focused on building the foundation for a coaching culture where everyone is treated with equal care and respect.

Over 90 per cent of attendees indicated the symposium was a success, noting the speakers were entertaining, engaging, inspiring, motivating and empowering. This was the second Women in Leadership Symposium and was followed by the launch of a Women in Leadership Program.

Internal Support Networks (ISNs) continue to exist and expand for members to join. These networks support the unique needs of members relating to personally identified characteristics. These networks provide inclusivity and promote diversity so that members feel heard and valued while having a community space that can positively impact all of those within the service. The following seven ISNs were active in 2022; Asia, Black, Christian, Military, Pride, South Asian Collective and Women’s. The following are some of the ISN highlights from this year:

• South Asian Collective ISN officially launched in March with a mandate to provide our South Asian membership with a community space to positively impact, develop and mentor all those within our organization as well as to build bridges between our community, our people and our work. 
• Military ISN had its official in-person launch in May with a mission to support current and former military members and their families through advocacy, engagement and networking. It is inclusive of members that have served in other Foreign Militaries and those currently on the International Peace Operations eligible to deploy to an International Mission. In November, the Military ISN introduced CADPAT® (Canada Disruptive Patterns) epaulettes for wear for the month to coincide with Remembrance Day.
• Christian ISN launched in October and looks forward to encouraging and serving Peel Regional Police members who request spiritual support and want to grow within their Christian faith.

In response to feedback from the Culture Survey, the Employee Satisfaction Survey, our internal Coffee with the Chief Initiative, the Every Voice Counts Initiative, an internal stakeholder working group, and other formal and informal feedback channels, Corporate Development started to make changes to the promotional process for the ranks of Sergeant/Detective and Staff Sergeant/Detective Sergeant.

The changes were approved by the Chief’s Management Group to create a fairer, more balanced and equitable process to reduce the demands on applicants and promote a better work-life balance. The changes include adjustments in the promotional process so that officer skills are promoted as opposed to a previous heavy focus on a point system. This provides more alignment with organizational goals, equality in the value of work experience and more credit for the number of hours accumulated during volunteer activities. These are the first in a series of future incremental changes led by membership feedback and input.

Chief Duraiappah was appointed the President of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) for a one year period. The OACP is a not-for-profit association established in 1951 to be the voice of Ontario's police leaders, serving federal, provincial, municipal and Indigenous police services across the province, as well as affiliated organizations in the public and private sectors.

Since Chief Duraiappah joined Peel Regional Police he has led the organization as it entered into an agreement with the Ontario Human Rights Commission to address systematic racism, transformed the way the organization handles mental health response by partnering with non-police health and social workers, established a dedicated Intimate Partner Violence Unit and helped build a road map for innovation and technological improvement to better equip officers to serve their community. His leadership and contributions will help other OACP member services to prioritize the safety and well-being of sworn and civilian police professionals and community members.

“As we look to the future, there is an opportunity to make seismic shifts in incident response and how police services in our province can better serve their communities. By establishing multi-sectoral partnerships to find upstream solutions, together with our communities, we can better address systemic and societal issues rather than continuing to apply traditional police and justice system response."

-Chief Duraiappah

Learn more about Chief Nishan Duraiappah.

After a thorough and competitive internal process, Peel Regional Police member Mark Dapat was appointed as the newest Deputy Chief of Police. After beginning his career with Peel Regional Police in 1997, he has held positions throughout the service, including Uniform Patrol, Special Enforcement Bureau, Intelligence Services, Internal Affairs and Criminal Investigation Bureau. He is a certified Critical Incident Commander, and was a Crisis Negotiator Team leader before joining Community Safety and Well-Being Services. Deputy Dapat led the Peel Regional Police Community Safety and Well-Being Strategy which established a foundation for action as a critical step in the commitment to operate as a progressive, innovative and inclusive public safety organization. Deputy Dapat participates on several advisory tables and committees that relate to mental health and addiction programming, as well as represents Peel Regional Police on several Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police committees including the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Community Safety and Crime Prevention Committee.

“I am pleased to welcome Mark Dapat as Deputy Chief of Police at Peel Regional Police. He has worked in a variety of policing roles and is recognized as a leader provincially in areas of community safety and well-being. Deputy Dapat is a strong police leader with the experience to integrate well with members of the Service, Peel’s dynamic communities and our Police Services Board”.

-Chief Duraiappah

Learn more about Deputy Chief Mark Dapat.