When Sidney-North Saanich RCMP officer Erin Fraser researched police around the world and how to better connect with citizens, she found old-fashioned face-to- face contact was the way to go.
Now the detachment is planning to host its first town-hall session next month, putting detachment commander Staff Sgt. Anna Marie Mallard front and centre.
“We’ve never done it before,” Fraser said. “We’re trying to get more input from the community on what we do. We don’t feel as though there’s any real discussion between the police and the community on issues.
“This is just another idea our detachment had to try and connect with the community.”
It’s a novel approach in an age when some larger RCMP detachments, municipal departments and corporations are increasingly turning to social media to engage with the public, or putting more distance between the person at the top and the public.
“We understand we don’t have all the answers,” Fraser said. “The community residents — they are our clients and in order to provide a service, how are we going to do that effectively without speaking to the people we police?
“And as far as putting our detachment commander in the spotlight, I think it’s important. The point is to improve our service delivery and make people happier.”
The groundwork began last year. An advisory body called the community consultative committee was formed, and policy documents and organizational structures were created. As in past years, the RCMP detachment is now putting together its annual strategic plan.
“We’re now at the point that we want to start doing something,” Fraser said.
The detachment does not have a police union or police board, unlike municipal police departments in Victoria and Saanich.
As Fraser spoke with the committee members, she came to realize many questions stemmed from a lack of education about what the detachment does.
Sidney-North Saanich RCMP handles about 7,000 calls each year. Last year, the detachment dealt with fewer than 10 formal complaints.
Safer driving is one focus of the detachment’s strategic plan.
It wants to better target impaired driving and aggressive driving.
“On the highway, we remove an inordinate number of people who are driving excessively over the speed limit, 40 kilometres an hour or more,” Fraser said.
In addition to the Integrated Road Safety Unit, which patrols the highway, Sidney-North Saanich RCMP has its own two-officer municipal traffic section.
With a high percentage of senior citizens living in the area, the detachment also deals with a lot of fraud and scam cases, Fraser said.
Building better relationships with the four First Nations reserves, which have their own policing problems and needs, is also a priority, Fraser said. There is a dedicated two-officer First Nations unit at the detachment.
The detachment wants to share its performance plan with residents to gather feedback before it completes the plan by April.
The town hall will be held at Mary Winspear Centre on March 8 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
In addition to the detachment’s commander, the forum will include the management team, including operations Sgt. Wayne Conley, community policing and school liaison Const. George Phipps and consultative committee chairman Clarence Bolt.
In coming months, a website will be launched to encourage dialogue between residents and committee members liaising with police.
