PEC OPP proud of ‘zero’ statistics, fewer incidents, more foot patrols

Staff Sgt. John Hatch, Prince Edward OPP Detachment Commander, addressed council with an update at Tuesday evening’s meeting and was proud of several “zero” statistics.

He told council that from January to November there were 10,511 calls for service, 2,208 traffic stops, 652 foot patrols – and “zero public complaints” about officers.

Staff Sgt. John Hatch, Prince Edward OPP Detachment Commander

“In 2017, when polled, over 75 per cent of PEC residents wanted a return to community policing,” said Hatch announcing the 652 foot patrols so far this year, compared to 280 in 2020 and 105 in 2016.

More good news included zero fatal collisions in the County this year. There were also zero last year. His report stated an average of two per year from 2014 to 2022.

However, There were 86 impaired driving incidents so far this year, a figure he is not happy with, but one that he believes comes because officers are doing more patrols, and RIDE programs. He stated some may be surprised to learn 70 per cent of the impaired drivers taken off the road are from Prince Edward County, most are male (80 per cent) and the majority are within the ages of 20 to 45.

The average number of personal injury collisions was also down, with 22 so far in 2024, 36 in 2023 and an average of 44 per year in the years 2014 to 2022.

There were also zero opioid overdose incidents this year in the County. Last year there were 17.

“We’ve had zero this year and a couple of weeks ago, in Belleville, they had eight in one day. So we are very lucky, and I thank our street crime unit for that.”

Hatch explained four main policing challenges in PEC – domestic violence, Mental Health Act incidents, fraud and impaired driving.

Domestic violence incidents numbered at 227 so far. While stating even one incident is too many, Hatch spoke to excellent partnerships with Alternatives for Women, and Victim Services, as well as an increase in victim services referrals and to the implementation of the new Detachment Abuse Issues Investigator, Aaron Miller.

Similarly, he spoke to 160 Mental Health Act incidents, that are meeting successes being addressed through partnerships with the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Family Health Team, and HPE Public Health, as well as the implementation of the Integrated Mobile Police and Co-Response Team (IMPACT).

Fraud related incidents numbered at 178.

“Last year our citizens lost over $800,000 to these frauds and scams – most of these were online. some of these were Bitcoin. Most of them are Facebook and others were like the Grandparent Scam.

“In order to prevent these from happening further in the future, we need to educate our community and so we partnered with Community Care for Seniors, the local banks, the BIAs and 99.3 County FM Radio to do presentations, to get the word out, to educate the public to reduce the victimization in our community.”

Sharing statistics from the Quinte Region Drowning Prevention Coalition, Hatch noted that over the last four years there were three drowning incidents. In 2020, there were four.

“Again we worked to get awareness out and the result after four drowning incidents in 2020, we had three in the last four years. Sadly, one of the was this year. I compliment you Mayor Ferguson and council for honouring (James Badgley) tonight for his bravery this summer”  saving his nephew’s life at Point Petre, though he lost his own in the effort. A large contingent of family was present for the presentation of a civic recognition certificate.

“Back in 2017 when I became detachment commander, I would report monthly to the Police Services Board and back then, I only talked about four things: violent crime, property crime, drug crime and motor vehicle collisions. Fairly straight forward. Now, in 2024, across the province they’ve implemented what’s called the Community Safety and Policing Act… and added categories including Mental Health Act incidents, youth charges, overdose incidents, clearance rates, victim services referrals and public complaints.

“And I think the idea with these new reports is to give the members of the board a better idea as to the challenges that are going on in the community… a perfect time to talk about our Prince Edward County Community Safety and Well Being Plan.

The plan focuses on housing and homelessness, seniors support, poverty reduction, mental health and problematic substance abuse, domestic violence and intimate partner violence.

“Selfishly what we want is to reduce the calls for service in each one of these categories to free up the officers’ time. Instead of being reactive, we can be proactive and can do more RIDE programs, foot patrols and traffic stops.

“Prince Edward County was the sixth community out of 300 in the province to implement a community safety and well-being plan. Across the province, our plan is known as the gold standard. … and is still going strong… agencies working together to address these problems.”