Eric Stubbs reflects after one year as Ottawa's police chief

Eric Stubbs has been Ottawa's police chief for a little over a year, taking over during a low point for the Ottawa Police Service following its handling of the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest.

"There's lots for me to learn and to understand in the community and the service, but it's coming," he said in a year-end interview with CTV News Ottawa.

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Stubbs says his officers are stretched thin, and that bothers him.

"That's where I really am frustrated," he said. "We don't have time in a shift; we don't have time to meet with people, for a police officer to meet at a playground and play basketball with some kids, or to target a prolific offender who is stealing, who is dealing drugs, or for traffic enforcement."

Some of that, he hopes, will be addressed with a $13.4-million increase in the police budget in 2024.

"We have set out a fairly aggressive staffing stabilization plan, and that's the word I'm using," he said. "We need that stability so that the teams can do the job properly and our teams can do proactive work."

Stubbs says he's getting to know the city.

"Richmond is different than Vanier, it's different than Orleans, it's different than Greely. So, we have to adapt our deliver to those communities," said Stubbs.

A major change is coming to Ottawa's south end, with a new police station being built—the service's fourth in the region—and a new operations centre is opening next year in the troubled ByWard Market.

"Do we really need a neighbourhood operations centre in downtown?" Stubbs asked. "We do. We need a location there for a hub for police and community partners to work from."

One year in, and he, like so many others, is rooting for a real Ottawa winter.

"That canal better freeze up this year," he said. "I didn't like that it didn't get going last year. It's gotta get frozen this year."