Ottawa police launching new 4-district policing model

File photo of Ottawa police officers and vehicles. (CTV News Ottawa)

The Ottawa Police Service says the pilot project of its new district policing model will begin next week.

Superintendent Kevin Maloney told a technical briefing for Ottawa city councillors that the first phase of the pilot project will begin Monday, May 6.

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Police say the primary focus of the district deployment model is to "serve each community better and work with City Councillors and their community partners to resolve issues identified in their wards."

The plan adds a fourth "south" police district alongside the existing central, east and west districts, and assigns individual inspectors to the four areas, who will serve as a point of contact. Each district will have between five and seven city wards.

• West: Wards 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 23
• East: Wards 1, 2, 10, 11, 18, and 19
• Central: Wards 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17
• South: Wards 3, 20, 21, 22, and 24

"What this means is a reorganization of the neighbourhood policing directorate," said Maloney. "Sectioning the city into four districts, providing a smaller area where we would be able to take ownership of that and work with the ward councillors to address specific issues in there."

Police Chief Eric Stubbs gave an example of targeted traffic resources.

 "The limited traffic resources we have, we want to direct them on those areas and those topics that we're hearing from the community, from the councillors, that need to be targeted," he said.

The presentation outlined a four-point strategy:

• Access: Consistent channels and access to OPS officers
• Account: Improved accountability and transparency
• Affect: Communities partnering with the OPS
• Act: Historically address public safety concerns

Maloney said the new district inspectors would focus on the access and affect aspects of the plan, giving councillors and community groups more access to police.

"District priorities will be identified and the district inspectors will coordinate responses in consultation with their chain of command," the presentation says.

Earlier this month, police outlined a plan to focus on "problematic individuals" and "hot spots" when specifically speaking about the ByWard Market and Rideau Street. The plan includes a "neighbourhood operational centre" in the Rideau Centre that is slated to be open later in May.

The project in the ByWard Market area could be applied to other parts of the city, Maloney said Tuesday.

Stubbs stressed that the project launching Monday is only a pilot and that the final project could change based on what is learned. A timeline provided during the technical briefing shows five parts, stretching from May 6, 2024 into January of 2026.