Ottawa police to use special constables for traffic control, mental health calls
Ottawa police are looking to use special constables to cover traffic control duties normally performed by sworn officers, including traffic directions and road closures, and to assist with maintaining custody of detainees in hospital to free up resources for officers.
- Sign up now for our nightly CTV News Ottawa newsletter
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
In a report for Monday’s Ottawa Police Services Board meeting, police are seeking approval for a special constable pilot project, which would employ four OPS special constables and four more serving as backfill, if required.
The special constables will have extended powers under two jurisdictions normally served only by sworn officers. This includes new powers granted under the Mental Health Act and the Highway Traffic Act to assist officers.
Police say the outsourcing of duties to special constables will allow emergency response officers to respond to other emergency calls.
The constables will be granted extended powers to assist sworn officers with traffic direction and road closures.
This will include closures at accident scenes, crime scenes, events, demonstrations and any other incident that may require traffic control. They will have the power to assist officers with the towing or removal of vehicles from roadways.
Police say the officers will receive the same training given to sworn officers on traffic direction.
The constables will also be given powers under the Mental Health Act to assist with maintaining the custody of persons at hospitals. Currently, two sworn officers are required to maintain custody of a detainee at hospital.
"This is an area that is causing a strain on frontline resources while officers maintain custody of detainees at hospitals," the report said. "A special constable will relieve the secondary officer so they can return to patrol duties and respond to other emergencies."
If approved, a special constable would be able to detain a person who is being violent, a threat to themselves or scaring others around them and is possibly suffering from a mental disorder. Police say all special constables will receive de-escalation training and annual use of force training.
The program will run for a period of six months and if successful, the force will ask the board for the powers to be granted to all uniformed special constables.
The plan for the project will appear before the Ottawa Police Services Board meeting for approval on Monday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Canada's jobless rate jumps to near 8-year high of 6.8% in November
Canada's unemployment rate rose more than expected to 6.8 per cent in November, a near-eight-year high excluding the pandemic years, even as the economy added a net 50,500 jobs, data showed on Friday, likely boosting chances of a large interest rate cut next week.
3 climbers from the U.S. and Canada are believed to have died in a fall on New Zealand's highest peak
Three mountain climbers — two from the U.S. and one from Canada — missing for five days on Aoraki, New Zealand's tallest peak, are believed to have died in a fall, the authorities said Friday.
Purolator, UPS pause shipments from couriers amid Canada Post strike
Purolator and UPS have paused shipments from some courier companies as they try to work through a deluge of deliveries brought on by the Canada Post strike.
DEVELOPING Police scour New York for suspect two days after UnitedHealth executive gunned down
Armed with a growing file of clues, New York police on Friday were scouring surveillance videos and asking the public for help in their search for the masked assailant who gunned down a UnitedHealth executive on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk.
opinion How will the weak Canadian dollar affect your holiday and travel plans?
As the Canadian dollar loses ground against major global currencies, personal finance contributor Christopher Liew explains how current exchange rates can impact your travel plans, and shares tips to help you plan smarter and protect your wallet.
The world has been warming faster than expected. Scientists now think they know why
Last year was the hottest on record, oceans boiled, glaciers melted at alarming rates, and it left scientists scrambling to understand exactly why.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim admits to being 'orange pilled' in Bitcoin interview
Bitcoin is soaring to all-time highs, and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim wants the city to get in on the action.
German island festival passes peacefully after criticism over practice of men hitting women
An annual festival on a German North Sea island that had drawn criticism over a practice of men hitting women with cow's horns passed without reports of assaults this year, police said Friday.
Could the discovery of an injured, emaciated dog help solve the mystery of a missing B.C. man?
When paramedic Jim Barnes left his home in Fort St. John to go hunting on Oct. 18, he asked his partner Micaela Sawyer — who’s also a paramedic — if she wanted to join him. She declined, so Barnes took the couple’s dog Murphy, an 18-month-old red golden retriever with him.