Appreciate the patience of the lady at the back who's
been working for the past hour. To try and sort
out our streaming and recording. She could end up being
a member of the month for July at the rate
we're going? Okay. Thank you all. Okay.
I will now rise and report to the open session
the results of the closed session. The board approved its
closed minutes of June 27 meeting and dealt with confidential
items under section 44, two of the Community Safety and
Policing Act. May I please have a mover and a
second to receive the report back? Member minutes, please. All
in favor? Thank you. We will now go back to
open session. And do it this way around, so. We're
beginning with calls. Good afternoon, Kirsten. Can you please confirm
that we have quorum? Through you, Mr. Chair. We do
have quorum. As you all in the room know, we've
had some. Technological difficulties. We think we are both live
streaming and. Recording. It is possible that we're only recording.
So do the members of public out there. Thank you
for your patient with patience with us. Even if it
didn't livestream, we will have it up and running as
soon as possible. Approval of the agenda. Kirsten, are there
any changes to the agenda? Through you, Mr. Chair. There
are a few changes to the agenda. We have. Public.
Consent item 8.1. That report was revised with an added
item C. We have. Public correspondence, item 8.9, which has
been added, which is correspondence from chief Bergen regarding an
update on efforts to address gun violence in Hamilton. And
then finally, we have an added item. On our closed
agenda, a consent item 3.13. And that qualifies as being
a closed item based on section 44, one and two
of the CSPA. Thank you. Do we have a mover?
In a second for the agenda. One, two. Thank you.
Discussion on the agenda. Go ahead. There is one item.
From. Last public board meeting that I did not get
a chance to speak to, and I kindly asked permission
to. Seek clarifying question and speak to that agenda item
about the reporting back from the policy recommendations. That emerge
from the special budget meetings in February. We'll do that
at the end, or we can do it at the
end of the chief's report. Whichever you. It's the one
part we weren't able to. Do last year, but the
chief had the answers ready. I believe so. We'll do
that. Okay. Can I have a vote? All those in
favor? The agenda is carried. Declarations of conflicts of interest.
Are there any declarations of conflict of interest? Seeing none.
We'll move on. Delegation is presentations and verbal updates. There
are no delegations. This month. Members of the month. Chief.
Thank you very much. And through the chair, I'd like
to call upon Inspector Carolyn Rashford for member of the
month. Through your chair. The member of the Montreal Montez,
Councillor James Dominsky. Unfortunately, he's. Unable to attend, so we
will defer this presentation until the next board meeting. I
would like to highlight a project that run out of
Division Two. The commanders of the division are superintendent stellar
and Inspector Dor. Project, take Back 2.0, was championed by
Councillor Chris McGregor and Councillor Mike Musanovich. But I was
adopted by the whole division. I'll point out that this
is the second iteration of the project. The original project
was equally successful and won the John Peds Problem Oriented
Policing award in 2023. The project was focused on fighting
the ongoing stolen vehicle issue in the city of Hamilton.
Highlights from the project include, but are not limited to,
31 arrests, which led to 145 charges. 60 recovered vehicles
for total recovered value of 1,599,500. One firearm that was
seized, 50 failed to comply. Charges were laid. 17 operation.
While prohibited, charges were laid. Eleven firearm charges and three
dangerous operation of motor vehicle charges. And that's it, sir.
Thank you. Thank you, Inspector. The board chair's verbal update
will be short. We're in for a busy fall.
We're coming into budget season. We're now in the middle
of summer and will not meet again till the end
of September. In the meantime, we have two committees that.
Are shorthanded and they're moving ahead as best they can.
So we're forced to prioritize. So it's fairly obvious that
when we come to the budget, committee. We know what
the priority is. It's the 2025 budget. It's an ongoing
process. You will note. In our policies. It is actually
the only policy that actually from the solicitor general requires
the board and the service. To do a joint. Operating
budget plan. So that process is underway. The first meeting
took place. We're getting better at getting people engaged. The
governance committee is still a little shorthanded, but we can
always pull together to do things. We've highlighted a few
things that are going to happen today. And they've already
been dealt with before, but they're not going away, so
we're going to kind of work on the things that
get us through to the rest of the year for
now and that are directly related to the coming into
force of the new act. There's still lots of work
to be done on that, so please. Bear with us
as we move forward. That's all I have. Thank you.
Chief. May I please have a mover and a secondary
to receive the chair's update? All in favor? Thank you.
Chief, your update, please. Thank you very much. And through
the chair, I want to address the ongoing concerns regarding
the recent rise in gun related crimes in our city
and provide an update on the actions being taken by
the Hamilton Police Service to address this critical issue. Please
be assured. That the Hamilton Police Service is fully aware
of the gravity of the situation and is actively working.
To combat gun violence, we've recently made our dedicated shooting
response team a permanent fixture within our service. This team
is specifically trained and equipped to respond swiftly and effectively
to our incidents involving firearms. Their presence has already made
a significant impact, and we are confident that the continued
efforts will contribute. To reducing gun related crimes. In Hamilton.
Last week, our efforts led to the successful seizure of
multiple firearms on the Hamilton Mountain. This investigated investigation highlights
the dedication and hard work of our officers in making.
Our streets safer yesterday we received a call from a
concerned community member about an erratic driver on Upper James
street. This individual reported a vehicle speeding and repeatedly crossing
into oncoming lanes for an extended distance on Upper James
street. Thanks to this community member, our officers were able
to safely conduct a traffic. Stop at Fennel Avenue, and
upon approaching the vehicle, officer detected a strong odor of
marijuana and observed the driver exhibiting nervous behavior. The driver
then admitted to having a handgun in his pocket as
a result, a loaded glock 26 was seized, along with
a quantity of crack cocaine and. Scales found in the
vehicle. In addition to the work of our shooting response
team, we are enhancing our community outreach and engagement. Initiatives.
We are committed to fostering stronger relationships with community members
and leaders to gather crucial information that can help prevent
crimes before they occur. Our strategy includes increased patrols and
high risk areas, collaboration with local organizations, and the use
of strategic policing partners to track and deter criminal activities.
Furthermore, we have enhanced our offender management strategy to focus
more intensely on serious, repeat violent offenders with firearms. The
recent c 48 bail reform, which came into effect this
year, has provided us with additional tools to manage these
offenders more effectively, ensuring that those who pose the greatest
risk in our community are kept off the streets. It
is also essential to recognize that addressing gun violence requires
active involvement of our entire community. These efforts start with
engaging at risk youth early in their lives, providing positive
role models and steering them away from a life of
crime. We often face challenges due to the lack of
witness support, which hampers our investigations. Therefore, I urge all
community members to come forward with any information they may
have, no matter how small it may seem at the
time. By working together and sharing information, we can make
a significant difference. Anyone with information can contact the police
directly or provide tips anonymously through crime stoppers. In addition,
The province. Ontario has been actively collaborating with us to
address this issue. Funding and resources have been allocated to
support our initiatives, and we are working closely with our
provincial policing partners to ensure that our community has the
necessary tools and support to combat gun violence effectively. For
your reference, here are the numbers of shootings in Hamilton
over the past five years. 20, 20, 51 shootings. 20,
21, 39 shootings. 20, 22, 45 shootings. 20, 23, 35
shootings. Of note this year. Today we are currently at
40 shootings. I understand the importance of transparency and accountability,
and we are committed to keeping you informed about the
steps we are taking and the progress we are making.
Since January 2024, members of our service have taken 260
firearms off our streets. I want to thank the community
for their involvement. But more importantly, I want to take
a moment. To thank the men and women of this
organization who are doing everything they can to mitigate the
challenges of the gun violence. We are. Thank you, chair.
Thank you, chief. Any questions of the chief? Can I
have a motion to receive his report and a second?
Any further discussion. None. All in favor? Carried. The administrative
director give a short update. Thank you. And through you
chair. Just wanted to mention that Vice chair Robertson and
myself will be attending the CAPG conference in. Halifax, August
8 through 11th. And finally, I'm in the process of
finalizing board member training. There'll be a session with legal
counsel Linda Bordelo at our September 26 closed session. The
topic. Of discussion will be centered around the board's legal
responsibilities found within the community, safety and policing act. The
next education session. Education and training session is tentatively set
to take place in October and.
Will be a half day board governance training session and.
Communication spirit for hosting me. It was a couple of
weeks ago. Are we submitting? An application. Is this something
the service is going to be pursuing? Thank you, member
Mennes and through the chair, thank you for, number one,
spending time with our members and getting an understanding. As
this board knows, PSAp is responsibility of the municipality. We
are working with our city partners, we up till now
have received several million dollars of funding as the PSAP.
Improper. Yes. We will be actively engaged and are actively
engaged in our submissions along with the city. And our
deadline is recognized as the August the 23rd.
Go ahead. Unless there's any
member who have had items about the 7.4. Item 7.5,
which was. On the. Communication. From Mr. George, executive director
of Hamilton Age. Center. I note here specifically, of course,
the names of this letter was June 18 and. We
did discuss this topic a little bit when Kojo dante.
Delegated to the board. But I wanted to highlight. A
couple of points that he made here. Members of the
public who are maybe watching this recording, or if we
were able to live stream it. This is about the
selection process for the hate crimes case review team and
some concerns that he is raising about this process. And
he spoke about how the selection process undermines collaboration, mutual
understanding. It negates the fact that individuals can hold intersectional
identities. And he recognized that some communities have expressed a
willingness to follow. This outline procedure for the selection process
for a crime case review. Team members. But just because
that. Doesn't negate the concerns that he's raising. In essence,
we shouldn't be assembling any team solely because all the
individuals agree. With us, right? Like that. Diversity of opinions
is really important for us to have a wholesome understanding
of our communities. So my question relates to this is
through the chair, in light of these concerns, and, of
course, again, I note the date, but have any changes
been made or planned to be made? To address. These
concerns raised by. Our local content expert. Chief. Thank you.
Member men and Asians through the chair. Yes. Let's acknowledge
that this was received on June the 18th. It was
on the eve of the actual closure of the community.
Call out for the community advisory panel for the hate
crime community Review team by way of some history, this
has been something that. Has followed me from my tenure
as being sworn in on May 2021. This was one
of my goals is to have a hate crime community
review team. We have worked with several community members and
had more than three town halls specifically to hate crime.
It also, at some times, had been confused with race
identity based data. And that community advisory panel being made
up of ten amazing community members who have already met.
Now three times, and I'll just make sure that it's
not four, it's. Three times, and already we're seeing the
fruits of that amazing group of people and the labor
that they're dedicating on race of an identity based data.
That being said, with regards to the hate crime community.
Review team. We actually. Had upgoing conversations and took the
sage advice from our good friend Lyndon George from Hark.
So I will let you know that the nuance in
this letter was recognized, and as such. The actual expansion
of the a crime community view team was by two
additional members, and it is now I understand having 13
members. 14 members. Do I hear 1514 members that had,
in fact, put their hand up and that's the one
thing, if I could. I want to thank our community
that these are difficult conversations. It's a challenge and understanding
in many cases. Being able to have that voice. So
what I get in the texture of this is by
having 14 people now, and that originally had been a
goal of ten to twelve does speak to us. Being
inclusive and making sure, recognizing that everybody has a voice
within our community. So thank you, community. And we look
forward to the advisory panels. Both making sure that our
service can better meet the growing needs of our community.
Thank you, chief. Thank you, chief. Through the chair. I'm
very appreciative. Of the ability of the Hamilton Police Service.
To respond to our community members, to understand the nuance
of some of the concerns raised and I appreciate. All
the work that was done to change processes. Thank you.
Deputy chair. Through the chair. Thank you for the report.
Okay. Here's the question. Those in favor?
Carrie. Thank you. We now move on. To. We didn't
have to. We didn't have to lift it. No.
The consent agenda. May I please have a mover in
a second? Or to approve items 8.1 through 8.9. Member
menissus deputy chair, Robinson. Yeah, we're not two years yet.
I didn't miss one. I didn't miss yours. Okay.
Is there any discussion on the consent agenda? Yes. Thank
you. And through the chair, I just would like to
know. 8.6. The Hamilton Police. Service board budget committee. When
will the next meeting be? Because we know that we
seem to be all busy or we would like to
know ahead of time. David's been said. When was it?
September 26. What was the date? I missed that. I
must have fall asleep there. Through you, Mr. Chair. As
you know, the board is to hold a minimum of
four budget committees meetings a year. The three remaining have
been set up and should be in your calendars. I'll
check my calendar. Then the next one is set for
Monday, September the 9th, at 11:00 a.m.. Okay. Yes,
ma'am. The 9th? Yeah, at eleven. Yes. Member minutes.
I wanted to just simply quickly speak to item 8.7,
which is outlining interest of the board's responsibilities related to
the Community Safety and Policing Act. And. For folks in
the community. Just. A quick reminder. This act came into
place April 1. It has resulted in a huge amount
of administrative burden that is primarily been worn by Christian,
our administrative director, or. Ms. Stevens and Lucia. Thank you.
Members of the public can be aware of the other
pressures on the board and why some of our work.
Has, like, we've prioritized changing our, you know, updating all
of our policies. And that's the royal leaf. That's really
Kristen. That's all of your. Work. So thank you. And
so folks can follow online in terms of the, I
think all of the high priority items have been addressed.
And it's a congratulations and thank you so much for
everyone behind all of this work. Thank you. Member. That
is so true. Like Kirsten better not get sick or
hired by another municipality. We're all in trouble. Thank you
very much. That was eight points. If there's no further
discussion. Here's the question. Those in favor? Opposed.
Good. Now, are we ready for. Number nine, which is
recommendations. Kristen. Oh, this is board schedule. Okay.
I'm still right. I just don't want to get lost
here. Okay. We're still in the right place. Okay. Sorry.
You can speak to the meeting schedule if you wish.
Nine one through you. Mr. Chair? Yes? I've just proposed
a meeting schedule for next year. There were appropriate vacancies
here in Councillor chambers at city hall. So as you
can see. From the report. All of our meetings are
going to be on Thursdays. And I did my best
to stretch them out so there's adequate time in between
meetings. For the service and the board to prepare reports.
Any questions for Kristen? Okay. All those in favor? Thank
you. Now we move. To. Year end report. Use crime.
Chief. Thank you very much. Chair. And through the chair,
I'd like to call upon acting deputy. Will mason to
introduce our speaker. Yes, thank you. And through you chair.
I'm just looking for a stop. Sergeant Dave McKenzie. To
make his way down. And while he's doing that, And
preparing to present, thanks very much to him for stepping
in, Sergeant Jason Tattison, who is our youth services coordinator.
Was unavailable for this meeting, but thanks to him, Under
Dave's leadership and the leadership of Inspector Frank Messioni is
seated behind me. As well as all of our youth
engagement team, our school liaison officers, our community service officers,
as a former youth services coordinator myself, I have a
deep appreciation for the work that they do. And that
focus on youth engagement, building those positive relationships. We've seen
numerous benefits from that, both in terms of positive relationships
being built at a young age that benefits as people
move into adulthood. And selfishly, some of those people do
become police officers, and we hear about that, and it's
a great tool that we use and try to keep
our youth engaged. There's also a great connection to our
wrist program with a youth social navigator that we're starting
to see tremendous benefit from. So with that, I'll turn
it over to staff Sergeant McKenzie. Floor is your staff.
Present the youth report for 2023. The youth engagement team.
Is the community based approach that proactively addresses issues that
involve youth age twelve to 26. On the criminal code
side. In the YCGA, the youth is defined as somebody
between the ages of twelve and 17. But because different
community organizations, they have different age limits. We go from
twelve to 26. So the youth engagement team. Proactively addresses
issues. This is done by community engagement, safety, prevention, education,
enforcement, and consultation, and this model supports our youth via
community and family initiatives as indicated in the Hamilton community
safety and well being plan. This model was presented to
the Ontario. Association chiefs of Police. Youth.
By our inspector Missioni and a lot of organizations are
adopting this model. Switching from an enforcement to an engagement
model. The youth services coordinator, the youth engagement team, the
school liaison. Community service officers continue to develop meaningful community
relationships with innovative and strategic approaches to assist our youth
and families relating to safety, engagement, education and consultation. And
the youth engagement team engages the community in many different
ways. They do it through youth initiatives. Some of our
peraction events, community events such as after school tutoring programs,
prom patrol, prom patrol is where we collect. A bunch
of. We go to our community members, our organization. Suits,
dresses to donate. To schools across all the boards for
their prongs, because not every. Kid can afford to dress
up nice for their prom, so that's just something that
we like to participate in. They engage in the community
and police in the park and a lot of community
presentations. We like to educate the community. Not everybody knows,
especially newcomers. Many people don't know what they can. And
can't do. In our country, and they reach out to
our youth team for consultation. Youth consultations is a different
thing. We connect with youth probation, so our youth team
likes to engage with probation to engage the youth and
sit down with a probation officer to ensure. That everyone's
on the same page as far as helping them be
acclimated back. Into society, or even if they're not in
custody, help them get through. There's also violent threat risk
assessments in which the youth engagement team sits with. Many,
whether it's the education system, the health care system, the
mental health system, and there's some youth that are high
risk for violence, and these are usually referred to not
by police, but by these agencies, because they don't know
what else to do. So they like to loop in
police. As far as what can we do? And we
sit and we come up with a plan, and each
plan is unique for each individual. There's also the youth
complex suicide needs, which, again, we have external partners reaching
out to. The police and the youth team through the
youth sergeant will. Come up with. Unique care plans for
these youth to ensure that their needs are met. When
it comes to community crime prevention enforcement, the goal is
not to criminalize youth. The goal is to rehabilitate and
reintegrate youth, foster relationships, and prevent future offenses from occurring.
The principles of the YCGA are to prevent crime, rehabilitate
with meaningful consequences with timely interventions to promote the long
term protection of society. The majority of incidents involving youth
crime get resolved by extra judicial measures and in gain
for our purposes the YCGA. A youth is defined as
a person twelve to 17 and a child under twelve.
There's no stats for that. And the reason being is
we don't. Charge youth under twelve. In the Hamilton Police
applies the spirit of the YCJ by having multiple responses
to youth crime. The majority of youth crime gets resolved
by extra judicial measures. And people ask, what does that
mean? It's usually no further action, a warning, a police.
Caution or diversion. And when officers are involved in these
situations, they have to weigh factors such as the circumstances,
the remorse and the severity and even victim participation. There
would be times where something will happen and the person
who is the victim will say, I don't want anything
done to this youth. And they'll work with the officer
to resolve the situation without being charged. And again, the
goal is to rehabilitate and reintegrate and prevent future offenses.
The objectives of the extrajudicial measures are effective and timely
response, which doesn't wait. For the former court process. And
by doing these judicial measures, we can encourage young persons
to acknowledge and repair, har. Harm caused to the victim
and the community. And we can also loop in the
involvement of the family in the community and design the
implementations of the measures victim participation in decision for measures
respect the rights of the young persons and proportionality of
the offense. The violent crime. In 2023, 462 youth were
involved in violent crimes, with 135 youth being charged.
70%. Received an extra judicial measure. When it comes to
property crime, 295 youth were involved and 63% were charged
with 77%. Of those receiving an extra judicial measure. When
it comes to controlled Drugs and Substances Act 22 youth
were arrested. 18 youth were charged and four youth were
diverted after arrests and received measures. The most common drug
and offense. The most common drug offense was trafficking methamphetamine,
followed by trafficking cocaine. And only one youth was charged
under the provincial Cannabis Control act, and they received a
provincial offenses notice. In total. In 2023 974 youth were
involved in crime with 348 charge. The remaining 626 people
received an extra judicial measure, which. Represents 64%. When comparing
2023 to the five year average. There was an increase
of youth involved in crime by 1%. And if you
look at this chart, these are the 15 offenses that
constitute 79% of youth. Involved in crime. Then the top
three. Criminal offenses were assault level one mischiev and uttering
threats. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we do have youth
in our community who do not meet the criteria. For
extrajudicial measures and despite formal charges, remain at risk to
reoffend. The stop program is specifically directed at youth charged
formally by the courts and are bound to abide by
their conditions of release, such as curfew and house arrests.
The program is an effective method for officers to attend
the use of residence and to ensure they are compliant
with a court imposed conditions. The youth are identified by
courts, Ministry of Children, Community Social Services, Probation, Hamilton Police
service. Engagement team in 20, 23 31 youth were identified
for the program. And in 2023, as you can see,
It's not just the youth engagement team that involves in
stop checks. It's also divisional officers. Because the divisional officers
take ownership of their division to ensure that youth are
abiding by their conditions. But not only that, it gives
them a chance to sit down at the kitchen table.
With their families. A door knocked, they sit down, they
have chats with them. And when you look at that,
out of 332 stop checks, there are only 58 arrests.
And of those 58 arrests, 37 were outside of residence
where these youth may have committed other criminal offenses while
not abiding by their conditions. So I know officers love
doing these stop checks. Because it gives these youth the
chance to see these officers, not after. An act. It's
more of a drop in. And their families love to
see sitting at the kitchen table having coffee with them
in uniform. And the community likes to see the officers
walking. Up to the house and everyone's like, oh, what
do they do? Every nerdy know. What they did. But
when the community sees the officers leaving laughing, they know
that nothing serious is happening? And they know that the
community likes to see that. And in 2014, the chief
student advisory committee identified youth mental health as a critical
concern and a coordinate approach was implemented in partnership with
St. Joe's. Healthcare hps. M search coast and social navigator.
And these agencies and programs continue to assist youth who
experience mental health crisis in complex presentations. That's the presentation.
Any questions? Thank you, Acting Inspector Mackenzie. Questions? For.
Thank you, Inspector McKenzie. I wanted to highlight first off.
I really loved the way you framed. The importance of
having those interactions with youth outside of that high stress.
Very intense environments. Of an arrest and actually being able
to, outside of those conditions, meet individuals on a personal
basis. And that's a really nice framing for the work.
And the values that you put into your work, so
thank you. I have a couple of questions. I'm going
to ask a question about. Your slide first. And that's
slide number nine. And this was just a note from.
Is that okay? Yes, it is not on the big
screen. I'm so sorry. Is that okay? Thank you. And
this was. Yes. And this was. In the written report
that was in the previous board meeting that I had
highlighted a couple of things, and so it was really
handy to have this on the screen, so thank you.
And. I wanted to draw your attention to. The bottom
three. First, right? And I thought that theft was motor
vehicle. And I'm looking at percent change rather than overall
numbers. And correct me if that is an unfair characterization
and just for the public, just noting that the overall
numbers. Are between 18 and 22. Right. But the percent
change for theft of motor vehicles is it's? Increased by
22%. But then we say possession of weapons increased by
66%. And motor vehicle collisions, which was the one that
really caught my attention. There's an increase by over 87%.
And so we talked about, like, targeted interventions, and knowing
that my knowledge. Of youth crimes is very limited. And
you really are the expert here, but could you explain
a little bit more about. What? Is your approach to
handling some of the sort of hotspots just probably the
wrong word? On this. So when you look at those.
Thank you for that question. And through the chair. When
you look at the denominator, the denominator is small and
any sort of when you have a small denominator. One
number change is a huge change. If the denominator was
1000 and it went up. By. Eight, it would be
like less than 1% change. So a lot of people
react to the percent change. But when you look at
the overall, we live in a city of 700,000. People.
And these theft of motor vehicles, possession of weapons. When
you look at those numbers overall, most of these look
at the youth that haven't been charged. So when we
do these interventions, the goal isn't to charge these youth.
These goals are to. Okay, is this a first time
offense? And when you look at this, the 53% of
possession. Of weapons, 53% or 53% weren't charged. So when
you look at that, 15 youth into 2023 were involved
in possession of weapons, but over half of them weren't.
Charged. So the term weapons can mean a number of
things. So, like I said in the previous slide, officers,
there's a narrative that we're charging everybody that's false because
this data says that we look at the circumstances, we
look at the level of remorse, we look at everything.
And a lot of times. It could be sheer nonsense.
And when the officers see that it's sheer nonsense, it's.
Not worth forming. Charging a youth. There are cases that
we don't have a choice. Based on the circumstances that
we do have to lay those charges. So, again, you
see 66%. Overall, that number is glaring. But the reality
is we're not out there to overly. Charge you. We're
looking to intervene, and if we could intervene early, we're
not going to. Have people returning to the system. I
love that. And thank you. We were discussing a trauma
informed approach to policing and speaking about context. Of each
individual. Right. And tailoring that for restorative justice approach, I
think. That is wonderful. And thank you for explaining that
in a bit more detail. I had a question. That.
Is related to. Page 14. For our agenda packages. If
the pages are similar. Or the same. And. This is
where. It was explaining a bit about. Referrals. To. The
wording is if a youth was found to in contravention
under the controlled drug. Substances act or the Federal Cannabis
Control act met qualifications and extrajudicial measures Referral was forwarded
to the John Howard Society of Hamilton, Burlington. An area
in lieu of criminal charges. Right? So. Wonderful examples of.
Not charging every use that you come into contact with.
However, when I was looking at the numbers here, it
seems like referrals to. The John Howard Society actually decreased
by 22%. From 2022. The wording is. In 2023, the
John Howard decided to receive 78 extraditional measures. Used precharged
vibration referrals from the Hamilton Police Service, a decrease of
22% from the 100 froze in 2022, again noting that.
Oh, wonderful. Again, noting that. The overall numbers, the absolute
numbers. Are still small. And absolutely that percent changes. It's
not a fair thing to hyper focus on, however. Many
folks who may be skimming these agenda packages online are
going to pick up on some of these numbers, and
so having a bit more of an explanation of that
would be really helpful. So John Howard isn't. So when
we look at the referrals may go down. Because a
lot of times we not may deal with it before
we even get to that referral. Process, so. Within the
number, people may say, yes, the numbers have gone down.
But they had to be formally charged in order to
be referred to John Howard. So if these officers are
dealing with this at the front end, there's no reason
for them to refer. Them to John Howard. And that's
why by this community engagement and seeing youth out there,
they realize that. You know what? Yeah. What I did
was stupid, and we don't have to charge them, and
that's our goal. So if. Somebody takes that perspective to
say that. Yeah, we're not doing these referrals, dig? A
little deeper because we are doing our job at the
front end, so we're not. Dealing with them at the
back end. That is perfect. Thank you. That is clarified
a lot for me. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank
you. Any more questions for the inspector? Yes, member. Thank
you. And through the chair. Thank you, Inspector. Your sergeant
or your inspector? Okay. Whatever. Thank you. I just want
to ask. The question youth. And when you said twelve
to 17 year olds to me. They're children. I just
took the international children's game to Mexico. And they're for
competition, and they're really children. And I'm just wondering. When
I read 295 involve you, six to three of you
were charged with property crime. And 228 received extra judicial
measure. Then I read about the drug 22 youth were
arrested under the controlled drug substance and 18 were charged.
I'm just wondering. In your opinion? Taking the police laisson
out of the school. Is that any relationship? That why
we're seeing an increase of one. Excuse me. Member Paul?
This was discussed, and the chief dealt with it at
the last meeting, okay? We don't need to go down
that road. Okay. I just want to say that I.
Believe because of all the things we interact with children.
It's important because I know. Your story, how you became
a police officer. It's amazing. So I just wanted to
bring. It out that it's important that these are children.
Talk to 17, and we need to give them guidance
as well. But my next question real quick, because I
know we're in a hurry beside John Howard. Who else
do we refer them to? There's a provincial contract. Through
the chair. And correct me if I'm wrong, Inspector missioni.
We have a provincial relationship through the chair spectator mission.
Go ahead. Thank you. Into the chair. I was just
going to mention I was trying to signal Dave here.
That the YMCA is also another agency to refer our
youth group. With that, the URS program to YMC. So
high risk, high risk youth do get referred to the
YMCA as well as John Howard society. Okay. Thank you
for that. I know there's a lot. There's liberty for
youth. And all different kinds of organization. The reason I
brought up the other one is because when I look
on page 95, it says all the places that we
communicate with, and one of them is the Hamilton Police
Service and the school board lays on committee, so. We
do engage with school board, so I just want the
public to know that. That's one of our engagement that
we do and how much we need it. That's? Why
I brought it up. Thank you. And thank you again.
Thank you. Any more questions for the inspector. Thanks very
much. That was an excellent. Presentation, inspector. Thank you. I
now call the question. Those in favor of receiving this
report. Opposed. Thank you. Now we move to ten one,
which are motions. You'll see that there is a motion.
To. We need to. It came out of our last
meeting. There is a requirement to have. Us draft a
policy with regards. To body worn cameras that give us
appropriate direction to the chief. Hold on. Do we have
a motion? I do believe the deputy chair has a
motion. We have a motion, but I'd like to make
a friendly amendment to it, if that's. Please do, Mr.
Chair. Through the chair. Said that enough. That the administrative
director ad be directed to prepare a draft board policy
on the use of body worn cameras by the Hamilton
Police Service and that the ad consult with the service
when preparing this draft. Board policy and. That, dad. Include
the draft board policy where police draft a board. Police
how it aligns with. The 2021 Information or Privacy Commission
of Ontario's model governance framework for body worn camera program
in Ontario. Report and recommendations contained herein and that this
draft board policy be presented to the board for their
consideration. September 26, 2024, to regular board meeting. A second
here, please. Thank you. Any discussion. I think it's fairly
simple how we got to here. This is one of
those policies that we don't yet have. We know there's
some discussion as the chief tries to get ahead of
a contractual challenge. This is the board policy telling him
to have a procedure and he will come back to
us. With an appropriate procedure that can assure us, or
can assure us that he has one that meets in
particularly these privacy requirements as outlined by the federal commissioner
and the provincial commissioner. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. For all
of the Hamilton public listening. So that was a discussion
that we are having. As. The board about different reports
about privacy concerns with body ward cameras, not negating the
importance of them. But thinking about how do we incorporate.
This innovation in a safe way. And. I wanted to.
Add. One thing highlighting for the members of the public
that this is going to be on the agenda. For
the September meeting, then. My comments last meeting about having
enough notice for members of the public to come and
to raise any concerns, if they have them, or to
engage with the board about this. There is also. An
additional note in the privacy commission. Of Canada report about
body wearing cameras. Was that 2017? I think was the
year on that report. But it talked about. A privacy
impact assessment. And I know that that was done. For
the license plate. Car cameras. But can we have a
privacy impact assessment done? In advance. I think that would
help inform all of our decisions going forward, too. Chief,
are you okay with that? I think you already. Absolutely.
Thank you very much. And we have followed that procedures
and all of our adoptions of the technology. And this
is an outward facing as we have agreed at the
board, that to improve public trust, Provide adequate and timely
evidence, but also to have an unbiased record of our
interactions to make sure we have community and officer safety.
So, yes, we will achieve that with our report back.
To the board. And once again, I just like to
note the contribution of our administrator in this to get
ready. For this. She's drafting minutes, drafting motions. She's also
been on the phone confirming. What other of the Big
twelve are doing in Ontario. Most have started the same
process. We're down because we started down this road because
there were grants available, so. They had access to the
same grants for license, and that's where we're headed. But
great work once again by Kirsten. And thank you for
the positive input, all of you. Now. I'll call a
question, if that's okay. Those in favor? Opposed. Passed. Thank
you. Hold on. We got to go back
to here. Okay. Number 13. Adjournment.
Pardon me. You're right. I'm sorry. I did promise. Member
Menace? She could have five minutes. I'd say three, because
I really wanted to do this under 2 hours, but
you can. Have five of something she wanted to bring
up that a number of the board members were involved.
And it's something we're going to deal with down the
road. The floor is yours. Member Menesis? Thank you. And
for members of the public. This was related to. Item
eleven point ten from. The June board meeting. And I
apologize that I didn't. Speak up in time. To outline
a comment and a question or a clarification. And so
this was regarding. The February 13 motions that. They emerged
from our learnings, from the experiences from the February 2024
special budget. Deliberations, right? And those learnings being that the
budget recommendations should also be informed by the actual. Service
providers. The police service. And that they should be made
in collaboration with the service. And. That. Really? This motion
included. An ask to report back. On certain policies that
were in the budget. Motions that member Cretch and I
had put forward. That included merging certain departments with city
of Hamilton departments. And thank you for outlining a detailed
report of that. That was very helpful. It included, like,
clarification on reporting ratios. And so thank you for that
clarification. It has really increased my understanding of reporting ratios.
My visit with the communications team also helped increase my
understanding of the complexities of reporting ratios in different departments
in context, within the Hamilton Police Service. And then the
last one was by talking about the mounted units. And
I want to just highlight here that this was informed
by the substantial like 10% of the over 100 written
delegations. To the special budget meeting. Talked about. The mounted
unit, right? And. This was not. A direction on an
operational decision, but really. It was asking for a report
on the feasibility or the unfeasibility of doing so. That
the motion. When it was proposed at the board meeting,
had the opportunity for the chief to speak to the
feasibility. And you asked for a bit more time. To
provide that report. The reason. Why a number of members
of this board voted for this motion, even though we
have very different views on this. Was to increase our
communal understanding of the mounted unit, right? And to also
increase the community understanding of the mantra units. So the
way I see it is that was an opportunity for
your expert opinion. On the operationals, on the operations side
of the police service. To explain to us why he
felt this unit provided a service that was invaluable. Right.
That was more important than all the other member mannetsis.
We're going far. Down a rabbit hole here again. You
got 30 seconds. Okay. So for me, it was an
opportunity to share your knowledge, to increase understanding, and to
help bring our increasingly fractured communities together in finding common
ground. And I will say that. I felt hurt by
your response. That stated that this was an operational decision.
At no point was the motion intended. To direct you
operationally. But rather. To gain a better understanding from your
point of view. I'm making one single comment on my
feelings when I read this. That does not negate all
of the rest of our positive interactions. I'm simply trying
to be open, that I felt. A bit dismissed by
asking for more information on the mount. Not receiving it,
and I'm saying this in light of. The mirrored concerns
or questions about the magic unit that informed this motion
in the first place. If I have misread. Your response?
I humbly ask for clarification. Thank you. Chief. Thank you
very member mennas and through the chair. At no time
would I want to diminish. Your opinion or anything, but
I chose not to discern or make assumptions, I guess.
In it. I went to the letter of. What is
the request of the motions to be fair? Those motions.
Are also on the heel of over 60 other questions
that we have responded which had comprehensive responses. All in
there, so. This was a response to the board specific
to the motion language. Thank you.
Thank you for clarification. And responding to the letter of
the word. I suppose all that we can ask for.
And. I would not be doing my job in terms
of. Raising my voice and my concern as a board
member. That I had questions about the mounted units, and
thank you for clarifying for me. And the only thing
I would ask, and through the chair is that anytime
you can come to any of our operating. Operations units.
As you've already availed yourself on some, I'm confident that
we could encourage you to come to the mounted unit
and see also what our marine unit, our k nine
unit and all the other amazing units that we have
in our organization, I welcome you to do that. Thank
you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That completes the agenda
for today. Kind of have a motion to adjourn, please.
We did, so we didn't do bad. Thank you. And
once again I will say, This agreement is not disrespect.
That said, we're about to go into the budget. And
a lot of this stuff is going to come up
again. There's going to be ample time for you to
be part because you're on the budget committee. There is
ample time for you to look into these things and
ask all the questions that you want and your number
one target is sitting right up there. She's got her
calculator out and her computer ready to go, so I
encourage you to ask the questions. But just remember, when
we come to the board. We're not going into individual
items. That discussion is over, and we are moving ahead
with. What we say that we want the chief to
take to city Councillor because he has to go. And
justify it. Can I have a motion to adjourn, please?
Thank you, Mr. Deputy. All in favor. Thank you. We
are done. We will meet again on the 26 September.
Thank you.