Police board discusses ways to encourage public to report crimes

It appears that too often, crimes in Kingston are going unreported, limiting the police's ability to help.

This was just one conundrum the Kingston Police Services Board puzzled over at its monthly meeting on Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, at Kingston Police Headquarters on Division Street.

As part of the new business considered at the meeting, Mayor Bryan Paterson spoke to a new City-Police partnership, a campaign to encourage crime reporting, which he intends to bring to City Council. This led to a conversation about why citizens often do not report crimes. Contributing factors discussed were "victim fatigue" and a lack of confidence in the police's willingness to help.

Paterson said he was inspired by a conversation among board members during their October meeting, which centred on the importance of encouraging people to report crimes and “making sure people understand how that drives a lot of the work and the action of the City Police. And how, if [police] don't know what is happening, then it's hard for [them] to respond."

“In conversations I've had with the mayor of Oshawa --- and it's always useful to compare notes with other cities and other mayors --- one of the campaigns that they tried a number of years ago was basically an ‘If you see it, report it' campaign.”

The campaign was successful for Oshawa, Paterson says, and he wants to suggest that Kingston City Council approve a similar campaign, so he was bringing it to the Police Services Board for their feedback.

Chief of Police Scott Fraser thanked the mayor, calling it a “tremendous idea.”

“We are continually encouraging people to report crimes... so anything that can be done in a city-wide campaign would be very beneficial.”

Fraser pointed to examples of similar municipal campaigns: “If you go to Europe and travel on any form of public transport, they have automated recordings that encourage ‘See it, say it, sort it.’ So basically, if you see it and say something, then [the police] can get it sorted. [But] if you don't say anything, we can't deal with it.” 

“People have to be continually encouraged to report crimes because we're in a situation now where we call it victim fatigue," Fraser continued. "People have been victimized so often, they say, ‘My car gets broken into all the time. My house gets broken into, my garage, my bike gets stolen all the time. I've stopped reporting it.’” 

“All you have to do is go to our auction and look at how many bikes we sell there, because nobody's come in to report them stolen," the chief pointed out.

“So any help we can get there would be beneficial,” Fraser emphasized, listing the numerous ways available for citizens to report. “We do have the ability for people to phone in. People can do online reporting. People can walk in. They can flag an officer down on the road… and there are other avenues out there that are available as well.”

“Oftentimes,” the chief noted, people may want to report an incident but aren’t sure a crime has even been committed. "Maybe it's not a crime, but maybe it's something important,” he said, encouraging citizens to report anything suspicious.

“We have 211, which is another valuable resource." Fraser said, explaining that dialing 211 on a phone connects callers to an automated helpline that easily links them up with social services, health care, and other related government services. "But if you don’t know about it, you can’t use it.”

“So, from a policing perspective, we would be 100  per cent behind that,” the chief affirmed. He went on to say that as part of his job as chief of police, he is continually urging officers to work on connecting with the citizenry and encouraging them to be more comfortable reporting. “We understand it's tough times, and we certainly hear from people why they may not report --- [but] we continually try and encourage them.”

Councillor Jimmy Hassan praised the police, saying, “On a personal note, I want to thank the chief, the deputy chief, and all the deputies who took responsibility throughout the year, and the members of the force who did a great job."

Hassan went on, "Being on the [Police Services Board], I get contacted by people all over the city. The biggest challenge we are facing right now is that when somebody tries to contact an officer [to report] a crime, they don't get the answer [quickly enough].”

He gave an example of a person who calls for help because a vulnerable person is locked in a public bathroom, and officers do not respond for two hours. “By the time police officers go there,... he's gone. So that call has wasted time, and the resident is unsatisfied with the service.”

He suggested that officers should continue to receive training on how to give people confidence to come forward and report. “Our biggest problem is people don't want to come forward because they have the impression that police will not be open, they will not be there when we need them, or [that] some officer will say, ‘Sorry, I cannot do anything. You are on your own.’"

"So those other things need to be considered first, I think, before we start a campaign," Hassan said. "“But how we can increase the confidence level of the citizens?” 

Chief Fraser said he has also encountered the issue Hassan had raised regarding citizens not feeling confident that police will respond quickly and effectively. As a result, inspector Brian Pete has recently created a guideline document that has been distributed to all Kingston Police staff.

He gave the example of someone who is using drugs in the open but hasn’t got a great deal of illegal drugs on their person. If officers are called in a case like that, they would need to see another illegal offence “to make an arrest, which is just, unfortunately, changes in the law. So it's ongoing, I think, as laws are changing, and [we need to be] keeping our staff informed.” 

“And then further,” the chief noted, “When people are calling in, they may not understand what the need is and that we have to prioritize our calls,” and that is no easy task. 

Going back to the example of someone locked in a bathroom, he said, “There may be more violent offences taking place at the time. Or there may be officers tied up at the hospital on their mental health apprehensions. So as soon as an officer can be cleared to attend the bathroom incident, they will be able to do so.”

But the chief conceded that the issue of public confidence was still an important issue to deal with. "We've started, and we've got more room to improve... Brian Pete’s... guideline for officers is a start, and we'll continue building off that.”

Responding to Hassan's concerns about improving citizens' confidence in the police's responsiveness, Mayor Paterson said he would take it under advisement and that City Council should provide direction to City staff to work with police and develop different campaign components. "So, obviously, that could be one piece of it. And ultimately, the goal here is to encourage reporting."

Council community appointee Gail MacAllister asked that the police executive note any extra resource needs for the campaign and bring them forward to the board. “I would appreciate, and I'm sure the mayor would appreciate, hearing about them --- because in order for any campaign to be truly effective, it needs to be well-resourced... That would be incredibly helpful to ensure a successful campaign that the City and the constituents can be proud of. “

The Kingston Police Services Board meets regularly on the third Thursday of each month, beginning at 12 noon in the William Hackett Boardroom at Kingston Police Headquarters, 705 Division Street.