Chief Kimberley Greenwood spun a little fiction Monday night to show the stark realities of Barrie police work.
Her presentation ‘Inside the Call’ to city council used a representative occurrence to demonstrate the complexities of a police investigation.
“What the public sees is just the tip of the iceberg,” Greenwood said. “I’m going to take you below the surface and behind the badge.
“What you see in a moment on the side of the road represents just a portion of the element involved in responding to a single call,” she said. “We know that many of you have never experienced a serious, traumatic call from the inside, from start to finish, from hysterical calls over the phone to our communications centre, to quiet tears in a courtroom as a guilty verdict is heard.”
The incident that demonstrates the complexities of policing is a serious, personal-injury car crash where one of the drivers, a man, leaves the scene running. A woman driving the second car appears seriously injured and her young daughter is in the back seat, crying.
The closest police officer is sent to the scene, with lights and sirens on, realizes it’s a serious collision and radios for more officers, including one from the traffic unit, and for a rush on paramedics for the injured woman.
Police determine the car has been reported stolen, so the canine unit and tactical support officers are called in to track and search for the man. Other officers set up a perimeter.
Paramedics arrive and take the woman to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH), with help from a police escort. The girl’s father arrives to pick up his daughter.
Tow trucks arrive to take away the vehicles. Barrie firefighters are on scene, cleaning up hazardous materials spilled from the damaged vehicles. The stolen car goes to police headquarters for fingerprinting by the forensic unit.
Meanwhile, the canine unit finds the man and he is arrested a short distance away, then placed in the back of a police cruiser. He is taken to the police station, where he's booked by a civilian special constable and a booking sergeant, and provided an opportunity to speak with a lawyer.
The road is reopened by the traffic officer, who has taken statements from witnesses.
Criminal investigation detectives prepare to interview the man, whose cellphone is reviewed by a technological crimes officer for evidence. Officers from the scene write out what they have seen, as they might have to testify at a court trial. All property seized is lodged in the property and evidence unit. Body-worn camera footage on police officers is uploaded and all evidence is submitted.
At RVH, the first officer on scene is with the woman; she has serious but non-life-threatening injuries and is ready to give a statement. Victims Crisis Assistance and Referral Service (VCARS) information is given to the woman and her family by police.
The man in custody is monitored regularly, fingerprints and photos of him are taken, and he is prepared for his video appearance in bail court to answer to the charges.
At same time, the man’s girlfriend calls station duty officers and demands to speak with her boyfriend. She is crying and making threats to harm herself. The Community Outreach and Support Team (COAST) is notified. A non-uniformed police officer and Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) crisis worker is sent to her location to ensure her safety.
The next morning, corporate communications issues a press release on the crash and some of the details surrounding it. The police chief is given an update, and the court process begins, with victims and witnesses prepared for trial.
“It’s not an actual call, but represents a common type of occurrence,” Greenwood explained. “This may seem like a large response, and a lot of people involved, but this is not unusual.”
“It’s a great way to show… what the public doesn’t see,” said Coun. Natalie Harris.
“In our community, you might have seen us at a traffic collision, at a home, at a community event or a community meeting, passing by with our lights and sirens on, or maybe you have driven by a closed-off area for a serious investigation,” Greenwood said. “From the moment the multiple 911 calls come in, our members work with one another, community partners, victims and witnesses to respond to and resolve situations.”
In 2019, Barrie police officers dealt with 74,000 occurrences, from found bikes to serious, violent crime in a home, made 7,052 arrests and lodged 3,113 prisoners. Occurrences included 932 vehicles reported stolen, 297 vehicle collisions with personal injuries, police dogs being called out 191 times and fingerprints taken for criminal charges 3,180 times. Electronic devices were analyzed by the technical data recovery examiner 135 times.
Coun. Clare Riepma asked about incidents requiring a police response, and was told robbery, assault, sexual assault including intimate partner violence, traffic collisions, property offences and theft from vehicles, as well as break-and-enters into homes and stores, are some examples.
“There seems to be a high percentage… that are calls that don’t require a police officer, but more require a social worker or something like that,” Riepma said. “It seems that policemen are becoming the social worker of our society. Do you see that as a significant part of your work?”
Greenwood said police calls for service are roughly 20 per cent criminal and 80 per cent non-criminal, 60 per cent non-emergency and 40 per cent emergency.
“Many family disputes, neighbourhood disputes, partner violence, domestic violence calls have an element of mental health,” Greenwood said. “We tend to respond to many calls in our community that may not be classified as criminal in nature, but there is an element of an emergency and we have to be there to respond to those type of calls.”
COAST responds to more than 500 calls a year, the chief said.
The Barrie Police Services community safety survey is available until Dec. 11 for those who live, work or spend time in Barrie to share their feedback on safety in the community, as well as levels of trust and confidence in the BPS. It is available at BarriePolice.ca/Survey.
