Local police propose increasing some of their fees in 2024, but most Bradford and Innisfil residents should be unaffected.
South Simcoe Police Service Insp. Henry Geoffroy presented a report to the police board on Dec. 13, which proposes increasing fees to those requesting certain reports, statements and record checks.
Geoffroy explained the service had avoided increasing fees during the COVID-19 pandemic, because of the economic impact, and as a result, some fees haven’t increased for five years.
“We’ve gotten so far behind,” he said.
The fees are not expected to increase across the board though, and affected reports are set to include:
- Collision reports for insurance severed from the full report to increase by $2.56 to $53
- Each full reconstruction package to increase by $200 to $2,500
- Each DVD copy of audio/video witness statements to increase by $24.56 to $75
- The cost of redacting video to increase by $24.56 to $75
- Clandestine drug laboratory property check reports to increase by $4.56 to $55
- Police record employment check to increase by $2 to $57
The last of those is the only one most residents are likely to purchase personally, as Geoffroy explained that most of the reports are almost always requested by either an insurance company or legal counsel, especially by the defence to create a better case.
“We wanted to make sure that we didn’t impact our residents’ residential fees, and most of these fees, the vast majority are on the insurance and legal side,” he said. “We’re very, very conscientious of raising rates that will affect our citizens.”
Even in those instances where rates are proposed to increase, Geoffroy explained the service tried to take a middle-of-the-road approach to costs.
“We didn’t want to be the highest, we didn’t want to be the lowest, we wanted to be somewhere in between,” he said.
While the board voted during the meeting to receive the report, an additional vote was held electronically afterwards, in which the board approved the new fee schedule.
Geoffroy anticipates that by this time next year, there will be increases proposed to other areas for 2025, but they are yet to be determined.
Chris Gariepy, board chair, asked the inspector to explain how the service charges when officers respond to false alarms from security systems, even though that isn’t proposed to increase.
Geoffroy explained two officers are always required to respond to an alarm call, and there’s a two-tiered system with one-time forgiveness for false alarms at residential properties and no forgiveness for false alarms at commercial properties.
The inspector further explained that there is no fee if the alarm is cancelled before officers arrive on scene, a fee of $120 if the alarm is cancelled but officers have already arrived, and a fee of $180 if the officers arrive on scene and they are the ones to determine the alarm was false.
Luckily for residents, the police don’t charge those fees to residents, but instead to the alarm companies and/or the third-party monitoring stations they sub-contract to monitor the systems, because according to Geoffroy, it’s the responsibility of the monitoring stations to ensure any false alarms are cancelled before police arrival.
“That’s a service our residents pay to the alarm monitoring stations, so that’s the people who we wanted to bill,” he said.
Chief John Van Dyke further added that approach provides incentives for alarm companies to ensure clients are properly trained and any faulty equipment is repaired or replaced.
While on the subject of using fees to discourage misusing police resources, Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin asked if there were any opportunities to bill residents after a certain number of unnecessary 911 calls.
While the Police Services Act currently prohibits that, Geoffroy said the department is monitoring to see if it could be possible in the future.
“We literally get calls because someone’s report card wasn’t good for their child and they want the police to speak to them,” he said.
The “obviously silly and unnecessary calls,” have been declining as the service continues educating residents, but some still persist.
“We have a certain individual who calls us 30 to 40 times per day, but we’re prohibited from cutting off access so we manage that at the call centre,” Geoffroy said.
