This year, 2017, marks the final year of the Oak Bay Police Department`s five year Strategic Plan. While the core police service involves responding to calls for service, the strategic planning process allows us to focus our proactive energies towards key areas the community has identified as important to them. For 2017 we will see a continued effort towards reducing crime and enhancing public safety. This will be done through initiatives focused on our youth and senior populations. We have a close working relationship with the local schools and we expect this to grow in 2017. We will also see an emphasis on traffic safety both through public education and enforcement. Efforts towards speed control and distracted driving continue to be a high priority in the province and in Oak Bay. Our officers have had great success addressing impaired driving in this community and we expect that focus will continue.
Oak Bay is a unique community in the capital region where we see exceptional community pride and interest in community engagement. This community enjoys in excess of 50 Block Watch groups and we saw our Police Reserve Program really blossom in 2016. We look forward to building on this energy to help have this community remain one of the safest communities in British Columbia. The residents have responded well to the increased visibility of our police officers and we will see this continue in 2017 through our high visibility initiative such as bicycle patrols, foot patrols in the business areas, and marine patrols along our coastline.
Internally, we have a strong commitment to developing our employees through training and special assignments. We have a strong presence on the area’s integrated policing teams. We currently have officers on five integrated teams either in a full time or part time capacity. We also have officers able to deliver training to our own staff as well as contribute to all areas departments. We will see these opportunities increase in 2017 when we place an officer on the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, an expanded unit focused on national security threats. We saw two new police officers join the department in the final month of 2016 and will see two more in 2017. We look forward to working with these officers and having them become part of our team.
In 2017 we will be undertaking the development of the next Strategic Plan which will encompass 2018 to 2022. This will be important in laying the ground work for the next five years and we look forward to hearing from the community and identifying where their priorities lay. One of the great things about delivering a police service in Oak Bay is the high level of support we see here and the ability to tailor our service to the local needs.
– Andy Brinton is police chief for the Oak Bay Police
Department.