THE ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF REGIONAL POLICING

On tuesday April 2nd. we had the pleasure of hearing from Chief Jim Cessford of the Delta Police sharing with us over 27  years of policing experience and giving us the pros and cons of the Regional Policing Model as espoused by many in the press and other interested parties. He showed us how a community based policing model provides better outcomes for the community as a whole. The Delta model is "No call to Small". While this may appear wasting of resources Chief Jim indicated that on many occasions these seemingly nothing calls have uncovered either Criminal activity at is beginnings or people in physical harm.He indicated the community gained trust in their police force and became part of the solution making policing a total community activity.

He went on the explain that in some cases a Region wide special unit is required and this could be layered on top of the community model giving the best of both worlds. Local community centric policing where the police Officers have a commitment to the local Community in which they live and work and Specialized groups (Example Major Crimes,Gang Issues) could be formed with participants from all Communities supported by community funding but giving a expert dedicated unit to best tackle these Area Wide Issues thus solving the "Lack" of communication cited in such cases as the Missing Women from the Downtown Eastside or the Gang turf wars.

Once again our Speaker Co-Ordinator John Edwards had found us a tremendous speaker who provided us with knowledge of our Community it is great to know we have people of the stature of Chief Jim Cessford looking out for our well being.  Duane Buchanan thanked Chief Jim Cessford for his enlightening presentation.