Some members of the New Westminster police board want to have a bit more input into what goes into the New Westminster Police Department’s annual report.
At its September meeting, the board received a copy of the NWPD 2023 annual report.
The report includes messages from the board chair and chief constable, statistics about crimes and NWPD expenditures, information highlighting various initiatives (including the launch of the communications operations centre, a public opinion survey about the NWPD, the community engagement unit, and NWPD soccer school) and articles about some of the crimes covered by media, including a taxi carjacking and the seizure of suspected drugs, cash, and luxury vehicles.
“The intention is that the annual report serves as a highlight of both our internal initiatives as well as a summary of some of the more public files that we worked on that got a lot of media and public attention,” said Hailey Finnigan, the NWPD’s communications officer.
Board member Heather Boersma suggested some changes be considered for the page in the report that highlights statistics from the year.
“I’d prefer it be things we have achieved versus things that have happened,” she said.
Instead of seeing that there were 523 thefts from motor vehicles in 2023, Boerma said she’d prefer to see what the NWPD did about that, such as how many cases were stopped.
Police board member Patrick Lalonde, a faculty member in the Department of Criminology and Legal Studies at Douglas College, offered a “quick caution from an academic perspective” when about talking about things like clearance rates (criminal incidents solved by police).
“They can look shockingly low to the public,” he said of clearance rates. “When we are talking about public confidence in the police service, we have to be careful which numbers you trot out, especially given they are just numbers and there is not a lot of context there. So, it’s about framing things delicately.”
Coun. Tasha Henderson, who is the chair of the New Westminster police board, said statistics about response times and new recruits hired may provide the public with more confidence than highlighting crimes in graphic elements of the report.
“I think the reality is that most people don’t stop to read the content of the report,” she said. “Most people, if they are browsing through, will look at these snapshot numbers.”
These are some of the 2023 statistics included in the report submitted to the board: 523 theft from motor vehicle (compared to 697 in 2022);18,240 calls for service (up from 16,625 in 2022); 223 abandoned 911 calls (compared to 224 in 2022); 86 break and enter – residence (compared to 71 in 2022); 102 media releases (compared to 134 in 2022); and 14 assault of a police officer (compared to 15 in 2022).
Finnigan said the annual report includes articles highlighting the efforts and achievements of the NWPD, such as the bait bike program. She said the statistics in the graphics are like the “by the numbers” section of the City of New Westminster’s annual report.
The New Westminster Police Department’s 2023 annual report (and previous years' reports) can be found online.
More input?
Police board member Mary Trentadue said she’s unsure of what the police board’s role has been, if any, in the development of the annual report, but it may be something that should be discussed.
“I guess I would say the community doesn’t probably see the difference between the police board and the police department,” she said. “So, I think it would be helpful for the police board to have some presence, I guess in a way, in this report.”
Trentadue said police board members may have ideas about numbers they would like to see included in the report.
“Maybe it is not our document and maybe it’s not up to us, but I do think it’s important that we do have a discussion about what the public is seeing,” she said. “I think we have some relevance in that as well.”
Acting Chief Const. Paul Hyland said the police board hasn’t traditionally had input into the annual report. He thanked staff for their work in developing the report.
“The board is the employer,” he said. “Certainly, the board can and should have input into a report about its department.”
Trentadue said it would be “really helpful” for the board to have an opportunity to provide input the next time the annual report is produced.
Did you miss the September 17th Police Board meeting? We've got a recording of it available. https://t.co/3BSQS9mjOm #NewWest
— New Westminster Police Department (@NewWestPD) September 18, 2024
The Record contacted staff at New Westminster City Hall to see if council provides input into the city’s annual report.
In an email to the Record, the city’s communications department stated council provides no input into the City of New Westminster’s annual report. Council’s only involvement in the city’s annual report is the mayor’s contribution for the Message from the Mayor section.
