London, Ont., city council’s Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee (SPPC) voted unanimously Tuesday to forward a request to the London Police Services Board (LPSB) for more accountability measures.
The request, tabled by Mayor Josh Morgan, Ward 7 Coun. Corrine Rahman, and Ward 11 Coun. Skylar Franke, includes several accountability measures that they say would help strengthen public trust in police and provide transparency on how the massive police budget is spent.
The record-breaking $672-million budget includes the hiring of 97 new officers, equipment such as tasers and drones, a new training facility, and a second light armoured vehicle.
“We had heard from the mayor that there would be greater accountability on the budget and from the police board, but we weren’t really quite sure exactly what that entailed,” says Franke.
“This letter is simply being sent to the police board as an opportunity to have this discussion.”
Measures outlined in the letter include regular budget reporting, more community engagement and clear performance metrics.
Metrics proposed by both the letter and police include a reduction in response times, a decrease in crime rate, and increased community engagement.
“The expectation should be there that these are things that the monthly service will be tracking and reporting out,” Morgan said.
“As a funding partner, it is well within our rights to provide our feedback on how we would like to see metrics tracked, investments measured (and) value shown, not just for us as a funder, but for all Londoners.”
So far, council has only heard that Police Chief Thai Truong will attend a meeting once a year, similar to other agencies. The request suggests the LPSB provide quarterly reports to council in addition to the annual visit.
While council did vote unanimously to send the request, some councillors wondered why these questions weren’t asked during the budget process.
“I think these would have been legitimate questions to raise during the budget process,” said Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow.
“I felt that there was sort of pressure on many people to not raise these types of questions and simply go along with the request.”
Ward 9 Coun. Anna Hopkins says accountability doesn’t rest solely on the shoulders of the LPSB.
“As much as we’re asking the police to be accountable back to us, we also have to make sure that we follow up with the police service board as well,” Hopkins said.
The SPPC voted 15-0 to forward the request, which now goes before council on April 2. If approved, it will go before the LPSB for discussion on April 18.