Positive Ticketing Program (Details)

Name of province/ territory:

Ontario

City/ Region:

Ontario

Description of Initiative:

As part of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Youth Strategy, the Positive Ticketing Program was introduced in 2010 to reward youth by issuing “positive tickets” for positive behaviour. Through an effective communication strategy, the program strategically engages Ontario’s Mac’s Convenience Stores and the media via two community-based crime prevention initiatives:

  • Operation Freeze: a community-based crime prevention initiative designed for summer and fall activities, providing frosty beverages for positive youth behaviour (launched annually for Canada Day)
  • Operation Heat: a community-based crime prevention initiative designed for winter and spring activities, providing hot chocolate beverages for positive youth behaviour (launched annually for Ontario’s Family Day).

Initiative Key Objectives:

The “positive tickets” are an avenue or tool that may be utilized by our members to initiate relationships between youth, their communities and local businesses.

A youth may receive a positive ticket from an OPP officer to recognize youth for any number of positive behaviours:

  • practicing personal safety such as wearing bicycle helmets;
  • doing various good deeds;
  • participating in community activities;
  • demonstrating community pride (e.g., picking up trash);
  • deterring crime or observing school crossing rules; or
  • as an icebreaker to establish a rapport with kids in their patrol areas.

In addition to recognizing good behaviour by youth, positive ticketing offers opportunities for our officers to interact with youth with a less authoritative approach.

The intention is to ensure that the positive tickets legitimately reinforce the positive behaviour exhibited by a youth, by offering something of value.

Section Responsible for Implementation:

Traffic Safety and Operational Support Command, Field Support Bureau, Crime Prevention Section

Key Contact:

Lisa Darling
lisa.darling@ontario.ca

Groups/ Agencies/ Key Partners Involved:

  • private agencies/corporations

Level of Involvement (consultative - information sharing) and/or cooperative - direct involvement):

Cooperative

Amount of Time Initiative has been in Place:

Since 2010.

Reason for Undertaking the Initiative:

Part of the OPP Youth Strategy.

Resources Required to Implement this Initiative:

Contact for further information.

Method of Implementation:

Contact for further information.

Key Outcomes of the Initiative:

Contact for further information.

Availability of a Communication Strategy:

Yes

Key Messages used to Publicize the Initiative:

Contact for further information.

Forms of Evaluation by which the Initiative will be Assessed:

  • quantitative
  • qualitative

Evaluation Completed or Community Feedback Received:

Yes

Summary of the Outcomes:

Since the introduction of the OPP Positive Ticketing Program in the summer of 2010, more than 300,000 Operation Freeze and Operation Heat coupons have been strategically used by OPP to recognize and motivate positive behaviour amongst Ontario’s youth.

In addition to numerous external enquiries from community groups and other police services, our monitoring and evaluation of the program and its partnerships helped us measure the impact it was having in support of our frontline members and communities.

Following the completion of each initiative, an evaluation of the OPP Positive Ticketing Program was completed through a strategic analysis of its community-based radio, print and television media coverage and a “frontline feedback” report from our members delivering the program.

In addition to outstanding public awareness and education for the program from across our province, a myriad of positive comments and examples of the program’s positive impact in support of youth living in their communities are regularly cited.

Many examples where the program helped mobilize communities were also cited, including initiatives where community service officers worked with their local newspapers to facilitate citizen nominations for youth warranting positive tickets.

In addition to its obvious public awareness, education and community engagement benefits, the OPP Positive Ticketing Program initiatives have proven to us again that strategic partnerships working diligently towards a community-based shared responsibility can indeed help prevent crime and strengthen relationships with our communities.

Contact for further information.

Summary of the Performance Measure Data Collected:

N/A

Economics of Policing Pillars:

Further Details:

Since the introduction of the OPP Positive Ticketing Program in the summer of 2010, more than 300,000 Operation Freeze and Operation Heat coupons have been utilized to recognize youth for positive behaviour across Ontario. This represents an in-kind donation by Mac’s Convenience Stores exceeding $500,000.

Additional Comments or Suggestions:

The OPP Positive Ticketing Program may not be the first initiative to incorporate the positive ticketing concept; it is certainly however the largest and most recognized in North America, with Operation Heat 2011 being recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

The provincial public awareness and education impact (through our media communities and detachment members) continues to be outstanding. The personal impact achieved, one youth at a time, by a frontline member issuing a positive ticket, remains priceless.

Record Entry Date:

2013-08-01

Date modified: