North East Nova Crime Reduction Strategy (Details)

Name of province/ territory:

Nova Scotia

City/ Region:

Nova Scotia

Description of Initiative:

The crime analysis / crime reduction function in North East Nova (NEN) District utilizes a mix of police resources to bring effective intelligence-led policing procedures to the area. Civilian criminal intelligence analysts produce reports that frontline officers use in a tactical fashion, designing police action in response to the intelligence.

As of late 2013, there are three primary initiatives, all of which are designed to contribute to an overall reduction in crime in the district. Crime analysis of data available in police records management systems is used to:

• produce prolific offender lists;
• identify places and individuals generating a high number of calls for police services (calls for service analysis); and
• identify vehicles and drivers that have a demonstrated history of driving offences up to and including impaired driving.

Initiative Key Objectives:

The overall objective is to measurably reduce crime. Each initiative does that in its own way.

The prolific offender initiative identifies individuals who are frequent and active property crime offenders. Disrupting the criminal activity of these known offenders has the objective of reducing the rate of property crime occurrences within a jurisdiction.

The "calls for service" analysis have the objective of identifying high-frequency call locations and/or individuals and then understanding the underlying causes of the frequent calls. Based on that analysis, tactics are formulated to deal with the underlying issues and reduce the number of calls.

Identifying problem drivers allows efficient deployment of police resources to ensure that individuals with a record of driving offences are appropriately monitored, in the interest of both public safety and crime reduction.

Section Responsible for Implementation:

See "Additional Comments or Suggestions".

Key Contact:

Michael Redmond
michael.redmond@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Groups/ Agencies/ Key Partners Involved:

• other police services
• Corrections Nova Scotia

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

N/A

Amount of Time Initiative has been in Place:

The initiative launched in 2011 in a limited format, and has since expanded to cover much more of the district as resources were added.

Reason for Undertaking the Initiative:

The initiative was launched as an innovative strategy to reduce and prevent crime.

Resources Required to Implement this Initiative:

The set-up required the creation of two crime analyst positions in the district and appropriate hardware, software and training. It was cost-neutral, as existing resources were redeployed.

Method of Implementation:

The initiative was phased in, with an initial start in a smaller section of NEN District. As resources were added and the initiative proved successful, the scope was expanded to cover the majority of NEN District.

Key Outcomes of the Initiative:

The prolific offender list initiative has contributed to a measurable reduction in property crime in general and a significant reduction in criminal activity by individuals identified as prolific offenders.

The "calls for service" initiative has helped reduce calls in certain geographic areas as a direct result of tactical use of intelligence. In addition, underlying issues contributing to high numbers of calls have been identified, which has led to ongoing work to deal with and rectify these issues.

The initiative to identify and target drivers and vehicles with a demonstrated history of driving offences is still at the pilot stage and has been successful so far. Officers found that a one-page handout identifying repeat offenders and their vehicles, including photos and dates and time of day when they were previously caught for impaired driving, was very useful. Whereas five repeat offenders previously generated 34 police files in 2012, only six files were generated from these individuals in 2013, a decrease of 82.4%.

Availability of a Communication Strategy:

No

Key Messages used to Publicize the Initiative:

N/A

Forms of Evaluation by which the Initiative will be Assessed:

• internal
• quantitative
• qualitative

Evaluation Completed or Community Feedback Received:

No

Summary of the Outcomes:

N/A

Summary of the Performance Measure Data Collected:

N/A

Economics of Policing Pillars:

• Efficiencies within Police Services
• New Models of Community Safety

Further Details:

N/A

Additional Comments or Suggestions:

Additional information on "Section Responsible for Implementation":
Crime analysis services are provided by civilian member analysts working under the guidance of the RCMP’s Divisional Criminal Analysis Service. The work they produce is shared with and used by frontline RCMP units within the NEN District, as well as municipal police agencies.

Additional information on "Groups, Agencies and Key Partners Involved":
Municipal police agencies in the NEN District are part of a cooperative approach to crime reduction. They provide ready access to their data and work in partnership with the RCMP to ensure the effective use of prolific offender lists. Other government agencies such as Corrections Nova Scotia share information in a consultative approach.

Record Entry Date:

2015-03-01