Emma Smith is the Associate Dean of Research and Development in Humber College’s Office of Research and Innovation. She received her PhD from Toronto Metropolitan University and York University’s Communication and Culture program where she employed a cultural criminology perspective towards evaluating the news media’s representations of a serial killer. Emma has lectured in the fields of research design/methodologies, gender studies, sociology, criminology, and professional development at the undergraduate level. Working with the Toronto Police Service, Emma joined the NCOP research team in January 2021. The NCOP Research Project was awarded the Research Excellence Award by the President of Humber College in August 2023.
Presentation
Community Policing in Toronto: An Examination of Internal Obstacles
Dr Doug Thomson1, Dr Emma Smith1
1Humber College, Toronto , Canada
As part of an ongoing research study between the Toronto Police Service and Humber College (Canada), this presentation will review external findings on the current inefficiencies and conflicting directives within the Neighbourhood Community Officer Program (NCOP).
This program has historically placed a strong emphasis on enhancing community wellbeing rather than solely concentrating on crime control strategies. The NCOP has shown previous notable success, particularly in high-risk areas, by deploying officers to work directly with community members in securing resources, program referrals and mitigating crimes.
Results of the NCOP have shown an increase in public trust towards policing, a reduction in crime rates and stronger partnerships with community agencies. However, new internal challenges are growing:
1) The rapid expansion of the NCOP into larger geographic areas.
2) The reduction of the Community Response Unit, who fulfilled regular patrol duties, across the Service.
3) Challenges with internal quantitative measures of success.
Through surveys and interviews with NCOP officers and leadership, these new issues are investigated. The impact of program changes on frontline officers are explored, as well as the success of phone technology in gathering performance metrics. Understanding the strengths and challenges of these issues will help inform internal plans of action to support the continued success of the Neighbourhood Community Officer Program.