Chief Neil Dubord described 2016 as a year of change, development and enhancement for the Delta Police Department.
The past year has been a busy one, both internally and externally, as the department serves the community of Delta. Last week, the Optimist sat down with Dubord and public affairs coordinator Sharlene Brooks to discuss the year that was and what is to come in the year ahead.
The department itself went through a lot of internal changes with the hiring of 14 officers — a combination of recruits and experienced officers from other agencies.
“For a small police department, hiring 14 officers was a significant change,” said Dubord. “Usually you would see seven or eight new officers, so 14 is a large number not only for our recruiting and our training, but making sure they are equipped properly and have proper supervisors and field training officers.”
Dubord cited three factors that necessitated the increased staffing: a increase in the demands and service contract at the Tsawwassen First Nation due to the new malls, improvements to the resource model from the Corporation of Delta and job attrition.
“When you put all three of those things together it was like a perfect storm for us,” he said. “Additionally, deputy Chief Norm Lipinski was hired and has brought significant expertise, forward thinking and high energy to the organization. We have a strong and innovative team to lead the organization into the future.”
The department also completed 10 reviews in order to enhance service to the community.
Three of the key reviews were in IT, human resources and a workload analysis to look at how it responds to calls.
“It is critical in any business to continuously assess and seek options to enhance service efficiencies and effectiveness. Policing is no different,” Dubord said. “We are challenged to be responsive to community needs, anticipate new trends and mobilize to best address the ever-changing landscape.”
The health and wellness of staff and officers has also been a focus for the department. Road to Mental Readiness training was delivered to all staff and sworn personnel.
“It is important to ensure our staff and members are resilient as they deal with a number of stressful situations specific to the job and in general,” added Dubord. “How the trainers described things is that we all carry a backpack and some of our backpacks are filled with rocks and stones and then all of a sudden the backpack is full and you can’t carry it any more. The instructors teach strategies and ways to take out some of those stones so you are not carrying a full load.
“I think the training has helped to create a culture of caring throughout the department. Wellness is all part of employee engagement. We have guns, radios, cars — our equipment — but it really is all about people.”
Illegal drugs
Illegal drug investigations and the ongoing fentanyl crisis was a big area of investigation and concern for the department.
In March, the drug section made a significant bust, seizing $1.3 million in cash, 12 kg of cocaine, five kg of heroin, fentanyl and W-18.
“What was unique about this investigation was that it started from our ‘no call is too small’ initiative. We went to a noisy neighbour complaint and the case built up over a period of months and eventually we were able to make the arrests and get these drugs off our streets,” said Dubord.
Brooks added the drug problems in the community are not going away.
“I think the thing to remember with drug files is that they happen over the course of several months, so I know we had a significant marijuana bust in late 2015, early 2016, so it’s hard to say whether this year was greater than last, but as the chief said, drug issues are not going away,” said Brooks.
“Fortunately, we still have a bit of a reputation out there that you don’t want to do your dial-a-dope exchanges in Delta. Dealers talk and they say I’m not delivering in Delta, so we are very fortunate that way because of the enforcement, education and awareness.”
The fentanyl crisis hit home in South Delta in September when nine overdoses were reported during a 20-minute span. Thankfully, due to the efforts of police and first responders, no one died, but the situation certainly resonated within the community.
In response, Delta police stepped up its awareness campaign, partnering with the Delta School District and Fraser Health on a pair of town hall meetings. Out of those meetings, DPD worked with the police board to get funding to equip all front-line officers with Naloxone to better position them to respond to this crisis and hopefully save lives.
Traffic
Road safety continues to be a concern for the department as it dealt with seven fatal collisions resulting in the death of eight people during 2016.
“Delta is the little city that everything runs through,” Dubord said. “Between the ports, the ferries, Highway 91, Highway 99, the South Fraser Perimeter Road, the Massey Tunnel, the Alex Fraser Bridge and Nordel Way, all of them are the main centres where people come from to get to somewhere else, so traffic is a very important piece of what we have to do.
“Fatalities, it has been an awful year. Our traffic section isn’t built to deal with eight or nine fatalities in a year because each one of those is like a homicide investigation. They take a tremendous amount of work.”
Dubord couldn’t speculate as to the exact causes of the collisions, but did say among the contributing factors were speed, alcohol and distraction.
New technology that may help DPD apprehend traffic offenders is StarChase. This technology essentially launches a GPS projectile from the grill of the police vehicle onto the offending vehicle, allowing police to track the vehicle while not engaging in a pursuit and coordinating additional resources to engage with the occupants of the vehicle when it is stationary. Over the course of the upcoming year, police will be assessing the overall workability and functionality of the technology.
Community engagement
There has been a continued focus on community policing, attending events, hosting forums and introducing an informal connection through “Cappuccino with a Cop.”
Dubord said citizens want to see officers more engaged in the community and those efforts will continue.
“As we move into 2017, I think what we have heard from citizens is that we can be more visible. People just don’t want to see us driving in our cars, they want us to park in downtown Ladner, and take stroll and engage with people. This is the type of relationship we need to have and need to build on. I’m certainly proud of our officers in ways they have engaged the public, but we certainly can do better.”
