Public Safety committee  First of all, our auxiliary program is tremendous. I'm glad to hear that you experienced something similar. We have 850 across the province. They work hand in hand with our officers. They don't work independently. They don't do police work on their own; they have to be with a p

Public Safety committee  Sir, if I may, I'll give a limited response. Our commissioner may have more to say on that on Thursday. The Ontario First Nations Policing Agreement has had some challenges in the last six years, as I recall. There are two services within each region that I deal with. I can tell

Public Safety committee  Unfortunately, sir, I have to limit my thoughts on that. I do know it's a first nations policing agreement issue. It is a funding issue that has been highly discussed, I've been aware, in the last few months. It is a challenge for several band councils, but I can say OPP support

Public Safety committee  I listened carefully to your question about the risk you mentioned. During the past few years, costs and efficiency have been on everyone's radar.

Public Safety committee  I would say the risk is calculated. Whether we're talking about the number of searches or arrests that are necessary or about the number of crimes, that work will not disappear. We don't want to see any crimes committed in our communities or anyone arrested, but the fact remains

Public Safety committee  Yes, sir.

Public Safety committee  Would you like me to answer in French?

Public Safety committee  I would suggest that some of this is broad community expectations. People in some communities simply expect that police will come and solve all their issues. I agree with you, 911 in the vast majority of communities is the initial point of contact, but the person making the conta

Public Safety committee  The biggest for us is the desire to move forward and engage our partners in our civilian governance on the training aspect. If I may, I'll speak with regard to east region, because our commissioner is coming on Thursday. But if I can again go with the community engagement mobili

Public Safety committee  We're a little bit more limited as to the range of positions that our special constables can hold, so for us it's offender transportation and court security. They are trained for a two-week period upon their engagement. It relates to their positions, as the deputy referred to, th

Public Safety committee  Actually, sir, the special constables would be more subject to our internal accountability aspects. As I referred to earlier, when we engage or hire a special constable there would be certain criteria in place related to their contractual agreements, and that's where we outline t

Public Safety committee  Yes, sir.

Public Safety committee  In that respect, for us, we would be controlled by the Ontario public service guidelines with regard to the civilian side of our employees. It goes through levels of reprimands—verbal, etc.—and we can and we have with civilian employees reached points of termination. So there are

Public Safety committee  Yes, sir. Thank you very much. I certainly agree in all respects with what I've heard so far. I think we'll agree that anyone in public services and public safety will understand that the complexity of policing has climbed incredibly quickly in the last few years. The expectatio

Public Safety committee  Thank you, sir. I do have a prepared statement, if I may read through it. Mr. Chair, vice chairs, committee members, good morning. Thank you very much for the invite here this morning. I am Chief Superintendent Gary Couture, commander of the east region, field operations of the