SAANICH POLICE STRATEGIC PLAN 2023-2026
Download the official PDF or read about the strategic plan below
The Saanich Police Board is pleased to present the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan for the Saanich Police Department. It reflects the Board’s commitment to community-based policing and to the well-being of all Department staff. It reflects the commitment of the Board and the Department to deliver professional, respectful, inclusive, and compassionate policing services to all who live, work and play in Saanich.
The plan addresses the priorities expressed by the community and aligns these with the priorities of the Board and the Department under Chief Duthie’s leadership. The plan outlines our key strategic objective of community safety and well-being by providing service excellence through community connections, using strategic foresight and innovation, while ensuring organizational resilience and growth of the Department to serve our community. We recognize the needs of all Department staff for a respectful workplace, work-life balance, and support as they face stressful situations.
Through its oversight functions, the Board and its committees will continuously evaluate our progress in achieving our goals. The Board and the Department will continue to work with community stakeholders to ensure that the programs and services provided continue to meet community goals and expectations.
The Board sincerely thanks all sworn and civilian staff, and volunteers, for their professionalism, commitment, courage, and resilience as they continue to work hard to earn and maintain our community’s trust and confidence in our community policing.
As we implement the plan, we look forward to hearing ideas and feedback from all stakeholders and members of our community.
Message from the Chief Constable
This focused and meaningful plan represents an inclusive and authentic connection to all our staff and the people we serve in the vibrant and progressive community of Saanich. The heart of this plan is based on community and staff consultations. This healthy collaboration identified important priorities that will guide us, as we and our community continue to adapt and respond to new challenges in the next four years.
We are modernizing and diversifying our approach to our relationships with our community. Our service delivery will continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of our community. We are wholeheartedly committed to building and strengthening these vital relationships as they strongly align with our vision, mission and values.
Our greatest strength is our dedicated, courageous, and compassionate staff who live our values as they provide reliable, ethical, and responsive police service to all people in Saanich. We will continue to invest in health and wellness to ensure that we, as an organization, stay strong and resilient as we strive to keep you and your family feeling safe.
We are very grateful for the heartfelt support, confidence, and trust of our Police Board, Council, and community and look forward to continuing to work together to accomplish our collective goals of enhancing peace and public safety.
Our Approach to Engagement
Understanding the views and experiences of our staff and community was a vital part of the strategic planning process. It was important to us that this strategic plan reflect their collective priorities, while continuing to build on the work of our previous strategic plan.
We engaged with our staff, community and partners using surveys, interviews, focus groups and an online public forum, all to better understand what they felt was important to consider for this strategic plan.
We appreciate the input we received from so many people in our community. The community forum hosted over 70 attendees from over 40 community groups and partner organizations. Nearly all (99%) of the over 500 survey respondents live or work in Saanich, with 40% of respondents reporting personal contact with the Department in the past two years. Our community provided us with over 1,800 detailed comments to help us understand their experiences with the Saanich Police Department (SPD) and set the strategic direction for the organization over the next four years.
Our Vision, Mission, & Values
We are guided in our everyday actions by our vision, mission, and values. The vision of the SPD is meant to be inspirational and aspirational. Our mission emphasizes how we will deliver our services in pursuit of our vision. It is important for us to be constantly evolving and growing to best meet the needs of our community.
Vision Statement
Providing the highest quality police service that inspires pride, respect, and trust
Mission Statement
To provide culturally-informed, community-responsive public safety services
Our Values
We strive to uphold the standards expected of a police service as set out in the British Columbia Police Code of Ethics, and the British Columbia Police Act. Our review of staff and community feedback highlighted the primary importance of accountability, inclusivity, and compassion as the foundational values to guide the work of the SPD over the next four years.
Our Key Strategic Commitments
Over the next four years, our work will be guided by four key strategic commitments: Service Excellence, Community Connections, Strategic Foresight and Innovation, and Organizational Resilience and Growth. This plan articulates the high-level strategies within each of these areas.
Our strategic commitments will help direct our efforts while allowing us to adapt to new and emerging issues and evolving community priorities. These strategic commitments are interdependent – success in one area is reliant upon progress in the others. Our annual Action Plan will be used to operationalize the Strategic Plan by setting out the resource inputs, organizational activities, and desired outcomes from year to year. We will provide Annual Reports to the community to outline our progress in pursuit of these goals, the successes we have achieved, and where changes or adjustments need to be made.
Service Excellence
GOAL: TO REDUCE CRIME AND SOCIAL DISORDER USING EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES
STRATEGY 1: ENSURE INVESTIGATIVE EXCELLENCE
We will use intelligence-led strategies and a visible police presence to deter both criminal offences and public safety issues. We will continue to collaborate with our policing partners at the local, provincial, national, and international levels to ensure the most effective and efficient police response. We recognize the increasing prevalence of online offences, and will dedicate staff training and resources to address these crimes and mitigate their impact on our community.
STRATEGY 2: ADDRESS INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE
We are committed to reducing all forms of violence in our community. Through intelligence-led initiatives and collaboration with our partners, we will address the most serious threats to public safety. We will focus our operational training and resources to identify, investigate, disrupt and prosecute activities that pose the greatest risks to individual and public safety in our community.
STRATEGY 3: ENHANCE ROAD SAFETY
We will continue to focus our enforcement efforts on speeding, distracted driving, and impaired driving, to enhance safety for all road users. Opportunities to enhance pedestrian and cyclist safety will be realized through the application of new technology, participation in road safety campaigns, and support for improved transportation infrastructure design.
STRATEGY 4: PROVIDE VICTIM & WITNESS SUPPORT
We appreciate how distressing it is to be a victim or witness to crime. We always strive to provide a compassionate and trauma-informed approach to every police interaction. We will continue to develop more tools and resources so our officers can best support victims and witnesses, including working with our partners to offer comprehensive supports to people involved with the criminal justice system.
WAYS TO MEASURE SUCCESS:
- Crime severity index and clearance rates for offences occurring in the District of Saanich
- Number and nature of motor vehicle incidents
- Number of speeding, distracted driving, and impaired driving investigations completed
- Incorporation of trauma-informed resources and supports in the conduct of police investigations
- Number and type of victim and witness support referrals
- Public feelings of safety and security in Saanich
Community Connections
GOAL: ENHANCE MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE COMMUNITY
STRATEGY 1: ENGAGE WITH YOUTH
Our services to youth in school settings are evolving. We will continue to identify meaningful opportunities to proactively connect with youth in our community. Maintaining positive relationships with youth is an integral part of crime prevention and building trust and confidence in the police both now and into the future.
STRATEGY 2: FURTHER EQUITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
We acknowledge the negative impact that the criminal justice system has on relationships between the police and diverse communities. We will continue to build positive relationships, identify and eliminate bias, and advance meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. We are committed to enhancing our organizational culture of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion through recruiting initiatives, training opportunities, and meaningful community engagement.
STRATEGY 3: MAINTAIN OPEN COMMUNICATION
Enhancing public trust and confidence requires open and ongoing communication between the SPD and the community we serve. We will continue to enhance our capacity to solicit and receive information and feedback from the community to inform our service delivery. Likewise, we will ensure that we provide timely and accurate information updates to the community using a variety of communication methods including in-person presentations, social media postings, news releases and formal publications.
WAYS TO MEASURE SUCCESS:
- Feedback from youth about their interactions with the SPD and feelings of trust, confidence and safety
- Level of youth participation in police-related programs and public safety volunteer roles
- Proportion of staff members self-reporting as a member of an equity-deserving group including women, Indigenous, Black or racialized people, 2SLGBTQ+ individuals, and people with disabilities
- Proportion of staff members self-reporting diverse language abilities
- Number of meaningful engagements with diverse social, cultural, and ethnic community groups
- Community uptake of SPD information sharing through public reporting
Strategic Foresight & Innovation
GOAL: USE INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO ADDRESS EXISTING ISSUES AND EMERGING CHALLENGES
STRATEGY 1: FACILITATE COLLABORATION & PARTNERSHIPS
Solutions to many societal issues are beyond the ability of the police to resolve alone. Homelessness, addiction, and mental health are complex challenges being faced by every community in our region. We recognize that an individual’s behaviour is influenced by a variety of social factors, and that engagement with community programs and resources is essential to achieve long-term public safety outcomes. Collaboration with our community and partners is our best strategy to address these issues effectively and efficiently.
STRATEGY 2: ENABLE EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT SERVICES
We will continue to seek new and better ways to deliver services through evaluation and research. By looking ahead to identify emerging public safety issues, we can take proactive steps to mitigate their impact by adopting innovative approaches, new technologies, and progressive training. We will continue to assess our existing programs and service delivery models to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of our public safety services.
STRATEGY 3: ADVANCE CRIME PREVENTION
Crime prevention is a shared responsibility between the public and the police. We recognize the importance of providing timely information and education to our community in pursuit of this goal. Through our continued commitment to community safety programs, we will share information and training aimed at preventing people from becoming victims of crime.
WAYS TO MEASURE SUCCESS:
- Number of formalized service delivery relationships with partner organizations
- Partner organization feedback about the value of SPD contributions
- Findings from program evaluations and service delivery reviews
- Community feedback about SPD public safety service delivery
- Community feedback about the value of SPD crime prevention programs
Organizational Resilience & Growth
GOAL: SUPPORTING OUR PEOPLE TO BETTER SERVE THE PUBLIC
STRATEGY 1: PROMOTE HEALTH & WELLNESS
We recognize that the work we do can adversely impact the physical and mental health of our officers and civilian staff. We will continue to prioritize mental health resources, resiliency training and wellness programs to proactively provide our staff with the supports they deserve. Our ongoing commitment to comprehensive health and wellness will include improvements to our existing programs and an ongoing search for innovative and effective models for staff support.
STRATEGY 2: INVEST IN TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
Excellence in service delivery is underpinned by progressive and comprehensive training and development. We will continue to support the ongoing professional development for our officers and civilian staff by investing in innovative training, emerging technologies, modern facilities, and collaborative instructional opportunities.
STRATEGY 3: SEEK APPROPRIATE RESOURCING
We will continue to bring forward evidence-informed requests for staff and material resources to meet organizational and police service delivery needs. Our community is growing and evolving, and our organization must likewise grow and evolve to meet both current and future public safety service delivery needs and expectations.
STRATEGY 4: SUSTAIN INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
Maintaining a strong organizational culture requires ongoing communication and feedback. This helps our staff to be fully engaged in the work they do, understand the “why” underpinning decision making, and ensures that staff have a role effecting meaningful change. We will strive to continuously improve our internal communications and identify creative, healthy, and productive ways to champion change initiatives.
WAYS TO MEASURE SUCCESS:
- Number and duration of staff absences due to physical or mental health issues
- Nature, scope, and participation in the Department’s training initiatives for both in-service and advanced programs
- Staff feedback about the effectiveness and value of in-service and advanced training programs and opportunities
- Formal evaluations of operational and administrative capacity to inform staff and material resource requests
- Staff feedback about the effectiveness and efficiency of internal engagement and communication initiatives
