Surrey Detachment Online Reporting Project (Details)

Name of province/ territory:

British Columbia

City/ Region:

Surrey

Description of Initiative:

The Surrey Detachment Online Reporting Project was initiated as a pilot project to determine the value and effectiveness of having Surrey residents report criminal activity to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) using online software.

Initiative Key Objectives:

The Surrey Detachment Online Reporting Project has several objectives:

  • reduce crime and increase community safety;
  • increase public involvement in reducing crime;
  • increase integration among all stakeholders involved in crime reduction; and
  • increase public awareness and vigilance regarding crime.

Project goals:
  • Provide an easy alternative means for clients to report crimes (e.g., enhanced customer experience) and at the same time reduce telephone and walk-in wait times.
  • Increase the amount of data captured on previously unreported crimes (e.g., improve the rate of crime reporting).
  • Provide efficiency in the reporting of crimes (e.g., one-time data entry; seamless integration with police information databases, such as the records management system and the Canadian Police Information Centre, and with the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics).
  • Reduce workload (e.g., number of calls coming into the Operational Communications Centre (OCC); files generated by frontline officers) and create efficiencies in call/complaint management (e.g., during quiet times).

Section Responsible for Implementation:

Surrey Detachment—Support Services

Key Contact:

Jason Burger
Jason.burger@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Groups/ Agencies/ Key Partners Involved:

  • civilian governing authorities

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

N/A

Amount of Time Initiative has been in Place:

The pilot project was launched on January 6, 2014.

Reason for Undertaking the Initiative:

The Online Reporting Project was undertaken to address several key factors:

  • customer service delivery;
  • data capturing; and
  • the need to use police resources more efficiently.

Resources Required to Implement this Initiative:

Planning for this pilot began in 2006. Considerable time and effort was committed by many individuals to bring this initiative to fruition. Precise costs for this project are not available at this time.

Method of Implementation:

The initiative was launched as a pilot project.

Key Outcomes of the Initiative:

Anticipated Benefits:

1. Eliminates/reduces costs associated with entering data into reports (e.g., eliminates duplication of data entry).
2. Reduces workload for frontline officers, switchboard and front counter personnel: fewer reports are filed by personnel, as the online reporting system covers multiple kinds of reports previously filed the traditional way (e.g., by phone or in person).
3. Maintains the collection of reportable data for statistical purposes.
4. Improves rates of crime reporting and may capture data not previously captured: some citizens may be more likely to use their computers to report incidents (rather than the telephone).
5. Enables initial public contact to be handled electronically, so that information is delivered to the police when it is “fresh.”
6. Eliminates waiting on phone to speak to OCC regarding lower-priority issues; reduces public inconvenience of waiting on the telephone or in line at the police station to report in person.
7. Supports diversity of client population; fosters two-way communication and provides better access for the public (e.g., has the ability to offer crime reporting in multiple languages).
8. Provides additional support for persons with disabilities to report crimes (e.g., persons who are unable to speak or hear).

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:

  • summative
  • internal
  • quantitative

Evaluation Completed or Community Feedback Received:

No

Summary of the Outcomes:

N/A

Summary of the Performance Measure Data Collected:

1. Number of queries (hits) to the e-reporting page
2. Number of online reports submitted
3. Percentages of valid General Occurrences created
4. Client/user satisfaction (responses from client surveys)
5. Reduction in OCC call volumes/wait times
6. Average time to complete/submit a report (online versus call-in or walk-in)
7. Increased access and use of the Internet overall (user hits)
8. Increased levels of crime reporting

Economics of Policing Pillars:

Further Details:

N/A

Additional Comments or Suggestions:

This pilot initiative supports RCMP strategic priorities, but also has particular value in supporting the City of Surrey’s Crime Reduction Strategy and intelligence-led policing efforts (in terms of supporting increased reporting), as well as recent reform and change management initiatives within the RCMP (e.g., Vision 2010). The initiative ensures that the RCMP remains responsive and accountable to its clients and stakeholders.

With regard to the City of Surrey’s Crime Reduction Strategy, the Online Reporting Project supports the recommendation pertaining to expanding the linguistic capability of the police to communicate with Surrey’s diverse population:

"That the police services in Surrey include an appropriate complement of members that have the necessary language skills to communicate with the City’s significant ethnic population groups."

While this recommendation does not address online reporting directly, clearly, online reporting presents an opportunity to open lines of communication between the Surrey RCMP and the communities it serves. The City of Surrey and the Surrey RCMP remain committed to creating inclusive and accessible services, whereby online reporting can be provided in multiple languages. This is an attractive feature for a multicultural city where a considerable proportion of the population uses English as a second language.

Record Entry Date:

2015-03-01

Date modified: