Victoria police reduce regional use of dog team
Times Colonist,
June 18, 2014
Victoria police will no longer send its canine team to assist outside jurisdictions, with the exception of Saanich.
The directive was sent to area chiefs earlier this month and announced publicly on Tuesday.
“Based on an ongoing review of VicPD K9 operations and historic deployment patterns, the deployment of VicPD K9 units will be limited to Victoria, Esquimalt and, if requested, Saanich,” the department said in a statement.
Victoria police will only send a canine team to another jurisdiction if a life is in danger. The decision appears mostly targeted at West Shore RCMP, which call on help from Victoria police much more often than they reciprocate.
No one from West Shore RCMP returned requests for comment on Tuesday.
Victoria police deputy chief Steve Ing said there is no formal agreement around how canine teams are shared among the seven police departments in Greater Victoria. “We just looked at what was necessary for effective deployment within our service area,” Ing said. “If there’s a life-and-death call, obviously we will deploy our dog team.”
Ing said as part of a review, the department analyzed numbers on how often a Victoria police canine team was deployed to outside jurisdictions compared with how often outside jurisdictions sent canine resources to VicPD. Ing would not provide those numbers to the Times Colonist.
Victoria police’s canine team has four dog handlers and a supervisor who manages two dogs.
Ing said there are no immediate plans to cut back on dog handlers. “We think we have more than enough work in our service area to keep all our officers busy,” he said, adding that canine officers perform regular police duties when they’re not engaged in a canine call.
The directive is the latest in a series of moves by Greater Victoria police departments to look out for their own interests rather than contributing to the integrated model that the province has been pushing for.
Last month, it was announced that the Regional Crime Unit would disband. Despite high-profile arrests of the region’s most prolific property criminals, the unit was limping along with just Saanich police and West Shore RCMP officers involved, following withdrawals by Victoria police in 2008 and Central Saanich police and Sidney-North Saanich RCMP last year.
Also last month, Victoria police decided to add four domestic violence investigators to its force instead of replacing the officer it removed from the Regional Domestic Violence Unit in February 2013.
The coroner’s inquest into a 2007 Oak Bay murder-suicide — in which Peter Lee killed his five-year-old son, wife and her parents before killing himself — recommended further integration of emergency services to avoid the disjointed and chaotic response in that case.
Ing said he doesn’t see this decision as moving away from the integrated policing model.
“I don’t see this as withdrawing from anything or a lack of co-operation. If anything, we are affirming our willingness to co-operate in cases of life-threatening circumstances.”
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© Copyright Times Colonist
Times Colonist,
June 18, 2014
Victoria police will no longer send its canine team to assist outside jurisdictions, with the exception of Saanich.
The directive was sent to area chiefs earlier this month and announced publicly on Tuesday.
“Based on an ongoing review of VicPD K9 operations and historic deployment patterns, the deployment of VicPD K9 units will be limited to Victoria, Esquimalt and, if requested, Saanich,” the department said in a statement.
Victoria police will only send a canine team to another jurisdiction if a life is in danger. The decision appears mostly targeted at West Shore RCMP, which call on help from Victoria police much more often than they reciprocate.
No one from West Shore RCMP returned requests for comment on Tuesday.
Victoria police deputy chief Steve Ing said there is no formal agreement around how canine teams are shared among the seven police departments in Greater Victoria. “We just looked at what was necessary for effective deployment within our service area,” Ing said. “If there’s a life-and-death call, obviously we will deploy our dog team.”
Ing said as part of a review, the department analyzed numbers on how often a Victoria police canine team was deployed to outside jurisdictions compared with how often outside jurisdictions sent canine resources to VicPD. Ing would not provide those numbers to the Times Colonist.
Victoria police’s canine team has four dog handlers and a supervisor who manages two dogs.
Ing said there are no immediate plans to cut back on dog handlers. “We think we have more than enough work in our service area to keep all our officers busy,” he said, adding that canine officers perform regular police duties when they’re not engaged in a canine call.
The directive is the latest in a series of moves by Greater Victoria police departments to look out for their own interests rather than contributing to the integrated model that the province has been pushing for.
Last month, it was announced that the Regional Crime Unit would disband. Despite high-profile arrests of the region’s most prolific property criminals, the unit was limping along with just Saanich police and West Shore RCMP officers involved, following withdrawals by Victoria police in 2008 and Central Saanich police and Sidney-North Saanich RCMP last year.
Also last month, Victoria police decided to add four domestic violence investigators to its force instead of replacing the officer it removed from the Regional Domestic Violence Unit in February 2013.
The coroner’s inquest into a 2007 Oak Bay murder-suicide — in which Peter Lee killed his five-year-old son, wife and her parents before killing himself — recommended further integration of emergency services to avoid the disjointed and chaotic response in that case.
Ing said he doesn’t see this decision as moving away from the integrated policing model.
“I don’t see this as withdrawing from anything or a lack of co-operation. If anything, we are affirming our willingness to co-operate in cases of life-threatening circumstances.”
[email protected]
© Copyright Times Colonist