Welcome to the OPP. Certain specialties are authorized to wear dark blue 'tactical' (I don't know what it is actually called). Off the top of my head, In-Service Training, Forensic Ident, Underwater Search and Recovery, and Emergency Response Teams (one step down from tactical). I've never understood the logic of some approvals. Some regular patrol members still lobby for tactical gear because, you know, it's a jungle out there.
A today shot in a local paper. I believe these are Underwater Search and Recovery team members
View attachment 77430(I believe the member on the right is Canine).
Working in the brush the special duty guys blouse them to keep ticks and bugs out. It makes sense. I’ve done it in the woods as well. I should have been more clear - but I did say “on patrol”- I am surprised to see the amount of blousing in that photo. Training guys doing that gets a massive eye roll from me.
The patrol guys are always asking. You’re right. It’s a constant battle. Finding the sweet spot for comfort and utility and “professional”. I do find it interesting, and it’s not mutually exclusive, that people want cops simultaneously looking like they “mean business” and being approachable and connecting with the community. They aren’t exclusive but they are competing.
spencer100 is saying officers patrolling the streets downtown have bloused boots.
They actually take a big weight off of the 911 calls in the areas where they are - and every restaurant manager, pub/bar manager, security guard, bouncer, etc knows them on a first name basis
Where I currently moonlight as a bouncer on the weekends now, they have 3 or 4 teams of 2-3 officers, walking up and down Whyte Ave. They tend to be fairly high vis (as much as a black municipal police uniform can be) with POLICE across their back in reflective lettering, the proper red stripe down the pants, peaked cap, etc
They chat with people, staff, randomly go into high traffic spots (nightclubs) and do a presence patrol (aka walk around to let people know they are around) etc
There are police vehicles that work their way up & down the street also, or just park off the street for when the foot patrol requires additional bodies or is dealing with something
So far it’s worked great. Everybody who works on Whyte Ave on the weekends are familiar with the officers, and they are familiar with us also. Always big smiles & handshakes going around.
If someone calls 911 for something - boom, they are there and it’s taken off the screens. Fight breaks out? The police are usually on it within 30-45 seconds or so.
And it’s drastically reduced the number of drunk drivers on the road (originating from Whyte Ave) as people are too scared to even bother trying when there is literally a police unit within eyesight
Honestly depending on the various factors at play, the BEAT teams do work extremely well.
I do know that in some districts in Edmonton when officers sign on they have two scrolling pages of calls waiting in their queue.
Youre right that is reduces nuisance calls in an area like whyte ave. But it’s less proven to lower your overall volume- as it tends to push your vegetables around your plate.
They are certainly valuable in the context you’re talking about.
I deploy(deployed) foot patrols anywhere we had crowds. I didn’t consider it “beat” policing. But I suppose it is.
You’re right!
I have a hard time with stacked emergency calls and folks wandering around on foot. But it’s not as simple as chasing calls all over their zones and districts.
There is an annoying thing that happens with community business groups where they always want foot patrols in their area- rightfully and reasonably- but at the cost of operational police from other areas. The issue is that the beat idea takes MORE cops not less or the same.
There are ways to fund and saturate cops in areas like that- but it’s not as simple as “this cop now walks this street”.
This has come up in planning meetings quite often. It’s usually left to the way side once people see how many more cops they’d need to hire.
That’s also the reason it’s targeted to areas that benefit from it rather than it being the primary way to deploy officers.
I suppose my reaction was to the ease of the suggestion of throwing more 100 thousand dollar officers, that we can’t hire, to walk around neighbour hoods and streets.
Then there is the issue that Toronto ran into where when they saturated neighbourhoods, including community “beat” officers, by calls for service and crime rates they were blasted for profiling.
