Ottawa police expand special constable program

Ottawa police have expanded their use of special constables — unarmed peace officers with nearly all the training of a patrol officer but without the option to use lethal force — to take some of the workload off an overburdened front line.

The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) launched a pilot in March 2024, with four special constables assigned to assist half of the patrol platoons in the west and central divisions respond to non-emergency calls.

They deployed in marked special constable cruisers, and were dispatched by the police communications centre or assigned by supervising officers.

Special Const. Cameron Entwistle, who co-created the pilot program with two other police officers, said their role is to  complement front-line officers and assist with lower-priority calls for service.

"It's allowing police officers to focus again on their core policing duties and be more available for those higher-priority calls, be more available to assist each other," said Entwistle.

It's the latest iteration of the OPS's push to "civilianize" some policing duties, which involves looking at what work needs to be done and whether someone with a gun needs to do it.

Based on the early results, police are now expanding the pilot to all platoons and divisions with 14 more special constables.

New legislation expands duties

Special constables are sworn peace officers hired by a police force or another employer such as OC Transpo, then trained by the province. OPS has employed them for decades, primarily to work at the courthouse and cellblocks where they transport prisoners in custody, serve court documents, and fingerprint and photograph suspects charged with crimes.

They wear a duty belt but do not carry a Taser or firearm. Their uniforms are similar to police uniforms but have different markings, flashes and a royal blue stripe down the leg. 

New legislation expanded their authorities as of April 1. The Community Safety and Policing Act, the legislation that governs police boards, services and officers in the province, now allows special constables employed by police services to do much more than they were allowed under the Police Services Act, the previous legislation. 

In the first year of the pilot, four special constables attended about 1,000 calls in one year. A little more than half were Mental Health Act apprehensions at hospital.

Two police officers are typically required to guard a person in hospital, but under new special constable authorities, one police officer can be relieved by a special constable, freeing that officer up to respond to emergency calls.

Early results positive, police say

Special constables are also now deployed for traffic control duties including assisting officers with directing traffic, closing roads for collisions, crime scenes or protests, and towing vehicles. On average, those four special constables were able to "return," or free up, 250 hours back to patrol officers.

Officers who were relieved by a special constable were, on average, likely to attend 2.5 more calls for service a day, Entwistle said. Platoons with special constables were also able to devote more time to proactive policing than were platoons without them.

Special constables are required to take an eight-week training program once hired, plus additional training with their home services. They receive training in the Mental Health Act and de-escalation.

The service is also looking at how special constables could help detectives, and is hiring a forensic identification special constable to work as a civilian technician to assist with forensic tasks.

The OPS is funding its efforts to integrate special constables into the service with a $4-million grant from the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General.

Change long overdue: expert

Greg Brown, a policing expert and former Ottawa police officer who now sits on an Ontario Provincial Police services board, said relieving officers of those resource-intensive tasks is long overdue.

"It was demoralizing to come in on a day shift and meet the night shift staff sergeant and find out that two-thirds of your officers are guarding people in hospitals. You've got four cruisers on the road when you're supposed to have 14 or 16," he said.

"It's ... very unsafe to have that kind of manpower off the road."

Tom Ledgley is a co-ordinator for Horizon Ottawa, a community organization that advocates for progressive change at the municipal level. The group has consistently asked the police board to defund, disarm and "de-task" the OPS.

"Certainly we're not upset about the fact that they're not going to be armed. That's obviously a good thing. We don't want to see any kind of deadly force being used if it doesn't have to be," he said.

"The main problem is that advocates in the community who want to see better services from our police, more compassion from police. We're really not looking for solutions that come from the police themselves," he said.

"We've consistently asked for programs that actually de-task police officers and have other city departments take care of these things."

Salaries could hit $100K

While they are sworn peace officers, special constables are considered civilian police employees who are covered by the civilian contract of the OPS. 

Ottawa Police Association president Matthew Cox, whose union represents both special constables and officers, says special constables could be part of the solution to the service's ongoing staffing shortages, but the force still needs to hire officers. He said the special constable must continue supporting officers, not replace them.

Cox said the civilian and sworn contracts differ primarily in retirement eligibility and rates of pay.

As of July 1, special constables can earn just over $100,000. It would take a newly hired special constable about five years to reach that rate.

That means some special constables will have to publicly disclose their salary on the province's Sunshine List for public servants who earn $100,000 or more.