Victoria, BC – On Wednesday, we launched Open VicPD, a one-stop hub for information about the Victoria Police Department. Open VicPD is part of our efforts to be as transparent and accountable as possible.

Our interactive VicPD Community Dashboard, alongside our online quarterly reports, publications, and other information, tells the story of how we are working towards our strategic vision of “A Safer Community Together.”

The VicPD Community Dashboard is an integral component of the VicPD Strategic Plan 2020; sharing data and other information as measures of our work as the police service for the communities of Victoria and Esquimalt.  Through this proactive and interactive sharing of information, it is hoped that citizens can learn more about VicPD and how we currently deliver policing services, while starting conversations about additional opportunities and challenges that deserve greater attention.

Information Provided Through the VicPD Community Dashboard

Our VicPD Community Dashboard and the Quarterly Reports provide data and analysis at different levels of depth, and over different time periods. Some of this information comes directly from VicPD, while other information, like the Crime Severity Index for Victoria and Esquimalt, is produced by outside agencies like Stats Canada. All of the measures are drawn from our Strategic Plan 2020 and from reports created at the direction of the Victoria and Esquimalt Police Board and/or through municipal, provincial and federal data and information sharing agreements. We’ll share an introduction to the Quarterly Reports tomorrow.

The Three Goals

Our VicPD Community Dashboard is organized through the three goals of our Strategic Plan 2020: Support Community Safety, Enhance Public Trust and Achieve Organizational Excellence.

Five Measurement Categories

There are five subcategories under each of the three goals that provide year-to-year insight into how we are measuring our progress on these goals. These subcategories aren’t an exhaustive list of all aspects of how we deliver policing services in Victoria and Esquimalt, but are what we feel to be the best measures of our year-to-year progress. We’ll be asking for your feedback on these measures and how we can improve the Community Dashboard and we’ll be taking deeper dives into these measures in the weeks ahead.

Support Community Safety

Supporting community safety is at the core of our work at the Victoria Police Department. Our 2020-2024 Strategic Plan takes a three-point approach to community safety: fighting crime, preventing crime, and contributing to community vibrancy.

The measures used are:

  • Calls For Service
  • Crime Severity Index
  • Crime Rates
  • Perception of Crime
  • VicPD Block Watch

 

Enhance Public Trust

Public trust is essential to effective community-based policing. That is why we aim to further enhance the public trust by continuing to engage the public, collaborate with our diverse communities, and maximize transparency.

The measures used are:

  • Public Satisfaction
  • Perception of Accountability
  • Public Safety Campaigns
  • Documents Released to the Public
  • Volunteer & Reserve Constable Hours

 

Achieve Organizational Excellence

VicPD is always looking at ways to be better. The 2020-2024 VicPD Strategic Plan aims to achieve organizational excellence by supporting our people, maximizing efficiency and effectiveness, and using technology to support our work.

The measures are:

  • Case Load Per Officer
  • Time Loss
  • Deployable Officers
  • Public Complaints
  • Response Time

 

Join Us In Learning More 

We’ll be walking you through each of the goals and their subsequent measures in detail over the coming weeks. Each week, for the next 15 weeks, we’ll look at one of these measures in detail to help you understand what we’re measuring, why we’re measuring it and how we think it helps you track our progress towards achieving our goals. Join us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and VicPD.ca to join us in a deeper dive into VicPD.

We Want to Hear From You!

As part of our goals to improve your understanding of how we work and what measures we’re using and why, we welcome your feedback. Please email us your questions and suggestions.

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