Building relationships key to Community Intake Coordinator's role
Back to SearchAs we get ready to launch another Police Week celebration, we wanted to take a moment to introduce you to the members who are behind the scenes and organizing all the family-friendly events that are being hosted city-wide from May 14 to 20, 2023.
Part of the reason why the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) hosts these events each year is to provide an opportunity to get to know each other a bit better, an open house of sorts, and to listen to community concerns to help develop solutions to public safety issues, together.
In 2019, the OPS introduced a new civilian role of Community Intake Coordinator. Christine Scott and Sarah West work closely with the Service’s Community Police Officers (CPOs) and our Neighbourhood Resource Teams (NRTs) to deliver programs and events that help build relationships within our communities, which is important for the work we do as police professionals.
“The most rewarding part, for me, is watching our Community Police Officers engage with children,” said Christine. “I make a point of attending every event we host and seeing things like a lineup of happy kids wanting to play a game with the Hoopstars is just wonderful.”
She emphasizes that relationship-building is an important part of the work that they both do. This year, it includes a new initiative to partner our NRTs with Shelter Movers Ottawa, which helps people leave abusive relationships at no cost to the person in crisis. The Service is in the process of creating a memorandum of understanding to partner our NRT officers with Shelter Movers to help those most in need.
Other initiatives include fraud prevention presentations at senior homes, or personal safety/crime prevention presentations at area schools, businesses, or with other community groups. They also liaise with City Council to connect them with their CPO for events that they host within their own communities.
Sarah agrees that building positive relationships is an integral function of the role, outlining that those relationships extend to city partners, Council members, and residents, and are an important part of the work they do to help the Service better-serve the residents of Ottawa.
“We help to organize the annual Community Police Awards,” said Sarah. “It’s a fantastic way to recognize the heroic actions of our city’s residents. I admire these individuals for what they’ve done; that they helped someone in their time of need and I’m so happy that they are recognized.
“The whole night, you’re just in awe of these people and we need more moments like that to celebrate as a community.”
The two also coordinate training for officers in conjunction with Crime Prevention Ottawa, as well as other initiatives year-round that provide educational opportunities to help our officers engage in proactive policing measures.
“I have a lot of respect for the work our Community Police Officers do,” said Christine. “These officers really know their communities and have worked hard to develop those relationships.”
In the end, it’s about the benefits of making personal contacts and helping those in need.
“Being able to connect residents with our officers to help them build safer communities, well there’s a lot of pride and joy in being able to do that,” said Sarah.
If you are interested in having a public safety presentation for your own community event, you can reach out to Sarah and Christine at NeighbourhoodPolicing@ottawapolice.ca.