Ottawa Police Frontline Traffic Enforcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, May 3, 2024            1:16 pm

(Ottawa) – Starting May 6^th, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) Frontline will adjust their approach to traffic enforcement throughout the City of Ottawa to align enforcement with the Service’s Community Policing Strategy and District Deployment Model Pilot.

As traffic enforcement needs can be different from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, our frontline officers will use community and City Councillor feedback to strategically deploy to problem areas across the city. In addition to community feedback, officers will use information from the Fatal Collision Review Committee, speeding data and patrol observations to inform their enforcement strategies. With the support of the OPS District Traffic Manager, enforcement by frontline officers will increase to focus on communities’ varying traffic concerns.

“Traffic-related issues vary from one community to the next; with that in mind, we’re adjusting the way we do business by focusing on issues that adversely impact residents’ quality of life and aligning our resource deployments to address those issues” said Sergeant Craig Roberts, Ottawa Police District Traffic Manager.

Each quarter, our Frontline officers will conduct 18 traffic enforcement initiatives, focusing on themes such as: 

• Speeding
• Stunt driving
• Impaired driving
• Disruptive vehicle noise
• Residential-area intersection compliance

In addition to enforcement, educating drivers on safe driving behaviours will be a core component of this new approach. “We recognize that there’s no one-size-fits-all when addressing Ottawa’s traffic concerns. For example, rural communities’ traffic concerns can vary from those of their suburban and urban counterparts,” said Frontline Policing A/Superintendent Marc-Andre Sheehy, “so it’s important that we listen to communities’ priorities and adjust our enforcement plans accordingly.” 

This approach will dedicate OPS resources to traffic issues across the City of Ottawa without compromising the OPS’ ability to respond to calls for service or overall response times. 

To report traffic-related issues or make an enforcement request, please visit ottawapolice.ca.

When driving, please consider the following traffic safety tips: 

• Suspect an impaired driver? Call 911 immediately.
• Speeding puts you and everyone else on the road at risk. Consider safety each time you get behind the wheel.
• Consider your driving habits and vehicle noise when driving. We all have a responsibility to keep our neighbourhoods as quiet and safe as possible.
• Do you, or a family member’s vehicle have an aftermarket muffler or modified exhaust system that amplifies rather than suppresses noise? Consider the negative impact your vehicle’s noise has on your neighbourhood. 
• When at an intersection, please obey all signage and come to complete stops.

For more information about the OPS’s Community Policing Strategy and District Deployment Model, please click here.

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 Through the Community Safety Data portal data.ottawapolice.ca, members of the public can view, download, and interact with data released by the Ottawa Police Service.

CONTACT:

Media Relations Section

Tel: 613-236-1222, ext. 5366