Keeping up with demands biggest challenge for Ottawa police in 2026, chief says

Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs sits down with CTV’s Patricia Boal for a year-end interview.

Ottawa Police Chief Eric Stubbs says 2026 will bring many challenges to the Ottawa Police Service but will also be a year of transformation.

In a year-end interview with CTV News Ottawa’s Patricia Boal, Stubbs said the growing demand for police response all across Ottawa, and not just downtown, is the biggest challenge he expects to face in the new year.

“We have a lot of asks for us from Barrhaven, Kanata, Orléans, some of the smaller, rural communities. They want more presence,” he said.

• Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters

The 2026 budget includes a $26 million increase over 2025 funding and a one-time injection of $5.4 million from the city’s tax stabilization reserve, with plans to hire 25 new officers. Stubbs said, however, the budget increase is not as much as he would have liked, and it will cause some strain.

“You ask most police chiefs and there’s always a need for more. Here in Ottawa, we have a lot of demands on the Ottawa Police Service. A growing, sprawling community, the capital of Canada, so many major events and demonstrations. There’s a lot on the police service right now,” he said.

Early in 2025, police had said they were projecting more than $40 million in budgetary pressures in 2026, largely attributed to staffing costs.

Some of the major issues Stubbs said he’s seeing in Ottawa include auto theft, traffic problems, and cybercrime.

“The fraud and the cybercrime is a really intense piece of our industry that’s really increasing and having investigators that can really manage those, that’s a problem as well. Traffic complaints are something every ward reports in. They really want to see us more,” he said.

Moving to a district model

The Ottawa Police Service will be moving to its district model, with a focus on eastern, western, central, and southern parts of the city. Stubbs said it will also look more closely at individual neighbourhoods.

“Our district model of policing that we’re moving to, and it’s going to take us another year to fully implement it, that is what we want to do. Make sure that we’re listening to people in specific neighbourhoods, not just regions like Kanata or Orléans, but in neighbourhoods. What do they need and how can we tailor our response, with our finite resources, to help them out?” Stubbs said.

The police service has been operating under a “centralized structure” since 2017, but the Ottawa Police Service Board was told earlier this year that that structure is proving to be limited. The four-district model will allow the police service to respond to the different needs of each area of the city. Stubbs said it will also allow officers to be more involved in the community and be proactive, instead of reactive.

“The main advantage is structuring the way we deliver to places that we’re not just reactive. Right now, for sure in the last five to eight years, we’ve been very reactive, responding to calls, there’s a bit of a queue there. We’re structing ourselves so we can be more proactive, go after prolific offenders that are really causing a lot of our issues. Do that traffic enforcement. Interact with the community, getting to know them. We need time to do that. If members are going from call to call, that doesn’t work.”

Moving to the district model will cost $11.4 million over three years and require hiring 63 more officers and civilians. It also includes a new $187.7 million south district facility in Barrhaven, but that is not projected to be complete until 2027.

Downtown core

Focus on issues in the downtown core, particularly the ByWard Market, were highlighted when Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said the city would be spending $1 million on private security guards in the Market area.

Stubbs said there is a role for everyone when it comes to community safety.

“The more that we have down here to assist with safety, be it social agencies, outreach workers, ambassadors, private security, police, the help of business and the residents, we’ll be better for it. It will be a safer community. There’s no doubt about it. Obviously, more officers will help,” he said.

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

On Dec. 15, the police service launched deployed 14 more officers to its downtown neighbourhood resource teams, which cover the ByWard Market area as well as Centretown, Lowertown, and Sandy Hill.

“We had a board meeting in December and people spoke of not feeling safe in Sandy Hill and Lowertown. We want them to feel safe and there’s certain people there that are contributing to that, and that enforcement, you’re going to see that increase as well.”

The mounted police unit also launched in 2025, something Stubbs said was sorely needed in the capital.

“We have a lot of major events and a lot of demonstrations. And I can think, in my three years, the number of times we could have deployed this unit to greatly assist us in trying to manage these things. These are Clydesdales, they’re big horses. If we need to separate opposing groups, counter protests, and create a wedge between two groups, this is best way to do it. If people need to be moved off a road, slowly but safely, these horses are fantastic at doing that,” he said.

The 2025 Ottawa Police Service budget outlined a plan to spend $1.4 million a year for three years to launch the new Mounted Patrol Unit. Funding from the Ontario and federal governments will cover the $4.2 million cost over three years.

Body-worn cameras

This year also marked the long-awaited launch of body-worn cameras at the Ottawa Police Service.

Thirty cameras were purchased this year for the launch of the project, which are being worn by members of the Crisis Intervention Team and designated sergeants on the frontline. The use of body cameras is part of a pilot project tied to recommendations from the inquest into the death of Abdirahman Abdi in 2016.

Ottawa police expect to roll the cameras out to all frontline officers by 2027.

Stubbs said they have several uses.

“One, they do collect best evidence. When we arrive on a scene, sometimes we’re talking to people. They’re telling us things, we see things. That’s a very good thing as well, too. On the accountability and transparency side, it’s both ways — it’s accountability for our officers but also for the public, as well. There’s some studies that show the public behaves better when we have the cameras,” he said.

Findings on the purported benefits of body-worn cameras, particularly on citizen behaviour and complaints, are mixed. A collection of studies in the U.S. had varying results, according to a 2022 analysis by the National Institute of Justice. Some police services in Canada have started and later abandoned body-worn camera projects, saying they didn’t provide value for the cost to implement and maintain them.

Stubbs, however, said the new technology available to officers today has additional benefits beyond transparency.

“The technology we have with these cameras, it’s incredible. We have translation services through our camera. If you’re speaking a language I don’t know, it will translate what you’re trying to tell me and vice versa to you,” he said.

Officers’ mental health

Stubbs also said the Ottawa Police Service is working with the Ottawa Police Association to provide better mental health services for officers, through a new wellness program.

“They do go through a lot. There’s a lot that they have to endure, that they have to witness, that they have to assist with. We’ve had a number of our officers injured in the last year. It concerns me a great deal,” he said. “We did work with the Ottawa Police Association and the OPS on a new wellness program. The whole program, we dissected it and sort of rolled out what we think is more support for members as they work through this difficult but very rewarding career. This is a great industry that we’re working in, but it does have its challenges.”

Looking ahead to 2026, Stubbs said, despite the pressure on the budget, the police service will be focused on its key initiatives in the new year.

“The budget we put forward, we’re certainly pleased that we’ll be able to deliver on a number of our key initiatives and also pay for our collective bargaining agreement that was signed this year, so, there’s increases in salaries. There’s no doubt that our budget will be strained. There will be a lot of stress under it in 2026. It’s up to us to try to manage that as best we can.”