Ottawa police launches Special Constable Pilot Project

The Ottawa Police Service announced Friday the launch of its District Special Constable Pilot Project to improve its operations and free up frontline officers for other duties. (Ottawa Police Service/ X)

The Ottawa Police Service announced Friday the launch of its District Special Constable Pilot Project to improve its operations and free up frontline officers for other duties.

The city’s police said in a news release on Friday its pilot project will deploy special constables to help front line police officers by sending them to multiple non-emergency calls.

The special constables will have two new roles, including helping with custody of persons apprehended under the Mental health act, and assisting with traffic control duties, reads the release.

“Currently, two police officers are required to maintain custody of a detainee at hospital. A special constable will relieve the secondary police officer so they can return to patrol duties and respond to other emergencies,” read the release.

“The second role is traffic control duties. They will assist police officers with traffic direction and road closures to alleviate frontline resources. This includes road closures at collision scenes, crime scenes, events, demonstrations and any other incident that may require traffic control. (They) will also support frontline officers with towing or removing vehicles from roadways.”

The pilot project will run for a period of six months.

Police are now hiring to fill the Special Constable positions.