‘Outdated’ staffing targets limiting Ottawa police efficiency, auditor general finds

Ottawa Police sign outside headquarters on Elgin St. in Ottawa. (CTV News Ottawa)

The Ottawa Police Service is deploying frontline officers based on “outdated targets,” meaning it cannot “meet its mandate of effective and efficient policing” in the capital, according to the auditor general.

The report, to be tabled to the Ottawa Police Service Board’s finance and audit committee on Friday, also concludes police have a “lack of evidence” to show officers have completed all mandatory training and there is “inconsistent formal tracking” of training across the service.

Auditor General Nathalie Gougeon’s office was asked in October 2023 to conduct an audit to assess the risks and opportunities within the service to improve efficiency.

The audit concluded, “frontline deployment targets are outdated and increasingly difficult to sustain.”

According to the audit released Thursday morning, the Ottawa Police Service set a contractually obligated target of a minimum of 42 frontline patrol cars on duty at any time 24 hours a day during Ottawa’s amalgamation in 1995 and that has not been formally assessed since then.

The report says police recognize the “insufficiency of the 42-patrol car requirement,” and typically target a higher deployment level of closer to 48 patrol vehicles.

“This is an informal target and is not consistently achievable given frontline resource constraints,” the audit says.

“Interviews with Platoon Duty Inspectors indicated that while 48 vehicles are the operational goal, the contractual minimum of 42 is often all that is achievable, particularly during night shifts and shift changeovers.”

The audit notes staffing challenges, including rising sick leave, have left police “challenged to meet its minimum deployment targets, increasingly relying on overtime.”

“Without establishing the appropriate number of frontline resources to address the current needs of the community, OPS cannot position itself to meet its mandate of effective and efficient policing,” the auditor general’s report says.

“Further, without the corresponding appropriate number of frontline resources, OPS risks continued operational strain and reduced service effectiveness.”

Ottawa police spent $2.34 million on overtime in 2024, up 242 per cent from 2020.

According to the report, the Ottawa Police Service agrees with the recommendation to review frontline deployment requirements, and the chief of police will determine the minimum employment requirements needed to maintain “adequate and effective” policing in Ottawa.

An analysis of frontline deployment requirements is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2026.

The report notes the service has launched several initiatives to address staffing challenges, including the staffing stabilization strategy and the new district model. In 2027, the Ottawa Police Service will shift to a new four district policing model, with plans to hire 63 new officers and civilians to implement the deployment model.

The 2025 Ottawa Police Services budget includes funding for 22 new sworn officers and 28 new civilians this year. The service’s hiring plan includes hiring 145 officers a year over three years, including new recruits and experienced officers, along with covering retirements and resignations.

“Limited oversight” on training

The auditor general’s officer also found “limited oversight relative to completion of mandatory training of sworn officers.”

Officers are legislatively required to undergo use of force training and requalification, but the report says there is “no functionality within the system” to track progress against required training or alerts/notifications when training is coming due or is overdue.

“Use of force training and requalification are being tracked effectively and prompt action is taken to recover related equipment for all individuals who are not in compliance,” the report says. “However, a current, complete matrix of mandatory training by role and rank does not exist and there is inconsistent formal track of completion of mandatory training across the service. This has resulted in a lack of evidence to demonstrate all mandatory training has been completed.”

An audit of the training records of 25 sworn officers found that all officers were missing evidence of the completion of mandatory training courses, according to the auditor general. The report says 11 officers were missing evidence of qualification for the patrol carbine user course or required requalification course and 21 officers were missing evidence of qualification for the “multi-jurisdictional police response to a critical incident” training.

Ottawa police say they agree with the recommendation to ensure a comprehensive mandatory training matrix – organized by role and rank – is developed.

Other issued flagged by Ottawa’s auditor general about Ottawa police:

• Staffing policies are outdated and do not reflect current practices. The report notes policies for some positions were updated over five years ago.
• The amount of time taken to recruit sworn officers may potentially lead to the loss of prospective candidates. The report says a benchmark analysis from police services across Ontario shows the standard time to hire from initial application to an offer of employment is between six and nine months, but in some cases, it exceeds one year in Ottawa.
• Matters raised through the psychological assessments of successful sworn and civilian recruits hired went unaddressed.
• Current practices related to record-keeping of candidate recruitment files resulted in challenges in locating and accessing recruitment documents.
• No reliable tool available to support sworn staffing decisions.
• Multiple systems used for scheduling and time reporting create inefficiencies and risk of error.

“OPS continues to develop and implement strategies for sustainable staffing. As Ottawa continues to grow and the complexity of policing increases, our audit has identified areas where additional focus is required to support its staffing and deployment strategies,” the auditor general writes.