Q & A: New Windsor police deputy chiefs share goals for WPS

CTV News Windsor’s Stefanie Masotti sat down with newly appointed Windsor Police Service’s Deputy Chief of operations Jason Crowley and acting Deputy Chief of operational support Karel Degraaf as they move into their new positions to discuss their thoughts, plans and goals for the WPS.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Masotti: I'm joined by two people that you may or may not know they are both from the Windsor Police Service. Thank you for joining us. We have Jason Crowley, who has been named the permanent Deputy Chief of operations and Karel Degraaf is the new acting Deputy Chief of operational support. Again, thank you for joining us today. Can you briefly describe to me your new roles and responsibilities?

Crowley: I'm the Deputy Chief of operations like you said, and in a nutshell, anyone you see pretty much in uniform or detectives, anyone in operations that's very simple.

Degraaf: I take on the acting Deputy Chief role of operational support and that is more of an administrative function and I take care of professional advancement, human resources and technology services.

Masotti: Some people in the public may be critical of your appointment in regards to a stunt driving charge that happened back on Jan. 7 in Amherstburg. What message do you have for the public who are question your leadership?

Crowley: I have a 30 year career that's been distinguished and excelled in many areas. But what I can say is, is really I can't say anything about that right now. Ontario's civilian police commission still has their review and they have not called a shed on it. So until then, I know people are interested but it just cannot at this point. Sure. We'll have a day when we can talk but right now I can't.

Masotti: Let's move forward. Now. What are your goals for this year and moving forward?

Crowley: So my goals in operations is always service delivery. So I mean, the widget we make in our production is service delivery. So in improving service delivery for the community, finding efficiencies that kind of thing. That's what my goal is. Our member wellness is a goal of all of ours, things like that. So that's what really my immediate futures.

Masotti: Member wellness. Can you go into that a little further?

Crowley: Sure. I mean, we've all seen frontline policing and emergency services in general, having issues with PTSD and you know, psychological effects of a long career and emergency response. So, our members’ wellness is very important to us. We work with our association with mental health professionals as well and it's, it's something that wasn't talked about 30 years ago when I started but it's certainly on the forefront now. 

Masotti: Where do you see the service 10 years from now?

Crowley: Well, that's a good question that with technology, things have changed so much in the last 10 years, let alone the next 10 years. So personally, I see us still obviously doing police work, but I mean, for the last few years in general has shown anything, how we've really adapted to community needs with mental health and addiction. And those are the things you never know where it might go because we didn't expect that even 10 years ago. So it's always evolving.

Masotti: Deputy Chief Degraaf, goals for yourself?

Degraaf: So, we're very much an innovative police service, and we're looking to try to implement a number of different techniques, technological advancements, and those include like automated license plate readers in car camera systems. Looking towards the development and use of artificial intelligence to assist to improve our efficiencies and to take a lot of the administrative work off of our officers so they can they can better function and perform within our community and be more community focused.

Masotti: There are so many incidences in the news that we cover that involve police officers, whether they were in the right or the wrong. How essential is technology to protect the officers or to share with the public the truth about what actually happened in a particular incident?

Degraaf: Yes. Again, what's the implementation of the in car camera systems? That is something that we're obviously looking to implement in this very much short term. And there are certainly there'll be recording officers’ interactions with the public. The camera system will obviously record the interaction within the proximity of the individual and our officers on the front line and incredibly professional. They treat the community with respect and empathy, so although you speak to these occurrences, I think its more of an officer safety factor and it will also be able to provide us with additional evidence when we do have to go to court for some of these cases.

Masotti: I want to touch on the number of people who are moving to Canada from outside of this country. Some of them may not have the best experience with the officers in their home country. What message do you have for them?

Crowley: We work with our partnerships within the community very hard, very diligently to try and break down some of those walls and those barriers with just what you're talking about. You know, we have the multicultural council, we have the new center — we nicknamed the center of excellence. We work with them a lot to really dispel some of those rumors and involve the police and humanize the position to really show that it's not the same here. And we're here to help.

Masotti: There was an incident that happened last week about a hoax. Two little girls that were kidnapped found in the trunk of a car. The community is still pretty shaken up about that. Again, talk to us about how important it is when it comes to social media to look at the sources and before sharing that information to make sure what you're sharing is true.

Degraaf: It's the quality of the information that you're receiving. We're certainly moving towards more of a social media aspect, but we certainly urge the public to rely on either information that the police is putting out or reputable news sources so a posts on Facebook certainly doesn't provide any context, timing, nor intelligence about what is actually going on within the community. So I would certainly urge that if somebody does obviously witness a crime, obviously to use to report it to us or through Crimestoppers and that would be your best mode of obtaining information.

Crowley: And confirming it if you believe something may have happened. See a post? Call the police call the non emergency number and confirm say ‘hey look, is this true?’

Masotti: Once again, congratulations on your positions. Thank you for joining us and you're welcome back anytime.