From: Office of the Chief of Police
Sent: December 9, 2010 8:29 PM
Subject: In response to issues raised by OPA President
Yesterday, a letter was sent by email to all Ottawa Police Service members by Steve Boucher, President of the Ottawa Police Association. I wish to respond specifically to the comment that Chief White did not action a memo that was presented to him in May, 2009.
On April 1st, 2009, at the request of a member, a meeting was held with Chief White, the member, a representative from the Ottawa Police Association, and A/Deputy Chief Mike Flanagan – then Executive Officer to the Chief. This meeting was a follow-up to a disciplinary matter involving a particular member. The member suggested that cell block personnel receive training in relation to removal of violent persons from confined areas, specifically, cells. The Chief requested the member follow-up with written correspondence. Following the meeting, the member had discussions with command staff responsible for prisoner care and control, and, on May 4th, 2009, the member sent a memorandum by e-mail to Chief White.
On May 11th, 2009, Chief White personally actioned this memorandum to the command staff responsible for the care and control of prisoners. The memorandum focused on interventions in cells relating to uncooperative and violent persons and recommended that "a specific portion of their use of force training be adapted to include this particular type of cell extraction".
In fact, this recommendation was considered by command staff for prisoner care and control. The senior officer in charge of prisoner care and control concluded that it was prudent to continue to deal with violent prisoners by utilizing the Ottawa Police Service Tactical Unit for cell extractions. This practice remains in place today and is commonly used by custodial institutions not having specialized extraction teams.
We will continue to evaluate all training that is provided to our members both sworn and civilian. We look forward to working with the Ottawa Police Association, moving forward on this issue.
Gilles Larochelle
Acting Chief of Police
