By Neil Dubord, guest columnist

Recently we posted a wonderful story [on Facebook] about one of our police officers responding to a call of an agitated senior. When he arrived he was able to speak with her, find out her concerns and reduce her anxiety, making everyone feel more at ease. What she needed — and deserved — was time and patience. So he sat down and had a cup of tea with her.

Public criticism is a part of the job in policing; in fact, it gives us an opportunity to review our practices in order to improve our services. There are rare instances when I feel compelled to make further comment about the work our officers are doing in going the extra mile. On social media, we had some negative comments regarding how our officer dealt with this senior, calling it a waste of tax payer dollars, suggesting that we should be out dealing with more important things. That instead, our police officer should have used his time “fighting crime.”

Firstly, I can tell you that we have a comprehensive strategy to fight crime in Delta. We deploy resources strategically based on crime data, we monitor hot spots on a daily and weekly basis and target those areas, we do curfew checks on chronic offenders, and we go after distracted and dangerous drivers. We investigate homicides and sexual assaults, and we intercept drugs coming into our communities. We arrest criminals and we testify in court to ensure they are held accountable. We do “fight crime.”

But we also teach in schools, help victims fleeing domestic violence find safe shelter, run volunteer programs, and we help youngsters develop leadership skills. And, if we can, we will take a few minutes to have tea with one of our valued seniors. I can assure you no criminals were ignored because of our officer’s actions.

Our police officer did not take the time to do this because he wanted the Delta Police Department to brag about it on social media. His goal was to build a trusting relationship with a senior in Delta, and potentially her friends and family, who may need the police one day. We tend to talk about community policing in plural, but the reality is that trust in the police is built one contact at a time. And without this trust, we are unable to properly do our jobs. I am proud that we have built a culture in which our officers understand this most basic principle.

Public input into our service delivery model is essential to our success. Public feedback is the basis of our strategic plan as well as our daily operational deployment. We know that our citizens want more visibility and a strong traffic enforcement model, but we’ve also heard that you also want us to protect our most vulnerable: isolated seniors, high-risk youth, domestic violence victims and those suffering from mental illness. This is what we will continue to do, and at times that means taking a moment to have a cup of tea.

Neil Dubord is the chief constable of the Delta Police Department.

North Delta Reporter