News Release: Durham Regional Police Services Board Accepts Report from Public Consultations

On April 19, 2022, the Environics Research team presented results to the Durham Regional Police Services Board from a comprehensive public consultation process on the topic of the Region’s next Chief of Police.

Environics was honoured to be appointed by the Board to design and lead this important consultation process, through which we reached out to and heard from hundreds of Durham residents, Police Service members and representatives of communities and organizations that interact with the Service.

Our objective was to collect feedback from a diverse group of stakeholders about the qualities and characteristics they want to see in Durham Region’s next Chief of Police. We were tasked with designing and carrying out a comprehensive and transparent public consultation process – the first of its kind for Durham Region’s Police Service. The final report outlines what we heard from stakeholders and synthesizes their priorities into four key attributes.  Durham Region residents want a new Chief of Police who can demonstrate:

1. 1. Courageous, Transformative Leadership
   2. Emotional Intelligence
   3. Commitment to Positive Community Engagement
   4. Deep and Varied Policing Experience

The report describes why these characteristics were important to stakeholders and how they expect candidates to demonstrate these qualities during the ensuing recruitment and vetting phase of the search.

The report will help position the Board to conduct a selection process that is comprehensive, fair, and reflects the substantial input that was offered.  The Board would like to thank Environics for the tremendous care and diligence it exercised in performing this critical work, and we are grateful to all those who participated in the consultation process – DRSPB Chair Bobbie Drew

For more information about this process and our findings, click here. A report from a similar process undertaken on behalf of the Toronto Police Services Board is also available by clicking here.

Contact our team to learn more about our public consultation and stakeholder engagement services.

Related insights