It appears Collingwood residents, for the most part, are happy with the service provided by the Collingwood/Blue Mountain OPP.
According to a report on the OPP Community Satisfaction Survey, which was conducted across Ontario in late 2023, 83.1 per cent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of police service provided by the Collingwood OPP.
“Overall, I’m quite pleased with the results,” said Collingwood OPP detachment commander Insp. Loris Licharson during an OPP Detachment Board meeting on Jan. 16 where he discussed the outcome of the survey. “There’s some good information in that survey, and some good takeaways for us as well.”
Based on the survey outcomes, it appears that Collingwood residents hold their police in high regard compared to police in other areas. About 82 per cent of all respondents felt the OPP was doing a good or excellent job in the community overall, while 69 per cent felt that police in Canada are doing a good or excellent job overall.
“To me, that’s an indication that the perception of the quality of work of those who serve in our communities is higher than policing in general,” said Licharson. “I’m disappointed in the perception of our work nationally, but it is what it is. I’m happy that people think we’re doing a good job.”
The OPP Community Satisfaction Survey was completed by residents of OPP towns across Ontario between Sept. 13 and Dec. 31, 2023, overseen by R.A. Malatest & Associates Ltd. Feedback was obtained via outbound phone calls, inbound phone calls and online surveys after notification letters were sent in August of that year, and respondents who work with the OPP or living in households with someone who works for the OPP were excluded from the survey.
A total of 438 surveys were gathered from respondents over 16 years old and living within the Collingwood detachment area. Of those surveys, 308 respondents were from Collingwood and 130 respondents were from The Town of the Blue Mountains.
Respondents were asked which issues they consider to be problems in the community. The outcome of that section included noisy neighbours/loud parties (7.9 per cent), people hanging around on the streets (17.5 per cent), garbage or litter lying around (12.7 per cent), and vandalism, graffiti and other deliberate damage to property or vehicles (20.8 per cent).
Out of this section, the issue with the highest concern was people using or dealing drugs (37.7% per cent), however the breakdown notes that 15 per cent of respondents answered ‘don’t know’ or didn’t complete this section. Also included was property crime (28.9 per cent), alcohol abuse (21 per cent), and illegal grow ops or drug labs (12.5 per cent).
Drugs in schools (49.3 per cent), violence in schools (30.7 per cent), and a lack of activities or programs for youths (34.6 per cent) were also included as major issues. Domestic violence (43.1 per cent), child abuse (27.6 per cent), sexual assault (25 per cent) and elder abuse (27.5 per cent) were perceived in high numbers.
A little more than 30 per cent said the Collingwood OPP approached, stopped or made contact with them for any reason in the past two years, and 82.6 per cent of those were satisfied or very satisfied with the way the OPP treated them.
Nearly 80 per cent of respondents were somewhat confident or very confident in the OPP’s ability to handle major occurrences such as the COVID pandemic, large scale demonstrations, natural disasters, homicides, missing person occurrences and major transportation incidents.
When it came to driving laws, 60.6 per cent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with OPP’s enforcement of aggressive driving laws, 76.3 per cent were satisfied or very satisfied with OPP’s enforcement of impaired driving laws and 55.3 per cent of respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the OPP’s enforcement of distracted driving laws.
This section noted that respondents from Collingwood were significantly more satisfied with the OPP’s enforcement of impaired driving laws compared to respondents from the Blue Mountains.
Some more key data from the survey results include:
- 82.2 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the OPP make decisions based on facts.
- 86.6 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the OPP treat people with respect.
- 68 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the OPP provide the same quality of service to all citizens.
- 83.6 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the OPP are dealing with things that matter to people in the community.
- 85 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the OPP are effective at resolving crimes where violence is involved.
- 84.4 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the OPP are effective at responding quickly to calls for assistance.
- 86.7 per cent were generally satisfied or very satisfied with their personal safety from crime.
- 83.6 per cent felt the OPP are somewhat involved or very involved in their community.
- 77.9 per cent were satisfied or very satisfied with the OPP’s ability to work with communities to solve local problems.
In addition to the overall survey, detachment commanders were given the opportunity to provide detachment-specific questions for residents in their areas. In Collingwood, Licharson opted to add questions regarding public communication, mental health services and youth programming.
Only 33.1 per cent of respondents answered yes when asked if the OPP are providing enough information to the public about their local programs and initiatives. When asked where Collingwood and Blue Mountain residents get their local information and news, 37.2 per cent said on the internet which included social media, 24.1 per cent said local print media, 20.4 per cent said television and 14.5 per cent said local radio.
When it comes to mental health, about 46 per cent of respondents said they are aware of the mental health resources available to them in their community, while 42.9 per cent said they know how to contact the mental health services in their community if they were ever needed for themselves, a friend or family member.
When asked which programs were having a positive impact on youth in the community, 66.7 per cent of the respondents said the OPP KIDS program, while the school resource/liaison/youth officer (78.7 per cent) and community safety officer (CSO) (77.6 per cent) also made the list.
Significantly more respondents from Collingwood (71.7 per cent) felt the OPP KIDS program had a positive impact on youth compared to respondents from The Blue Mountains (50 per cent). The OPP KIDS program has not run in Simcoe County public or Catholic schools in Collingwood since 2022, but has continued to run in the Town of the Blue Mountains.
Significantly more respondents from Collingwood (82.5 per cent) also felt the school resource officer program was having a positive impact on youth compared to respondents from The Blue Mountains (65.8 per cent).
“Clearly, we need to do a better job of communication of local programs and initiatives,” said Licharson, who noted they’ve increased the staffing complement to help communicate better with the public and the media out of the survey results.
“We’re doing our best to try to increase our ability to communicate effectively,” he said.
