Jay Pugazhenthi
Jeff Knoll, Chair of the Halton Police Board
"It's been a rollercoaster ride" for Jeff Knoll as Chair of the Halton Police Board.
The man behind Oakville's cherished film.ca cinemas has spent two years in the position so far and was elected by his peers after a controversial decision made by his predecessor, who "rightfully stepped down."
The decision - to let the Chief of Halton police (HRPS), Stephen Tanner, take a vacation to Florida - was poor, especially "when other public officials were hunkering down with the rest of us staying at home."
Irrespective of the circumstances surrounding his election, Knoll "very much so wanted to be the chair" and actively sought the position. Community-based policing has always been important to him, and he believes "there isn't [anything] much more important than knowing your loved ones are safe."
"Knowing your kids can go to the playground and be safe and not worry about criminal activity - I want to be a part of that process." - Knoll
His first few months as the chair were challenging. In the midst of the pandemic, there was incredible unrest in policing south of our borders. Knoll feels that the "massive lack of respect for police in the U.S. has trickled down here, as well."
Although perceived biases in policing have always been present, they were exacerbated.
But should respect be given or earned?
"It's a darn good question," Knoll admits before drawing a parallel to the ancient chicken and egg riddle.
"What comes first?"
There should be an automatic presumption of trust and the actions of law enforcement need to inspire trust. They need to continually earn trust.
Knoll believes law enforcement officials are bound by a social contract to the people they serve. And if trust is betrayed, it will be lost - "understandably so, as it would be very difficult to comply with lawful orders made by people we don't respect."
But are the motivations of all police officers cast into doubt due to a few bad apples?
Bad actors "exist in every profession," Knoll claims, but public distrust in policing is made worse as the impact of a bad actor can be so severe.
Nevertheless, he believes police officers should be held to a much higher standard than those in other professions because they have the power to arrest, carry a gun, enter premises with a warrant, investigate, and more.
Even the board that governs police officers doesn’t have the same power that a constable, with their badge and gun, has.
Identifying and removing bad police officers ultimately lies in the hands of the people. Knoll urges the public to step up and report incidents that are inappropriate. If you have a bad experience, make sure it is known.
The public must provide feedback, as those who govern the police cannot be everywhere at all times.
Knoll also acknowledges the apprehension of young people, who are "often intimidated to come forward and report bad experiences." They often avoid filing a complaint for fear of repercussions.
Anyone with an incident to report is encouraged to contact the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD).
In his time as Chair, Knoll has observed several criminal trends. One, there's an uptick in organized crime. Moreover, members of organized crime organizations are choosing to stay here "because Halton is a safe place."
Knoll wants more authority and resources from the provincial and federal governments so we can know when organized crime members show up in our communities.
Human trafficking is another rising trend.
"We spend a lot of time on that," Knoll says. "We have two major highway corridors. There's a lot of conveyance of, effectively, human chattel." Referring to people as though they're property might sound harsh, but traffickers view victims as products.
But the single largest criminal activity we have is car theft. Oakville, one of Canada's wealthiest communities, is a huge target.
The majority of stolen cars in our area are shipped overseas - mainly from the port of Montreal. And curbing it, again, comes down to coordination.
"Clear communication between the RCMP, Montreal police, and port authorities is essential." But Knoll says, "we don't have that right now."
As soon as you cross jurisdictions, if you don’t have cross-jurisdictional power and communication, that’s a problem. There needs to be a province or Canada-wide central coordination office in order to share information between different jurisdictions.
Knoll feels that auto manufacturers should be required, by law, to put theft-prevention devices in vehicles.
With push-to-start vehicles, exposed data ports and wireless communications to car ignition systems, it is "so simple to start and take a car in seconds. It's not like in the old days with a slim-jim down the window."
Still, auto manufacturers can do it inexpensively. Knoll argues that some cars already have it, like his Tesla. "I have two-factor authentication. It's so easy for manufacturers to do this."
The federal government can step in and say we won’t import cars unless they have this, this, and this. We already do that with emissions controls now; you can’t import a car without a catalytic converter, for example. Let's apply that to stem auto theft.
We - as consumers - could take action. Knoll lists off a number of tips: buy a lockable data port cap, keep your car fobs in copper-lined bags, and, at a bare minimum, don't keep your keys by the front door. Park your car in your garage.
But also, "maybe don't buy the cars that are high risk and then the auto industry will start listening." Only then will manufacturers start to ask, "Why is Oakville no longer buying Range Rovers or Lexus'?"
We have to tell the auto manufacturers that theft is a problem that is being perpetuated by your car, the way that you designed your car. Your security system does not work. It doesn’t keep your customer safe. It does not best serve the safety of your customers. You’re the ones that need to make the change. If it's an extra $50, and you have to put the price up, then so be it.
Despite these trends, Halton - and Oakville - is still safe, says Knoll. "Is it perfectly safe? No. We have to take precautions. We should be locking our doors. We should know where our children are. We should teach our children about exploitation on the internet."
But Oakville is also, apparently, not a good place for criminals to do their business.
"Are you going to commit a crime in an area when the risk of getting caught is so high?" Knoll asks. "HRPS has the highest clearance rate. They arrest more people [compared to other police services]."
Active involvement by residents and a tight-knit community is our strength.
"I sometimes joke that having a sticker for the alarm is more important than having an alarm."
Recently, in 2021, an HRPS report revealed that Black people were over-represented in statistics regarding use-of-force. That year, force was used against 257 people; over a third of them were Black. A 2016 census reported only 2.8 per cent of Halton region’s citizens are Black.
HRPS chief Tanner argued that the statistics were being skewed, as most of those cases, "when we asked our use-of-force people to have a better look at it, were not from Halton.”
“When we first started looking at this report, it was shocking – when you just look at the numbers – but as I remember from a number of my statistics courses in university, there’s often statistics within statistics,” said HRPS chief Tanner.
Knoll doesn't know why and is unsure if the stats tell the whole story.
"We were surprised to hear that. The analysis isn't there yet. There's a deeper dive into that as we speak."
Knoll claims, in fact, that it's one of HRPS Chief Tanner's goals this year to fully delve into the use of force, where use-of-force is coming from, how police officers can decrease their use-of-force, as well as hate crimes.
Over the years, the HRPS has placed heavy importance on having the latest technology as soon as possible. But is it necessary or even effective?
Knoll believes so. "Investigative techniques are very much reliant on really solid technology," he says.
Even simple things like reporting case notes to the crown attorney - it's shocking how often cases fall apart because there weren’t appropriate notes taken, or there wasn’t enough documentation, or the documentation was lost because it was written on paper. Technology allows us to touch each aspect of policing from administration to day-to-day policing. The HRPS has car location technology so it knows where all police cars are at all times, it can monitor police car speeds.
Despite the high costs, Knoll claims that having the latest technology saves them money. There are fewer cops taken off the streets to do other work, for example. "Each time a cop is unavailable, it puts the community at risk, and we'd have to hire more cops."
The HRPS doesn't have a bigger budget or more money than other police services. But it chooses to spend more money on technology than hiring more officers.
Halton's cop-to-population ratio is lower than any other region.
Due to our relatively safe community, we do not need the same level of personnel than they would in another place.
