News from Our Program Director

by Jen Ghadiali, OALEP Program Director

OALEP’s Spring Symposium is rapidly approaching. Planners from law enforcement and public safety agencies across Ontario (and broader) will be gathering at the beautiful Horseshoe Resort in Barrie, May 8-10th to network, share ideas and information, and hear from distinguished speakers on some of the most pressing issues facing law enforcement in 2018.

To meet the needs of our members, we reviewed the results of our 2017 membership survey and the feedback from our Spring Symposium about what types of topics and speakers would be of most interest to our members, who are a mixture of Operational and Strategic Planners. From this feedback, OALEP’s Board selected a theme of Best Practices in a Changing Environment, and reached out to a variety of speakers to present on topics that we believe will help OALEP’s members to continually learn and improve.

Members have told us they are interested in hearing from leaders and Ministry representatives about the biggest changes and pressures facing policing and implications for the delivery of policing services in 2018. Thus, we will have representatives from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police speak about the new Police Services Act as well as a variety of other upcoming changes and challenges in policing.

Members also expressed interest in a variety of “hot topics”, and we’ve invited speakers to present on a range of topics such as:

      • Legalization of Cannabis
      • Body Worn Cameras
      • Cybercrime
      • Mass Causality Bureau
      • Measurement of Diversity and Inclusion
      • Mental Health Partnerships
      • Automated Vehicles

We also heard that networking and sharing information with peers is an important reason for attending OALEP symposiums, and we have dedicated time on the agenda for breakout roundtable sessions in order to allow time for participants to bring questions and updates about what they’re working on. Please contact me at GhadialiJ@ottawapolice.ca to let us know what topics would be of most interest to you and we’ll organize table discussions on those topics and announce them in advance so that you can bring along any relevant information, policy drafts, reports etc. to share or discuss. To see the full Symposium Agenda and to register, click here.

We look forward to seeing you all in May in Barrie!