Perivale + Taylor to conduct review of Halifax Regional Police

Following an increase in motorcycle gang related crime – among other issues – in Halifax and and the province of Nova Scotia, Vancouver-based consultancy Perivale + Taylor has been appointed to conduct a review of Halifax Regional Police (HRP), which comes in response to a plea from the regional council in February this year.

The Halifax police department has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks, particularly since it came to light that the body was still to rectify a number of issues identified in a review conducted two years ago. Following an assessment of the department, Big Four firm KPMG – increasingly active in Canada's IT space – submitted an IT security report in December 2016, complete with an audit.

Overall, the KPMG report identified nearly 70 concerns, 35 of which were labeled as major. According to Auditor General Evangeline Colman-Sadd, the KPMG report “considered various IT security matters by looking at the likelihood of something going wrong and the impact if it does,” and found a number of key areas where improvements were urgently needed.

Two years on, HRP is still to address any of those issues according to Sadd, although just last month the department appointed a Chief Information Security Officer, tasked with the specific objective of tackling the concerns highlighted in the report. Now, the department has come under review again, this time from consulting firm Perivale + Taylor (P+T).Citing the spike in crime from motorcycle gangs, alongside issues around the legalized cannabis trade, the regional council unanimously voted to conduct a review of HRP, with the primary objective of identifying areas of improvement for efficiency, without necessarily disturbing the organisational structure.

“The combined model is going to be ongoing. There’s no intention in changing that,” said Chief Administrative Officer at HRP Jacques Dubé, with reference to the current system of policing in the area – wherein HRP covers areas within the main urban centre, while the surrounding areas are managed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Instead, the improvements will focus on cutting costs due to increased strain being placed on municipal resources from managing the police force. An arbitration decision last year brought about a wage hike for HRP personnel, which has been further compounded by the recruitment of new officers to manage the legalized cannabis trade.

In addition, the consulting firm will conduct a performance assessment, which will examine dispatches, response times, and management practices. The review is set to begin next month. P+T is a Vancouver-based consultancy that was established in 1993, and offers evaluation, strategic development, change management, and human resources for public institutions.