Saint John Explores Online Crime Reporting

It may soon be much easier for residents to report certain crimes to the Saint John Police Force.

The force is exploring the idea of having an online crime reporting system for minor incidents.

Const. Les Drost gave a presentation during this week’s meeting of the Saint John Board of Police Commissioners.

Drost said a recent employee survey found officers feel they are responding to too many “nuisance calls”, such as minor collisions and small thefts.

“I think that there’s a better way to do it than potentially send a police officer there for all of these calls,” Drost told the commission.

“I feel sometimes that the morale is decreasing because they’re feeling overwhelmed with call volume and they’re actually saying that they’re going from call-to-call doing a poor job on each and they’re seeking change.”

Drost said the current software they are looking at it, which is made by LexisNexis, would allow residents to report crimes through their computer or mobile device.

The software would be customizable, he said, so the force would be able to select which crimes could be reported by citizens.

“This is taking the administrative work away from a police officer and putting it back into the hands of civilians,” said Drost, “and I firmly believe it’s a more timely way to do it.”

Drost said one of the goals would be to free up time for officers, allowing them to respond more quickly to higher priority calls and spend more time in the community.

He noted that those who responded to the employee survey said they spend three hours or less per week doing preventative police work.

Drost said other forces who use the same crime reporting system have reported a 20 to 30 per cent drop in call volume.

The program would cost the police force more than $31,500 over two years but Drost believes it could lead to significant savings for the force.

“Yes, I understand that you’re paying a police officer to work regardless,” he said, “however, that police officer will now have time to spend in the community doing proactive policing, which potentially is going to lead to less crime.”

Drost said the program could also be used by the city’s Public Works department so residents could report issues such as street light outages, storm damage, potholes, and illegal dumping.

There is no timeline on when the system could be in place.