Should an act of terrorism or criminal activity seriously threatening lives or critical infrastructure ever happen in Bradford or Innisfil, the South Simcoe Police Service expects to be ready.
The Bradford West Gwillimbury/Innisfil Police Services Board approved a new policy for the creation of an extreme incident response plan as required by the new Community Safety and Policing Act, during the board meeting on Nov. 27 at Innisfil Town Hall.
That’s intended to align each board’s policies with the province’s own plan for extreme incidents, as approved by the Ministry of Solicitor General in November 2023, according to the policy.
“It gives us a road map to follow and it has to essentially be the same in any community,” Chief John Van Dyke said after the meeting.
According to the policy, the board is “steadfast” in its commitment and dedication to implementing a unified and efficient response to any extreme incident, which includes:
- Acts of terrorism which will or have caused casualties or negative impacts on critical infrastructure
- A criminal offence which will or has caused mass casualties which could potentially exceed the capacity of the police service
- A criminal offence that will or has caused negative impacts to critical infrastructure, which could potentially exceed the capacity of the police service
- Multiple active attacker incidents which will or are occurring simultaneously, and are suspected to be related
- A protest, demonstration or occupation that is or will pose a serious threat to human life or critical infrastructure
Luckily, Van Dyke said that as far as he’s aware, the service has never encountered anything of that nature, and following the board’s policy, police will be assembling the specifics of the plan.
“This is Stage 1 of the game,” he said. “The service still needs to do its work to create this plan.”
While police already had plans in place for those sort of incidents, the new plan will consolidate them all, rather than being spread across various documents, according to Van Dyke.
Under the new policy, the chief (or their designate) is required to perform a risk assessment of possible targets of extreme incidents once a year or more, maintain an updated inventory of targets, ensure open lines of communication with other services, maintain a process to identify and maintain access to necessary resources, plus review and train on procedures at least once every two years or following any major changes.
In addition to initiating and coordinating the response to any extreme incidents, the chief is also required to notify the municipal, provincial and federal government emergency service providers such as firefighters, paramedics, hospitals and public-health officials.
The policy directs the chief to provide updates to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Provincial Operations Centre and other chiefs of police as necessary, and the chief can also request the OPP or another service to provide assistance in the event of an emergency.
During an extreme incident, the chief is required to determine what information can be released to the public and ensure public alerts are made using social media as well as an emergency alert system that delivers alerts through television, radio, and wireless devices.
Also during an extreme incident, the chief is required to inform the chair of the services board and provide appropriate updates.
Afterwards, the chief is also responsible for providing a report to the board on any response to an extreme incident within 120 days, which the board is responsible to post online with 30 days, though some information may be redacted in line with requirements under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA).
