Newfoundland and Labrador is one of just two provinces in Canada – the other being Quebec – without a formal body dealing with police governance.

Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Police Governance, Stephen Reid, says it’s not about telling police chiefs what to do, but about reflecting the public’s concerns to police organizations.

He cites cities like Calgary and Edmonton which conduct regular yearly surveys to learn what issues are of concern; things like pro-active policing, community engagement and being more visible to the public.

“So they can identify what the issues are so that they can work with the chief and put a bit of creative pressure on senior command to start dealing with things like engaging with mental health issues in certain communities, dealing with crime in hot spots that are in areas of concern.”

A recent survey released by the Policing Transformation Working Group found that 73 per cent of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians asked feel less safe today than they did five years ago. Reid says other studies show that overall trust in police is high, but that more resources are needed.

“Distrust in police is fairly low,” says Reid, “so the issues are not necessarily about the police officer themselves, there is still a high amount of trust in police, but it’s the lack of resources that they themselves have to be able to do their job.”