London police chief presents statistics: Despite progress, more time is needed to do better

Speaking in front of the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee, London Police Services (LPS) Chief Thai Truong gave an update on policing Tuesday.

The vast majority of London's policing is funded by the municipality. Council approved the biggest ask in the services history this year, with $672 million over four years.

During a 15-minute power-point presentation, the chief reviewed organizational wellness, service complaints, and the crime severity index.

However, the budget was not discussed during the meeting.

Deputy Mayor Sean Lewis told councillors they will get another opportunity to speak when the budget process begins in a couple of weeks, adding that the purpose of Tuesday's delegation was for the chief to give an update on policing as a whole.

Councillors raised questions over staffing levels, recruitment, call volumes, and safety concerns from constituents across the city.

The chief said progress is being made but agreed that more needs to be done and the force needs more time.

"I think the council truly understands that this problem did not happen overnight," said Truong. "We're not where we're at overnight. This has been deep rooted for many, many years in our organization. The need to change and we just haven't been able to change. And again, it is a matter of support when you get the support from the board, when you get the support from city council, it allows leadership to do their job."

Mayor Josh Morgan said he wasn't surprised the chief did not go over the budget, saying that it's the boards budget and will be discussed during the budget process.

However, Morgan said he thinks the metrics presented by the chief are trending in the right direction.

"He talked about morale being much better and that's because council has made a decision to put resources behind this. So when you put resources into something, you can actually start to plan for the future or start to make the adjustments," continued Morgan. "But let's be honest, we're a long way from where we'd like to be as a community on all of these metrics. The direction quality is very good, but it's still a long road ahead."