Kawartha Lakes, ON: Police Staffing and Facility Planning Study
The City of Kawartha Lakes sought to assess its police department’s staffing needs in response to evolving service demands. Operating under a legislatively fixed staffing model, the department had not undergone a systematic, data-driven evaluation to align resources with workload requirements.
Challenge
Historically, staffing decisions were not grounded in workload-based methodologies. This approach limited the department’s ability to adapt to fluctuating call volumes, community engagement efforts, and proactive policing requirements.
Solution
Matrix Consulting Group conducted a workload-based assessment, analyzing key factors such as:
- Calls for service patterns by time of day, geographic area, and assignment type.
- Proactive policing and community engagement efforts to ensure sufficient officer availability.
- Shift scheduling and deployment models to optimize coverage and response times.
The study recommended increasing staffing in patrol, investigations, and support services while also integrating civilian personnel into select roles to enhance efficiency. Additionally, Matrix developed a dynamic, interactive staffing model, allowing city leadership to adjust variables and visualize the impact of different resource allocation strategies in real-time.
Outcome
With these insights and tools, Kawartha Lakes gained a sustainable, adaptable framework for police staffing, ensuring the department could continue delivering high-quality public safety services while responding to future demands.
