“What gets measured, gets managed.” In policing, that often means arrest counts, clearance rates, or response times. These numbers are easy to tally, but do they reflect community safety — or just activity?
The Problem with Traditional Metrics
Arrest counts: High numbers may signal productivity, or they may signal over-policing.
Clearance rates: A solved case on paper doesn’t always mean justice for victims.
Response times: Fast arrival doesn’t guarantee resolution, safety, or trust.
Numbers over nuance: Statistics can reward aggressive enforcement rather than prevention or de-escalation.
Shifting the Lens
Communities often care less about how many arrests are made and more about whether they feel safe, respected, and supported. Possible alternative metrics:
Public trust surveys that measure confidence and fairness.
Reduction in harm: Lower rates of injury, trauma, or repeat crises.
Equity outcomes: Tracking whether racialized and marginalized groups face disproportionate policing.
Partnership strength: Measuring collaboration with schools, social workers, and community groups.
Canadian Context
Pilot efforts: Some municipalities (like Vancouver and Toronto) have explored community safety indicators.
Indigenous communities: Push for measures that reflect wellness and healing, not just enforcement.
National frameworks: Largely absent — leaving each service to decide what “success” looks like.
Political pressures: Mayors and ministers often fall back on simple, headline-friendly stats.
The Challenges
Defining outcomes: Community safety is harder to quantify than arrests.
Data availability: Wellness and equity metrics require new collection systems.
Competing incentives: Officers may resist metrics that don’t align with traditional performance evaluations.
Public expectations: Quick fixes are easier to sell than long-term measures.
The Opportunities
Holistic dashboards: Blend traditional stats with health, equity, and community trust indicators.
Cross-sector measures: Judge police performance alongside housing, health, and social outcomes.
Community-defined metrics: Let residents help decide what safety should mean.
Shift from punishment to prevention: Reward fewer crises, not just faster responses.
The Bigger Picture
Metrics shape behaviour. If we reward arrests, we’ll get arrests. If we reward trust, safety, and prevention, we may start to build systems that reflect those values.
The Question
If policing performance is still measured by arrest counts, are we truly aiming for safer communities — or just fuller spreadsheets? Which leaves us to ask: what would Canada’s communities choose as the real markers of success?
Performance Metrics: Arrest Counts or Community Outcomes?
Measuring What Matters
“What gets measured, gets managed.” In policing, that often means arrest counts, clearance rates, or response times. These numbers are easy to tally, but do they reflect community safety — or just activity?
The Problem with Traditional Metrics
Shifting the Lens
Communities often care less about how many arrests are made and more about whether they feel safe, respected, and supported. Possible alternative metrics:
Canadian Context
The Challenges
The Opportunities
The Bigger Picture
Metrics shape behaviour. If we reward arrests, we’ll get arrests. If we reward trust, safety, and prevention, we may start to build systems that reflect those values.
The Question
If policing performance is still measured by arrest counts, are we truly aiming for safer communities — or just fuller spreadsheets? Which leaves us to ask:
what would Canada’s communities choose as the real markers of success?