Exclusive: Internal report recommends London City Hall hire special constables to fill law enforcement gap

Mayor Josh Morgan is suggesting recruiting special constables to serve under City Hall direction. CTV’s Daryl Newcombe explains.

Mayor Josh Morgan wants a report from city staff about potentially creating a new layer of law enforcement called City of London Special Constables, but a consultant’s feasibility study obtained by CTV News already includes a consultant’s unequivocal recommendation to launch a pilot project.

Next week, Morgan’s motion on the agenda of the Community and Protective Services (CAPS) Committee seeks more information about potential implementation models, timelines, governance structures, operational considerations, and costs.

The motion also references a Special Constable Feasibility Study commissioned by city staff from the Community Safety Knowledge Alliance (CSKA), and requests that the consulting firm present its findings at a future committee meeting.

“My intent with this motion is to actually put the decision before Council,” Morgan told CTV News. “Let’s get the report. Let’s get the consultants who wrote the report before Council. Let’s have advice from our staff.”

City of London Special Constables would have more authority than private security guards, Bylaw Compliance Officers, and Community Informed Response (CIR) teams.

They would have less power than a police officer and would have different responsibilities and leadership from London Police Special Constables.

Many of the core responsibilities of a City of London Special Constable would be related to the impacts of street level homelessness:

• Protect Community Informed Response (CIR) teams during encampment engagement and clean-up
• Disorder Management (detain, remove, and charge offenders on city property, at city hall, municipal facilities, parks, and parking lots)
• Mental Health Intervention (power to apprehend and transport individuals in crisis)
• Traffic Management (parades and construction)

The Special Constables would have the ability to enforce four provincial Acts:

• Trespass to Property Act
• Mental Health Act
• Liquor Licence Act
• Municipal Bylaws

“There are laws to enforce out there. I think people are pretty much done with open drug use in our city, and if Special Constables [can] further enforce that, I think that’s something the public would welcome,” the mayor said.

The mayor rejects concerns that the new tier of law enforcement would be criminalizing homelessness.

“It’s not about criminalizing homelessness, in fact, we’re one of the most compassionate cities out there,” Morgan asserted. “Look at all of the actions we’ve taken, all the money we’ve raised, how the community has stepped up, all the supportive housing we’ve created, [and] all of the actions we’ve taken across the city on the supportive side. But we also are enforcing on the criminal side.”

Completed last October, the 59-page feasibility study by CSKA remains internal to Civic Administration, including the consultant’s needs assessment, cost estimates, and recommendations.

A copy obtained by CTV News recommends London launch a 24-month pilot project with 11 special constables (eight constables, two supervisors, one staff sergeant) that would cost about $2 million each year.

The cost would be in addition to the $2.9 million spent each year by the municipality on private security and paid-duty police officers.

It suggests that if the program is extended beyond the pilot phase, there would be the potential to find cost efficiencies, and greater certainty around long-term budgeting compared to negotiating future contracts with private security firms.

Morgan defends the additional cost of Special Constables while the city is in the midst of a four-year London Police Services Budget totalling more than $670 million and including 189 new positions (officers and civilian staff).

“We would get to deploy those [City of London Special Constable] resources, not the chief of police,” the mayor explained. “So yes, we work in partnership with the police, but ultimately [Chief Thai Truong] has responsibilities under a very specific Act (Community Safety and Policing Act), and he has to execute for us. To have our own Special Constable force, we get to deploy that force for municipal purposes on behalf of the citizens of London.”

Meanwhile, the feasibility study also assesses the need for an additional level of law enforcement in London.

The report’s introduction reads, “Rising social disorder and limited police resources have revealed a major gap in the City’s current policing and enforcement system.”

It goes on to highlight the dangers experienced by municipal staff who sometimes call London police for back-up.

A National Scan of Special Constable Programs included with the feasibility study concludes, “By embracing the detailed, actionable recommendations in this report, the City of London can avoid the pitfalls experienced elsewhere and build a model Special Constable program.”

“One of the pitfalls would be we have a traditional contracted service and bylaw enforcement mechanism, while other cities who have Special Constables are going to have additional legislative tools and protections for the people out there doing the same sorts of jobs,” Morgan said when asked what the feasibility study means when it references pitfalls elsewhere. “We have to move to where those legislative powers are going. And this is one of the examples of where we can be ahead of the curve rather than behind.”

The feasibility study explains that Special Constables would not be allowed to carry firearms or conducted energy weapons (Tazers), but recommends they be equipped with a Kevlar vest, handcuffs, a baton, and OC spray (pepper spray).

It also recommends City of London Special Constables wear uniforms that will not be confused with London police, and “cultivate an ‘approachable’, ‘softer look’ (e.g., gray and purple colour schemes) to mitigate negative public perception.”

The report concludes, “Based upon the rigorous synthesis of empirical data, extensive stakeholder interviews, comprehensive analysis of the Ontario Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019 (CSPA), and comparative financial modelling across relevant Canadian jurisdictions, the findings unequivocally support establishing a City operated Special Constable program in London.”

Morgan’s motion seeking a staff report for a future committee meeting will be considered by the CAPS Committee on July 13.