Calls for Police Services in Saskatchewan (Pilot Project)

Detailed information for 2016

The purpose of this pilot project was to develop a strategy for the collection of uniform and comparable data on calls for police service in the province of Saskatchewan which could be broadened eventually to Canada-wide collection. This pilot project also set out to test a complete set of call types and priority levels, refine definitions and key concepts, and to expand the analysis of persons involved in calls for police service.

Data release - October 23, 2018

• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

The objectives of this pilot project were to test a complete set of call types and priority levels in the province of Saskatchewan, refine definitions and key concepts, expand the analysis of persons involved in calls for service, and make recommendations moving forward for nation-wide collection of data. The results and recommendations stemming from the pilot project, along with consultations with police services, will assist police services with the capacity to provide more detailed information on the allocation of police resources to calls for service. The production of standardized calls for service data will inform police leaders in decision-making and management.

Reference period: All data submissions corresponded to a 12 month period covering August 1, 2015 to July 31, 2016, except the RCMP, who provided data corresponding to the 2016 calendar year.

Collection period: January 2017 to October 2017

Subjects

• Crime and justice
• Crimes and offences

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The data request was for an extract of calls for service data from Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Records Management (RMS) systems covering the period from August 1, 2015 to July 31, 2016. Ultimately, police services did not have entirely consistent definitions of calls for service, but extracts of CAD and RMS data were provided from police services in the province representing 96.9% of the province.

Instrument design

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Sampling

This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2015-08-01 to 2016-07-31

Data are extracted from administrative files.

Two methods of data collection were employed for this pilot project: (i) some police services provided electronic micro-data files, and (ii) others provided aggregate data counts.

The administrative data were obtained from various police services across the province of Saskatchewan.

Data were obtained under s. 13 of the Statistics Act. The intended use of the data was to determine the feasibility of collection of uniform calls for service data within Saskatchewan and to build a framework that could be applied across the country. These data will assist police services in making operational decisions.

Error detection

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Imputation

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Estimation

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Quality evaluation

A formal or rigorous data validation exercise was not performed. However, the fundamental purpose of the pilot project was to observe what data are recorded in the police services' CAD and RMS databases that represent calls for service not reflected in traditional crime statistics.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

In order to prevent any data disclosure, confidentiality analysis is done using the Statistics Canada Generalized Disclosure Control System (G-Confid). G-Confid is used for primary suppression (direct disclosure) as well as for secondary suppression (residual disclosure). Direct disclosure occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of or dominated by few enterprises while residual disclosure occurs when confidential information can be derived indirectly by piecing together information from different sources or data series.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Data accuracy

This pilot collected administrative data solely from the province of Saskatchewan. Formal data quality indicators in regards to non-sampling error were not part of the methodology.

Response rates:
This pilot collected administrative data solely from the province of Saskatchewan.

Non-sampling error:
Formal data quality indicators in regards to non-sampling error were not part of the methodology.

Non-response bias:
Formal data quality indicators were not part of the methodology.

Coverage error:
Not applicable