Gazette - Community Corrections Liaison Officer program

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Forging stronger partnerships in the justice community

by Ryan Benson
Communications Advisor
Correctional Service of Canada

When police officers in Winnipeg were working a recent string of break and enters, they had reason to believe the suspect was a federal parolee — the trouble was finding him. All they had to work with were an outdated photo and some stale contact information from before his incarceration.

With few leads, the investigators turned to the local Community Corrections Liaison Officer (CCLO), who was able to secure a recent photo and updated contact information from the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). Soon afterwards, investigators picked up the suspect and charges were laid.

CCLOs are police officers who work with CSC under the terms of the Interchange Canada Program. They are located within CSC parole offices and in Community Correctional Centres, and the above scenario is just one example of how they are strengthening ties and facilitating information sharing between justice partners across Canada.

“CSC has always received good service from the police,” says Angela Knoll, project manager from CSC’s Community Reintegration Operations. Knoll highlights the enhancements to police–parole communications as a result of the CCLOs being in place.

“Parole officers now have increased access to information that assists both CSC and the police with managing offenders in the community,” she says. “The police officers are with us on-site and able to be more actively involved.”

What has been the most surprising to some law enforcement officials is the quality and quantity of information they have been getting from the program.

“There’s a different dynamic between the offender and the parole officer and this, of course, is to our benefit,” explains Cst Ben Rosentreter, a CCLO assigned from the Winnipeg Police Service. “As a police officer, I can sit across from an individual and have him or her say very little, but these individuals seem to open up and speak more freely with their parole officer.”

The mandate of the CCLO program is to enhance public safety by strengthening the ability of police and parole officers to work in a more integrated manner. This partnership also assists in the supervision of higher-risk offenders and facilitates the apprehension of offenders who are unlawfully at large (UAL).

Police officers apply to the CCLO program from a variety of Canadian police agencies at either the municipal, provincial or federal level. Successful candidates must have a minimum of five years experience in active policing duties and a minimum of two years experience in criminal investigations. Following the selection process, CCLOs are provided with orientation and training through a variety of means, primarily on-the-job training.

“The best way for a police officer to learn what parole officers do is to do the job with them,” says Knoll. Regular conference calls are held to address ongoing operational issues. A national training meeting was held in 2007 to provide CCLOs with more in-depth information about CSC policies and practices relevantto their job.

A day in the life

The CCLO’s role highlights information sharing, such as working with police to track down UAL offenders or ensuring police forces are kept apprised of parolees being released into a community.

A typical day for a CCLO might include participating with a Case Management Team on release planning for higher-risk offenders, assisting in the development of structured supervision plans, and developing intervention strategies in the community for higher-risk offenders whose risk level may have increased during the release period.

For Sgt James Clover, a former CCLO who has returned to the Edmonton Police Service, working with parole officers provided increased knowledge of — and respect for — the work they do. Clover says that the CCLO’s contribution to public safety became much clearer to him once he recognized that the link between police and corrections are the parolees themselves.

“(The parolees) are the ones who we are collectively working to reintegrate and hold accountable in a collaborative measure, while trying to keep the risk to the community as manageable as possible,” explains Clover. “It’s important to communicate to the public that these tasks are a communal responsibility.”

Ultimately, the real winners are the communities served by CCLOs in conjunction with their colleagues at CSC.

“The longer the police officers have been around, the more connections they have in the community and with other police forces in the area,” says Knoll, adding that these connections help ensure the safety of Canadians.

There is also direct support to communities through events such as the upcoming Public Safety Forum to be held in the spring of 2009. The forum is being organized by RCMP Cpl Mike Wallsmith, a CCLO who works from the Vernon, B.C., parole office.

Wallsmith is co-ordinating the forum in conjunction with local CSC offices and police, and local organizations like Crime Stoppers. The goal is to help the community better understand how CSC deals with offenders and their transition from institutions into the community, as well as how the local parole office works with police to monitor and assist former inmates who navigate this challenging process.

As a representative of both CSC and the RCMP, Wallsmith wants to provide the public with a better understanding of how the two organizations work together to keep tabs on offenders. He also wants to help people learn more about factors that can contribute to recidivism, such as drug abuse or ties to street gangs. To Wallsmith, the CCLO role is a great fit for peace officers.

“CCLOs get to exercise a combination of the two approaches that are needed to better deal with criminal elements,” he says. “The first is the proactive side. Events like (the Public Safety Forum)... demonstrate community engagement and education in conjunction with police and other government agencies, hopefully averting situations where negative influences can create crime.”

This proactive approach complements the time that officers like Wallsmith spend in the reactive side, focusing on enforcement and tracking down individuals who have fallen prey to negative influences.

At the end of the day, the CCLO initiative better enables police and parole officers to work together towards managing higher-risk offenders in the community and facilitating the reintegration process, while building links between the two.

“As partners in the criminal justice system, everything we do is fundamentally about public safety,” says CSC Comm - issioner Don Head. “This initiative expands the capacity of police and parole officers, and will serve us well as a strategic foundation for future collaborations with police services to meet our mutual public safety objectives.”