Centre for Public Safety and Criminal Justice Research
The objective of this chapter is to provide you with a basic guide and some tools to design a framework for decision making—such as constructing a strategic plan. Effective evidence-based decision making is tightly linked to an organization’s plan.
Canadian fire services are key to protecting lives while maintaining our civil infrastructure, but their high capital and labour costs often pose significant financial challenges. They are one of the major budget items for most cities and municipalities. Fire service professionals make crucial decisions regarding the level of service they can provide their communities and … Read more
We make hundreds of decisions daily, ranging from what to have for breakfast, to deciding in which room to hold a meeting, to whether or not to buy a new car. Many of those decisions are informal and relatively insignificant, and have few consequences, while some incur a degree of risk or uncertainty. Each of us takes risks every day. For … Read more
This workbook is designed to be used in conjunction with the text, The Right Decision: Evidence-based Decision Making for Government Professionals. It can be used as a self-study guide or in either a classroom or workshop setting. While many of the techniques outlined in the text can be used very effectively by an individual working with a paper and pencil or a laptop, many … Read more
With routine changes to building codes, the use of educational campaigns, and the technological advancements associated with smoke and fire detectors and alarms, it is much more common nowadays for homes to have functioning smoke and fire detectors, alarms, and suppression systems. However, this was not always the case for homes built decades ago. Given … Read more
It is too bad we cannot just provide you with a basic template to follow every time you needed to conduct a criminal investigation; but it is not that simple. Criminal investigations can be imprecise undertakings, often performed in reaction to unpredictable and still-evolving events with incomplete information to guide the process. As such, it is impossible to teach or learn a … Read more
In June 2011, BC Hydro commenced implementation of its Smart Metering Program, which involved converting every residential property in British Columbia (BC) from legacy metering to wireless technology smart meters. This Smart Metering Program involves replacing existing electrical meters that are now becoming obsolete, with a comprehensive wireless smart metering system. In total, BC Hydro … Read more
Analyzing and acting on operational data can lead to major strides in the area of business improvement. Operational data is information that is tracked and provided from dispatch centres, mobile terminals, and databases – just to name a few. These real-time data streams coupled with the ability to properly ingest, process, and analyze the data, … Read more
Given the success in increasing fire safety across Canada as a result of legislative and community-based initiatives and policies related to smoke detectors, there are clear benefits to expanding the scope of the Smoke Alarm Movement to incorporate carbon monoxide (CO) alarms. Previous research has demonstrated that accidental CO poisoning can be reduced through a … Read more
Gambling is a common pastime for British Columbians, with 73% of adults in 2014 reporting past year gambling (R.A. Malatest & Associates Ltd, 2014). Unfortunately, for approximately 3% of this population, gambling becomes more than just a pastime and problem symptoms can begin to emerge, such as difficulties in limiting the amount or time spent … Read more