Media Release: Deputy Chief Richard Johnston Honoured with 2022 OACP Leadership Award

Deputy Chief of Police Richard Johnston of the Barrie Police Service (BPS) is the recipient of the 2022 Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police's (OACP) Excellence in Leadership Award for his commitment to moving his police service forward as a learning organization and incorporating evidence-based policing (EBP) into all its initiatives and practices. 

Deputy Chief Johnston began his journey with EBP through his own work by researching and encouraging discussion around the effectiveness of current policing practices, often heard saying, "We all think it works, but we need to know it works," eventually partnering with leading post-secondary institutions to led research projects of his own, including studying the effects of a full moon on crime levels to a randomized control trial involving offenders of intimate partner violence and recidivism.

Wanting to ensure that his colleagues knew and began utilizing and incorporating evidence-based policing best practices into their projects, Deputy Chief Johnston has encouraged the enrollment of more than 80 individuals in Cambridge University's Centre for Evidence-Based Policing Online Leaders Course.

Deputy Chief Johnstone recently brought together a team of police officers, civilian analysts, and IT specialists to create a Harm Index Tool. This tool uses the Canadian Crime Severity Index and the services' databases to map locations and individuals causing the most harm to the community. He operationalized the index into a "harm-focused" deployment model, the first of its kind in Canada. Deputy Chief Johnston's vision is to increase community safety and well-being by targeting harm and optimizing finite police resources.

Deputy Chief Richard Johnston is recognized internationally as the first Canadian to earn the Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science scholar status from the U.S. National Institute of Justice. He is currently completing a two-year Master of Studies in Applied Criminology and Police Management at Cambridge University.  

This annual award is made possible by the generous support of The Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.