Road to a Respectful and Inclusive Workplace--Building Trust in and within Toronto Police Service

Presentation Description: Law enforcement agencies worldwide must prioritize organizational wellness more than ever to respond to complex community needs, public distrust, and low morale. Equity and inclusion are key to harnessing effective strategies to strengthen wellness. This presentation will highlight evidence-based, systems-change approaches used by the Toronto Police Service (TPS), the largest Canadian municipal police agency, to enhance organizational wellbeing grounded in equity, inclusion, and human rights. Presenters will share strategies and lessons learned, including a service equity strategy driving culture change, a province-wide working group developing best practices to foster healthy workplaces, and a ground-breaking strategy to address racial disparities in police interactions supported by community engagement.

• Learn about an innovative, cross-collaborative model, the Working Group on Respectful Workplaces in Policing, and how police departments can reimagine existing structures, policies and programs to foster psychological safety in the workplace.
• Build knowledge on a comprehensive strategic framework employed in the Equity Strategy to drive organizational and systemic change; identify opportunities to adapt it to the needs of different police agencies.
• Gain exposure to a strategic, phased approach to identify and address racial disparities through race-based data collection efforts; relate key elements of an iterative model of community engagement to the circumstances of police agencies of different sizes.