The HUB Model: Proactive, Risk-Focused Interventions at 2 Canadian Sites

• In Event: Strategic Management and Change in Policing

Abstract

Amid growing concerns over the cost and impact of reactive policing, police organizations in Canada and elsewhere have increasingly turned their attention to coordinated, proactive interventions that identify and attend to risks before incidents occur. One of the most prominent models currently gaining traction is the “HUB”, an evidence-based problem solving approach that draws on the combined expertise of relevant community agencies to improve a broad set of social outcomes, including (but not limited to) reducing crime, violence and victimization.
The Hub involves regular meetings involving front line professionals representing multiple social service agencies. It organizes and mobilizes the local community, and provides a venue for the exchange of information and sharing of knowledge, resources and services among participating organizations and agencies. The end goal of the model is to encourage and support systemic reform, improved social services, and social development that will have a sustainable effect on community safety, security and wellness.
By providing “case studies” of the HUB models in place in Toronto, Ontario and Surrey, British Columbia, this paper will offer academic and practitioner perspectives on the efficacy of the model for facilitating long-term cost savings, integrated service delivery, and improving general public safety.

Authors

• Sara K. Thompson, Ryerson University

• Ghalib B. Bhayani, Royal Canadian Mounted Police