2023 OACP Award of Excellence in Community Safety, Wellness, and Crime Prevention

The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police is the voice of Ontario’s Police Leaders.  

Members of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police serve their communities as senior police leaders in municipal, regional, provincial, national, and First Nations police services across Ontario.

Media Release

Executive Director and COO Pauline Larsen & the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area

Awarded the 2023 OACP Award of Excellence in Community Safety, Wellness, and Crime Prevention

For Immediate Release: June 13, 2023

(Kingston, ON) – The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) is pleased to announce that Pauline Larsen and the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area in Toronto (DYBIA) are the recipients of the 2023 OACP Award of Excellence in Community Safety, Wellness, and Crime Prevention.

This award is presented in recognition of the accomplishments of an officer and their community partners working together to improve community safety and well-being.

Pauline Larsen is the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the DYBIA. The DYBIA represents more than 2,000 members and property owners and faces some of the most challenging economic, social, and public safety issues in the country.

Ms. Larsen’s belief that, “working with police is the foundation of neighbourhood safety and well-being” personifies the DYBIA’s approach to business improvement. It is the organization’s passion and dedication, along with its innovative talents, that elevates the DYBIA from a business improvement entity into a community improvement powerhouse.

In recognizing that safety is paramount to a city’s success, Pauline teamed up with the Toronto Police Service to create a community-policing partnership based on empowering community members through the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion. As a forward thinker, she identified community needs and deficiencies while coming up with innovative solutions.

The Community Engagement Team, initiated by the DYBIA and endorsed by the Toronto Police Service, have had a profound impact on the community. This program incorporated an outreach model pairing uniformed police officers with outreach workers to provide rapid response supports and intervention for crisis-situations focusing on members of society that deal with mental health, addiction, and homelessness.

This unique partnership led to new relationships among officers, outreach workers, the community, and vulnerable members of the community. Ms. Larson and the DYBIA transformed the relationship of police community relations from a polarized perspective to that of a unified team-based approach. She and her team exemplify police community partnerships and demonstrate a holistic, community-centric approach to not only public safety, but to community improvement and city building.

This annual award is made possible by the generous support from

Accident Support Services International Ltd.

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#OACP2023

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Media Contact:

José Luís (Joe) Couto

Director of Government Relations & Communications
C. (416) 919-9798

E. jcouto@oacp.ca

Twitter: @OACPOfficial

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