By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
Following a long period of being understaffed, the Chatham-Kent Police Service is set to return to a full complement of officers in the new year.
In a presentation to C-K council earlier this month, Chief Kirk Earley said the service has hired 65 people in the last 24 months, including four new cadets who will attend Ontario Police College in January. They’re among 36 sworn officers and 29 civilians who have been brought on board.
The report comes in response to a motion from South Kent Coun. Anthony Ceccacci asking for an update on police operations. Ceccacci requested the update as a follow up to a police operations audit by Deloitte in 2023. At the time, the third-party analysis found the service to be “severely understaffed,” recommending CKPS add 43 full-time staff to meet demand.
According to Earley, the new hires are part of a four-year period of transformation and modernization that includes replacing retired officers.
“I think we ended up with 36 very solid candidates that are sons and daughters of this community patrolling the streets,” Earley explained, noting the service tested more than 100 candidates. Five of the new officers were hired from other police services.
Earley said retirements – 22 in the last year – and people returning after long-term illness must be considered during the recruitment process – making the actual number a “moving target.
“When we have people return, it makes it difficult to try and recruit, because it may put us over our complement,” the chief explained. “So, it’s kind of a moving target.”
However, he said the CKPS Community Patrol Branch will have 112 sworn officers by March of next year – a division of the service that has struggled to maintain numbers in recent times.
All told, the number of sworn officers sits at 197, in addition to 100 civilian employees, including emergency communications operators, special constables and other staff.
Earley said the service will continue to recruit and hire.
In 2023, Chatham-Kent council approved budget increases of $2.15 million in 2024; $2.35 million in 2025; $2.85 million in 2026; and $2.9 million in 2027 for a total of $10.3 million over four years. The CKPS 2023 base budget in 2024 was $36 million and grew to $43.6 million in 2025.
Because the highest rates of local crime relate to break and enters and drugs, Earley said the size of the intelligence unit has been doubled as well. Drug and property seizures took a sizeable jump, going from $800,000 in 2024 to $27 million so far this year.
Earley stressed that more officers are needed as calls are increasing. In 2024, more than 75,000 police calls were dispatched but as of November 2025, police already responded to 76,000 calls.
“People need to call us,” Earley stressed. “We need to know what’s going on because if we don’t know it doesn’t really count. Social media’s not going to help…call the police, tell us what you have.”
Besides bringing on more officers CKPS has seen other personnel changes, including the hiring of a corporate communications professional, a project manager and a wellness co-ordinator.
“We’re looking at improvement in our wellness, community safety and our response time,” Earley told council. “Thank you to you as council for your support in that. It was a key investment in public safety.”
Earley has promised to increase foot patrols in the Chatham’s core by adding it as a 15th patrol zone in January – similar to the way it was done when he started in policing 29 years ago.
“There has been an influx of people in the downtown core and they are causing issues,” he told council. “From an evidence-based policing perspective, that (foot patrol) is probably the best way to prevent crime.”
Earley said the addition of wellness and wellbeing co-ordinator Amanda Blackburn has proved to be invaluable and has reduced lost time in the service.
New technologies are also boosting community safety, Earley said, such as the addition of CCTV cameras in urban areas and the launch of the NG9111 emergency communications centre. However Earley said technology can only go so far.
“No matter how much technology we have, we still have to have boots on the ground,” he said. “No matter how much technology we put in place, technology will never be able to console a victim. We need officers to do that.”
