By Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
How County of Essex Council could even start the topic of potentially exploring regional policing still needs to be determined, if Council even chooses to explore the option at all.
Essex County Council will be able to decide whether or not to direct County Administration to provide a report on the cost-estimate for engaging a consultant to perform a feasibility study for regional policing at the June 4 meeting.
Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy made that a Notice of Motion at the April 2 meeting. She noted it is a big file, a big ask of County administration to explore, and something the Town of Essex is also looking at.
That will give time for County Councillors to go back to their municipalities and connect with their municipal staff and Councillors on the matter.
She would also want County Council to get any historical reports at the County-level on policing.
“I’m not even saying I am going to support the motion that I am going to raise, but I am all in favour of gathering information,” Bondy said. “I think it is diligent to actually have information.”
This was the outcome on the matter last week, after Amherstburg Mayor Michael Prue initiated the conversation.
At the March 5 meeting, Prue put forward two Notices of Motion in forms of options for County Council to consider as it relates to regional police. They were introduced to County Council for discussion at the April 2 meeting.
He hoped County Administration could report on both options in the future, so County Council could consider them in the future.
Option 1 asked County Council to direct Administration of the County of Essex to work with local municipalities to explore options for traditional regional policing models for the County of Essex and that it be in place for January 1, 2029. Administration would report back as
soon as possible.
Option 2 asked County Council to direct Administration of the County of Essex work with local
municipalities to explore possible options for a collaborative approach to policing in the long-term, where the Police Board, Command, and Corporate structures are held at the County-level and local communities are provided with options for flexible service delivery models to meet local needs and pricing.
The Option 2 model should be built upon the premise that any municipality can opt-out of the program if they have other means of providing policing to their community.
In having the County coordinate, there would be one Chief of Police, one administration, and municipalities could opt-in or opt-out. LaSalle, in having its own service, may want to opt-out, for instance, Prue noted.
“This would allow the local municipalities to determine their wants and needs, and potentially save money for each one of the municipalities that currently uses the OPP,” Prue said.
The 2029 timeline would allow the County to discover if there is a better model going forward than the ones local municipalities are using at this point.
Through his motions, Prue noted that the Town of Amherstburg Policing Contract with the
City of Windsor ends on December 31, 2028 and the City of Windsor has decided not to renew this contract with the Town of Amherstburg.
“We in Amherstburg found ourselves in a particularly bad situation a few months ago,” Prue said when they learned the contract with Windsor Police Services will be terminated.
That follows the decision made a few years back, when Amherstburg decided to do away with its own police force. It does not have its own police equipment, cars, radios, and soon will be without its own police officers.
Council for the Town of Amherstburg wanted to look at five options: Ask Windsor Police to reconsider, see if LaSalle Police would be interested, create its own – though that was thought to be cost-prohibitive, approach the OPP, or approach the County of Essex to see if a new structure could be put in place to assist all municipalities of Essex County.
He also noted that five of the seven local municipalities in Essex County are currently receiving policing services from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
Because the County is not currently in the business of providing police services, Essex County CAO Sandra Zwiers suggested retaining a third-party consultant to unpack the options and work on the costing, instead of having administration create the report.
“This is not a new conversation for County Council,” Zwiers said, believing there are at least two feasibility reports on file that were created over the last two-to-three decades. One was completed prior to the 1999 amalgamation, the other a few years after amalgamation.
Funds could also be set aside in the 2026 Budget to get the consultant.
The Town of Essex was to discuss a report on policing at an April 7 special meeting, which Bondy will send to members of County Council.
“That report could give us awesome information as well,” she noted.
“We need to have a fulsome conversation, but I don’t want to have a knee-jerk [reaction],” Bondy said. “I think residents, generally, think we can do regional police and they think we can do it really easy. And they think we can do it cheaper.”
As someone involved in municipal Council for over a decade, she is a little more of a realist. Bondy noted the Town of Essex pays a little over $3M for its policing. The start-up costs alone will cost residents millions.
She respected Amherstburg’s position, and noted regional policing in theory makes a lot of sense.
“But I think it is going to be really expensive.” Bondy was also skeptical the opt-in, opt-out option would be sustainable for the County.
If County Council was going to talk about retaining a consultant at budget time, Bondy believes resolutions from the local municipal Councils would be needed first in addition to hosting public consultations.
In Essex, Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley said, nostalgia says there is a desire for the municipal police. But, it is not a reality, he said.
He believes what there is currently in terms of policing is working for Essex, and there is room to make it better.
Perhaps there could be a hub and spoke system that would better serve the community and allow for more policing, which residents would like to see.
Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara said his municipality has had an OPP contact since 1947. A recent survey conducted in Tecumseh provided the OPP with a 90% approval rating.
To start a regional police department, it would cost astronomical dollars, he added.
Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers put forward a motion to postpone the matter to the May 7 meeting, and that the two previous reports on regional policing be distributed for Council review and consideration. This motion failed.
LaSalle Mayor Crystal Meloche thought this was an important conversation, and felt terrible for Amherstburg’s situation.
“We do love our LaSalle Police,” she said, noting LaSalle was not looking to change its model.
Hiring a consultant on this matter, Meloche anticipated, would be high.
If there are municipalities in the area interested in creating a regional police service, perhaps they can look into this together. LaSalle would want to opt-out at this point, as it knows it is not interested in changing its model.
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