OPP north detachment board to receive regional stats

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Essex Ontario Provincial Police Officers will be requested by Lakeshore Mayor Tracey Bailey to provide regional policing statistics soon.

Bailey’s motion calls for county-wide policing data – including not only the three northern communities of Lakeshore, Essex and Tecumsey, but also the southern communities of Leamington, Kingsville and Pelee, as well as the North Board of Directors.

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These municipalities were conducted by the OPP, while Windsor provided contracted policing to Amersburg, and La Salle had his own municipal police.

Currently, police officials provide the board with data on driving charges, violent crimes, property crimes, drug crimes and police initiatives.

“For me, the challenge is that I’ve seen the reports and the advance report will tell us what happened in the Lakeshore, Lemington and Essex,” Bailey said.

“So what we are allowed to do is really break down the data and know what is going on as a region in our community.

“So for me, I think it’s missing,” she added. “I hope we can get county-wide data so we know what’s going on as a district.

“We know how we transfer and we know where our crimes are happening. If the OPP is transferring resources to other areas – so if more places are needed, there may be no officials in the municipality if something big happens in the city or town.”

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Bailey has reached an agreement with Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy, and now is the right time to have regional statistics.

“I think there is a lot of discussion around Essex (about policing),” Bondy told board members.

“I think OPP is timely making sure we look at the report from the regional lens because I think that’s what the community starts saying is that we want to know what’s going on, kind of like a group,” Bailey said.

Amherstburg is considering its policing options after Windsor notified it to expire on December 31, 2029 with the town.

Amherstburg Mayor Michael Prue asked the Essex County Council to hire a consultant to study the feasibility of the regional police force, but was not interested.

“I am in the county against the motion to explore policing because I support OPP as the current regional force and exist in many of our towns and municipalities,” Bailey said.

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“So it makes sense for me, if we can regionalize the lens, then we will have a regional force that serves us all and tie it together.”

In other news, the board launched a new website

The board’s meeting calendar and agenda can be seen by the public.

There is also an official logo.

jkotsis@postmedia.com

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