Feature Article October 28, 2004
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OPP brass come a-callingConcerns over lack of uniformed police bring suits to Councilby Jeff Green
Two weeks ago Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonald expressed a series of concerns over a perceived lack of policing in Central Frontenac to OPP Sergeant Chris Amell, who was standing in for the Lanark Detachment Commander Gerry Salisbury.
As the result of what MacDonald said to Amell, and a subsequent phone call MacDonald made to the Eastern Regional Office of the OPP, four officials came to the Central Frontenac meeting this past Tuesday.
Gerry Salisbury attended, as did regional Manager Gary MacPherson, and Chief Superintendant Jay Hope, the Eastern Regional Commander of the OPP. Also present was Sergeant Jeff McCann of the Sharbot Lake detachment, who has been on leave because of a leg injury.
Welcome, MacDonald told the officials I see none of you came armed, and none of us are armed either.
MacDonald then told the four men that, We pay a tremendous amount of money for policing. Between North and Central Frontenac we pay upwards of a million dollars. My understanding is we are paying for 11 officers. Recently I have found the Sharbot Lake office closed during weekday hours, and there was a recent call for service to Buckshot Lake (near Plevna) which took in excess of 1.5 hours to be responded to.
Commander Jay Hope responded for the OPP, saying, Youre understanding is that you are paying for 11 officers. We understand that you are paying for 11 FTEs [fulltime equivalents]; there is a difference. There are a number of people from Lanark County who are responsible for answering calls for service.
Gerry Salisbury responded to the question on response times, saying I have not had any complaints about response times, none that have come to me in writing. Are you aware of any?
Most people dont write in to the OPP to complain, MacDonald responded, Ive heard of accidents in North Frontenac where the ambulance has left before the OPP arrives.
You might have ambulances arriving before police do, but thats the position of having an integrated service. but, on the other hand there are advantages to having an integrated rather than a stand alone service. You have access to resources from the entire detachment if need be, and even from throughout the province. I hear about ambulance arriving before police all the time, but Id like to see it in writing, countered Salisbury.
Bill MacDonald then gave councillors a chance to ask questions. Councillor Gutowski asked if there were any data available tracking response times.
Gerry Salisbury responded, Yes thats tracked, but Commander Hope said It would be an effort on our part to put together a report on all response times in a given region over a given time frame. We could do it, if it is requested, but it is something that costs resources.
Councillor Francis Smith said, More and more when we look at the dollars we are paying, it tells us that maybe we should set up some sort of committee to keep track of the service.
Gerry Salisbury agreed. Perhaps a Community Policing Activity Committee would be useful here. I know you looked at a policing contract to replace the status quo service you now receive, but that would be more expensive, but a committee could be set up.
Councillor Harvey said, I think there is a problem. We are not getting the policing that we got before the OPP amalgamated. We certainly dont have the visibility of the OPP that we used to have. My son owns the grocery store over here. If the alarm goes off at night, hes told to go over himself; its probably a false alarm. Thats not acceptable.
I dont want anyone to think that Central Frontenac is less of a priority than anywhere else, contract or not, because it is not true, said Gerry Salisbury. Salisbury then noted that in the first nine months of 2004, 15,948 hours were charged to Central Frontenac compared to 15,864 for the same period a year earlier.
Finally Mayor MacDonald asked if there had been any decision to recluster OPP services and move Central and North Frontenac into the Frontenac Detachment.
No, we have had no discussions in that direction, Commander Hope responded.
The delegates were thanked for attending and it was mutually agreed that meeting in a smaller group format on a regular basis would be helpful.
