Regional policing request garners little interest

It looks like the Town of Amherstburg is running out of options when it comes to the future of policing.

During its regular session of Essex County Council last Wednesday night, councillors voiced a resounding rejection of Amherstburg’s attempt to begin preliminary steps towards a regional police force.

Mayor Michael Prue pleaded the town’s case, noting that the current contract with Windsor Police Service will officially come to an end in less than four years.

Wednesday night saw Prue bring forth two options. The first requested administration work with local municipalities to explore options for traditional regional policing for the county to be in place by January 1, 2029. The second, which the mayor seemed to favour, would be a collaborative approach where the police board, command and corporate structure would be held at the county level and any of the seven municipalities could opt out any time.

“We in Amherstburg found ourselves in a particularly bad situation a few months ago when our contract with the Windsor Police Services was terminated,” Prue said to his fellow county councillors.

Prue said that in the past the town did have its own municipal force but opted to have it contracted to Windsor. Prue noted that getting their own force now would be cost prohibitive.

Prue said that the five options Amherstburg has is – having Windsor reconsider their decision, go with Ontario Provincial Police, have the LaSalle Police provide the service, set up their own force again or to have a regional-county force.

“Currently five of the seven municipalities have OPP, and we may be going that way unless LaSalle is wonderful and we can strike a deal with them that is beneficial to both of us,” said Prue.

Tecumseh, Kingsville, Lakeshore, Leamington and Essex are all policed by the OPP.

Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara said his town has been policed by the OPP since 1947 and recently received a 90 per cent approval rating in a survey.

“Regional policing is astronomical to start,” said McNamara. “I would say the two options you (Amherstburg) have is OPP or renegotiate the contract you have with the city if that is even possible.”

LaSalle Councillor Mark Carrick said that his town is very satisfied with the policing they have, and Mayor Crystal Meloche agreed with McNamara that the cost to start a regional force would be very high.

“This is an important conversation to have, and I do feel terribly for the position Amherstburg is in. Your hands are kind of tied and you are in a tight time frame,” said Meloche.

Meloche said that if the county was to proceed with administration looking into the possibility of a regional force, that LaSalle should not have to be part of it.

County CAO Sandra Zwiers said that prior and immediately after amalgamation, that reports were done on policing but admitted that administration does not have the expertise to gather information and that a consultant would have to be hired.

Currently there is no funds in the budget for a consultant and Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy hopes to bring a motion forward at a future meeting to at least see how much a consultant would cost.

“This is definitely a challenge for Amherstburg but I think we need to look at it as an opportunity for the seven municipalities to at least explore all the options,” said Amherstburg Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb.

After the meeting, the River Town Times asked Prue how he felt about the county’s disinterest in a regional police force.

“We have four other options. I was a little surprised, I thought they would show a little more empathy for our situation,” the Amherstburg mayor said.

When asked if LaSalle would consider policing Amherstburg, Meloche responded, “we aren’t saying no. Amherstburg has to decide what their policing needs are.”

By Fred Groves