The Town of Amherstburg is interested in exploring a regional police model as it investigates what the next step is on policing the town, and the Essex County warden is open to talking about it.
Warden Hilda MacDonald said she was “a little surprised” when she heard the motion coming out of Amherstburg town council. She said she has heard talk about regionalizing other services in the area, but not policing.
Despite only hearing about the idea recently, MacDonald said she is open to having discussions.
“I would support having a look into it,” she said.
Acknowledging “I think the initial costs might scare everyone,” MacDonald said she would listen if others around the Essex County council table were to be interested in hiring a firm to guide them through the process of what costs and conversion to a regional system could look like.
“It’s really about efficiencies and economies of scale,” said MacDonald. “Start-up costs are always the most daunting.”
If all seven municipalities were to band together into one police force or a smaller group within the county showed interest, MacDonald believed there could be cost savings in the long run as it could lead to fewer chiefs and administrative staff.
“The biggest thing we need to look at is our costs,” she said.
Policing is a huge expense, MacDonald added, with police costs being a major part of each municipality’s budgets.
MacDonald said Leamington, where she is also mayor, looked at the possibilities in 2019 of moving away from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and going with other another service.
They looked at joining with the Windsor Police Service or with Chatham-Kent, but cost factors led them to return to the OPP.
“They were cost prohibitive,” MacDonald said of the alternatives. “I don’t know how you can compete with the OPP.”
MacDonald said Leamington is “reasonably satisfied with the OPP” and the coverage they receive. While there is always an effort to improve, there has to be the ability to afford it.
MacDonald added she first heard of Amherstburg’s policing situation through the media and has done a lot of interviews about it.
“I’d love to have the conversation (about policing),” said MacDonald. “It would be an interesting conversation to have.”
The county warden believed sometimes regionalization on a service can start with an idea.
“Sometimes you have to start somewhere and sometimes there is a catalyst that starts it for you,” she said.
Warden open to regional policing discussions
By Ron Giofu
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