Our policing unchanged under county’s review
Our policing unchanged under county’s review
Study on improved service focuses on Cobourg and Port Hope
Northumberland County is reviewing police services, but none of the options under consideration would change anything about policing in Trent Hills.
The county is paying consulting firm StrategyCorp $67,000 for phase one of a study into how to trim costs and increase efficiency in policing across the area as the population grows. Five of the municipalities rely on the Ontario Provincial Police, while Cobourg and Port Hope each have their own agency.
The report suggests two ways to save money and be more efficient: one is to let the OPP handle policing in Cobourg and Port Hope; the other is to merge those two services into one. The first option would probably be the cheapest.
Cobourg is planning to build a new police headquarters that could cost $34 million so a major way to save money is to eliminate that need. The report notes that currently there are three headquarters within 11 kilometres of each other.
Any decision about changes to policing would be up to the local municipalities, a staff report notes.
Strategycorp has produced a report that will be discussed at county council’s meeting on Wednesday. If the council decides to go ahead, the company will charge $375 an hour for a more detailed cost breakdown.
One of the shortcomings in the process so far is that the Cobourg Police Services Board has refused to take part, so the report’s financial analysis doesn’t have the details needed to make a final decision.
“The expansion of the OPP to Cobourg and Port Hope, would appear to result in lower costs of policing when compared to the other two scenarios,” the StategyCorp report says.
New OPP board stalled by insurance issues
In March I wrote about the new county-wide Northumberland County Detachment Board that was replacing the Trent Hills Police Services Board on April 1 and would be providing more oversight of OPP services.
Well, although it had taken a dozen years to revamp the law and set up the new boards across the province, things weren’t ready to allow them to operate, and the boards are not operational.
Apparently, after six years in power the Ford government is still unable to pass proper legislation and ensure the cart is behind the horse.
In May the Ontario Association of Police Services Boards, noted that “the specific challenge is that detachment boards no longer meet the definition of a local board under the Municipal Act.”
This has “resulted in an unanticipated challenge with obtaining insurance. Some boards have received quotes that are extremely high, and others are required to complete further documentation prior to review by their insurance company.”
The association told the boards they should not hold any more meetings until the issue is sorted out.
Councillors appointed to the boards are covered by their municipality’s liability insurance, but community members are not, so they are at risk. The community members on the Northumberland board are former MPP Lou Rinaldi and Eric Kowal, past chair of the Trent Hills board.
As I said in March, in the past, the Trent Hills board met only four times a year, but the new board was expected to meet monthly and play a greater oversight role. The directors were receiving special training for their roles. Councillor Rob Pope, our representative on the new board, said he hopes the insurance issue can be settled this month so it can get down to work.
So far, a measure that was designed to increase oversight of the OPP and ensure better civilian governance has resulted in six months and counting of less governance and oversight. It’s clearly not a priority for the Ford government, which has shown it can go to great lengths to accomplish some things, such as ensuring I can get beer at the Circle K.