Era of small town police forces near end

Obscenely high and unsustainable policing costs. OPP bills are destroying communities its officers are supposed to protect. Apparent self-interest is cloaked in the guise of public safety needs. Where is the political outrage while OPP costs continue to climb? Who is going to bring policing costs in this province under control?

Era of small town police forces near end

Postby Thomas » Tue Mar 25, 2014 5:25 am

Era of small town police forces near end, outgoing OPP commissioner says

OTTAWA — The outgoing commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police says the writing is on the wall for small-town police forces as the soaring cost of policing makes regional police forces or the OPP a more cost-effective choice.

“With the cost of policing rising as it is, sadly, a lot of those small-town police forces will go,” said Commissioner Chris Lewis, who retires Friday after 36 years with the OPP.

“In some ways, the OPP has been seen as the antichrist of Ontario policing ... but this is not about the OPP trying to take over more turf,” he said. “The reality is small municipalities just can’t afford the cost of policing any more.”

In the past year, municipal police forces in Perth and Pembroke have been disbanded and their officers absorbed into the OPP, which now patrols the towns on contract. Perth estimated the town would save $750,000 a year by moving to the OPP, after 162 years of having its own force. In Pembroke, councillors estimated the OPP contract would save that town $2 million over three years.

Ontario once had more than 200 municipal police forces, Lewis said. Today, there are 52.

The average cost of policing varies wildly in Ontario, but averages about $550 per household in municipalities that have their own police force, he said. (In Ottawa, the figure is $544.)

Where the OPP provides service, the cost is about $350 per household, he said.

“A large organization like a regional department or the OPP will provide a more cost-effective service,” Lewis said. “Not necessarily better — I’m not going to say we’re better than anyone — but we can do it more cost effectively because we have economies of scale.”

Small towns often resist that change, he said.

“You have small town police chief with a lot of ‘scrambled eggs’ on his hat,” he said, referring to a chief’s gold braid. “He thinks he might go from being chief to a sergeant or working on a night shift. But the reality is municipalities can’t afford policing any more, and the way to cheaper policing is through larger forces.”

Smiths Falls remains one of the few towns near Ottawa that still has its own police force, and it has no plans to change, said Mayor Dennis Staples.

That despite the fact the town pays $1,067 per household to support its 25-officer police service.

He said the town asked the OPP for a cost estimate in 1997 and again in 2005, but both times decided it was cheaper to keep its own force.

“We found there were no significant financial advantage to us changing,” Staples said. “In fact, it was going to be about the same amount of money.”

In some cases, small town forces must rely on the OPP for specialized services, tactical teams, K9 units or sophisticated forensic investigations. Talks are underway to ensure towns pay their fair share of that cost, Lewis said.

In one case, he said, a “mid-sized” police service in Ontario eliminated its K9 unit and now depends on the OPP to supply police dogs.

“In that case, they effectively uploaded the cost onto the province, and we need a mechanism to deal with that for cost recovery.”

Lewis spoke Monday at Algonquin College, first to staff about the lessons of leadership, then to students about careers in policing. Lewis rose through the OPP from the bottom, serving in every rank until being named commissioner in 2010. A high school graduate, Lewis said he is likely the last person to hold the commissioner’s job without having a university degree. Ottawa native Vince Hawkes will succeed Lewis at the helm of the OPP’s 6,000 uniformed officers and 3,000 civilians.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/small ... story.html
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