New Essex County OPP Detachment Board North Launches April 1

As of April 1, 2024, the Community Safety and Policing Act, 2019, comes into effect, meaning that police service boards under the former Police Services Act will be discontinued in favour of new detachment boards, for municipalities policed by the OPP. Locally, the police service boards of the Town of Essex, Town of Tecumseh, and Municipality of Lakeshore  will be dissolved  as of March 31, 2024 through a by-law and replaced by a single entity, Essex Detachment Board – North, starting April 1.

In October of 2023, the Ministry of the Solicitor General approved the new board for the Essex County OPP Detachment – North to be made up of nine (9) representatives from Lakeshore, Essex, and Tecumseh. Subsequently, in January 2024 the Province issued a description of the Detachment Board regulation and advised that the new boards were to be established by April 1.

Each municipality must appoint a Council representative and community representative as well as an agreed upon an “at-large” representative. Two representatives will also be appointed by the Province of Ontario.

Board members appointed to date are as follows:

• Lakeshore Mayor Tracey Bailey
• Lakeshore Community Representative Julie Johnston
• Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy
• Essex Community Representative Dave Kigar
• Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara
• Tecumseh Community Representative Paul Sweet

For the balance of this term of municipal office, the at-large representative will be rotated between the three municipalities, starting with Tecumseh. Tecumseh Council appointed former PSB Chair, Chris Hales, who will serve out the balance of 2024 once his appointment is confirmed by Essex and Lakeshore. For 2025, Lakeshore will make the appointment and in 2026, Essex will make the appointment, subject to agreement by all three municipalities.

The new Detachment Board is expected to get underway with their first meeting in April, 2024. For the time being, the new board meetings will be held in Tecumseh and livestreamed for public access. The agenda will be published a week in advance of the meeting and posted to each municipal website.

Background

Police services boards oversee how policing is provided in their local community. Under the new legislation, police service boards are to be representative of the communities they serve. These boards contribute to their community’s safety and well-being by working with local citizens and organizations to make sure their community receives the appropriate policing it needs. To ensure the delivery of adequate and effective policing in their area of responsibility, police services boards work to establish priorities, objectives and policies for policing in their jurisdiction.

Quotes

• “Having Council and community representatives will ensure our residents will continue to have a voice on policing in Lakeshore’s communities. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues from neighbouring municipalities as we navigate the changes to how detachments are governed at the local level.” – Mayor Tracey Bailey
• “Through collaboration with Lakeshore and Essex, the amalgamated board will aim to optimize our resources and enhance policing effectiveness. This unified approach underscores our dedication to building safer, stronger communities.” - Mayor Gary McNamara
• “The Town of Essex will continue to address the policing needs of our community through the newly developed Police Services Detachment Board. We look forward to working with our neighbouring municipalities to ensure that our communities are a safe place for all.” – Sherry Bondy, Mayor, Town of Essex
• “OPP will continue to provide policing excellence to the communities we serve while working with the new Detachment Boards on a collaborative vision for community safety.” Inspector Angela Ferguson - Detachment Commander - Essex County OPP

Media Contacts:

Marc Tortola
Town of Essex
mtortola@essex.ca

Alex Denonville
Municipality of Lakeshore
adenonville@lakeshore.ca

Mackenzie Vandenberg
Town of Tecumseh
mvandenberg@tecumseh.ca