Sarnia Councillor Bill Dennis says city should consider policing transition to OPP

Sarnia Coun. Bill Dennis will introduce a motion to look at alternative policing options, including a transition to the OPP. Bryan Bicknell explains.

A Sarnia city councillor says the city should look at whether it’s time to dump the municipal police force and make the switch to the OPP.

Bill Dennis says local ratepayers can’t afford a ‘capital project estimated at up to approximately $120 million with inflation’ for a new police station.

His comments come amid an ongoing dispute between mayor Mike Bradley and the Sarnia Police Service Board after the mayor last year vetoed the city’s police budget request of $5 million to begin work on a new police headquarters.

“You’re not going to hear me say this very often, but I do agree with Mayor Bradley on this. I was one of the ones who voted on his side to not go with the police station. We simply can’t afford it,” said Dennis, who often finds himself at loggerheads with the mayor.

Dennis has filed a motion to have city staff review alternative policing models, including a potential transition to the OPP.

“Every community in Lambton County has the OPP, so there could be some economies of scale. There could be some efficiencies,” said Dennis.

The motion states that the review would include “full financial, operational, governance, and capital infrastructure comparison between the current municipal policing model and provincial policing options.”

Kelly Ash, who chairs the Sarnia Police Service Board, said switching to the OPP doesn’t solve the problem of what some believe is an inadequate police building.

“We’re bare bones,” exclaimed Ash.

“We don’t have elaborate anything in this service. And as far as the building, the OPP is not going to come in and say, ‘oh great, this building is perfect.’ It’s not an effective police station. They have the same adequacy standards that we have as well, so it’s not good for us. It won’t be good for OPP.

Sarnia considered transitioning to the OPP in 2010 but ultimately took a pass. Many other municipalities, however, have made the move, including the city of Orillia, a decade or so earlier.

Sitting Orillia city councillor Ralph Cipolla was on council at that time and currently serves on the local OPP Board. He said municipalities should think hard before making the move to the OPP

“To be honest, I think what happens, if you transfer to the OPP, council loses any authority to deal with your community on safety and police patrols, whether it’s in the downtown or different communities,” Cipolla said.

“The police themselves bring that up, and say, ‘Okay we only have so many people to do so many patrols,’ and so on. So, my take on it is, it’s not as effective as having your own police force within the community.”

Bill Dennis’ motion will be considered by council March 9.