OPP Renfrew Detachment Commander Dawn Ferguson presented a report to Council on the OPP Renfrew Detachment and their future plans within Whitewater Region.
“The OPP billing model is like the Cadbury secret – only a few people really get it.” she said.
“We have what we call a Call For Service Report. It gives you a to the year. We look for trends to determine what
She said that Whitewater Region shares police services with Upper Ottawa Valley and Renfrew, and that that was under “a high level of review.”
She said that the trends over the last five years there were 3468 calls to service. 719.2 billable hours, down from last year’s 1044.9, for a 1.5% decrease.
“When it comes down to a 1-2 percent increase. I’m confident that we’re giving the same level of service as precious years.” she said.
“The one thing nice about the OPP is that when you pay the bill, you get the big blue machine.” She said. “You get access to all our services.”
She said the biggest concern in 2022 was under the operational budget for Whitewater, with neighborhood disputes rising from 50 disputes a year to 62.
She said that the Municipality paid for ‘reactionary’ services, such as calls for service.
She also talked about the Renfrew and Area Connections centre and their future plans for the service.
“We hope this will serve the community as a one stop shop hub for anyone in need of assistance. The RAC center will have all the social services available in the community with it. Its a center for the community.”
She said they secured just over a million dollars for the RAC program through grants.
“I’ve been in six detachments in five years – not my fault, thats what it worked out-, and was in a good position to see what works and what didn’t.”
She said they were able to get an additional crisis worker to work with the RAC.
“The police with the show of force, Us attending might not be the best way to deal with things, so we have a crisis team to deal with this. They’re preloading calls and they’re ahead of it.”
She talked about the freedom convoy in January 2022, to cheers from council.
“it was a big drain on the OPP, with over 500 officers dispatched to Ottawa. We had a few concerns pop up, mostly in Arnprior, but with quick response, we were able to move it along with out incident from the either the public or the operation.’
“Loud mufflers are a systemic issue in the valley, an people were sick of it.” she said there were over 100 charges laid through their Operation
“Every municipality you go to, they don’t know the police anymore.” she said. “They don’t know the community anymore.
She said they implemented a community liaison to ‘bring down the barriers in the perception of the police force.”
“We can’t recruit people, not enough people are applying; 30-40 seat a class are going unfilled, which is a first for the OPP.” she said. “If anyone wants to apply, now’s the time.” She said she wanted to work with the municipality to encourage new recruits in the community particularly those less represented in the force.
“We recognize that diversity and inclusion, are an issue. It’s an issue, it hasn’t been recognized, an we need to spend some time on it.”
Councillor Olmstead said he was “blown away with the number of associations” with the RAC center initiative.
“With all good initiatives,, we need to get the word out.” he said.
Councillor Mark Bell: “Police haven’t been portrayed in the best light, and I think a lot of that is unsubstantiated, and I wanted to thank you for your contribution.”
“We don’t hear as much of the praise, it’s mostly the critiques of the department.”
A member of the public, who worked with the police, asked if the recruitment were requited to be vaccinated.(for Covid-19)
“That wasn’t a condition of employment.” she said. “That’s fallen to the wayside with the end of the pandemic.” She said officers are required to vaccinate for Hepatitis B and C, as they have a higher risk of exposure.
“It was promoted, it was best practices, but it was never a requirement.” she said, about the Covid-19 vaccine.
The speaker then attempted to refer to the vaccine as an ‘experimental medical treatment’ before being asked to sit down by Council.
