Hamilton police to hire new deputy chief, civilian administrator

Hamilton police's oversight board announced Friday it will begin recruiting for a new deputy chief and a private sector chief administrative officer familiar with tasks like budgeting, human resources and IT.

Both new positions will report directly to Chief Eric Girt.

Coun. Lloyd Ferguson, who chairs the police services board, said the hiring won't require extra funding.

One deputy chair is being left vacant by the retirement of Ken Weatherill. And the service will do some restructuring to allow for the hiring of the new administrative officer. That allows the hiring to result in "zero impact" to the budget, Ferguson said.

The service is already in the process of hiring a corporate communicator to replace Catherine Martin, who died of cancer in February. Martin was honoured posthumously this week by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police for "excellence in media relations."