Former Leamington mayor says municipality should bring back local police unit

Former mayor of Leamington John Paterson wants Essex County to consider starting its own regional police force after the municipality cut ties with the Ontario Provincial Police.

Leamington city council voted to break its $5.4 million, three-year contract with the OPP on June 9 due to mounting disappointment with the police force's services. The OPP became the region's primary police force in 2010, just as Paterson was elected in.

The former mayor, who left office in 2018, said that at the time, he was not in favour of disbanding the local police force and having the OPP step in, but he was only a councillor whenthe decision was made.

"Well, it was probably the most awkward thing I had to do," Paterson said. "Two days after being sworn into office (as mayor), I had to swear them into duty in Leamington, but once we got going... they heard us, they heard our requests."

Despite initially being hesitant, Paterson said he was able to develop good relationships with the force and that they "did a lot of good in this town."

Disappointed in level of police service

Council broke its decade-long relationship with the OPP because they were unhappy with the service.

Mayor Hilda MacDonald said the OPP refused to give them eight officers a shift, despite the municipality being willing to pay more, and that the police force wouldn't offer response time statistics.

"We need a different level of policing and they have not been willing to change that," MacDonald told CBC News last week, after council made the decision to terminate the contract.

In December 2019, the majority of Leamington council members agreed to sign a new three-year contract with the OPP, despite already being disappointed with the service being provided.

The new contract started on Jan. 1, 2020 and included the ability to terminate with one year of written notice.

Since ending their OPP contract, the town has started to discuss other policing options, one of which includes signing an agreement with Windsor Police.

"I've always struggled with the city of Windsor, simply because the focus is always on the city," Patterson said, adding that the officers also aren't "overly familiar" with the county.

Instead, Patterson said the town should consider bringing back its own regional force.

A consultant will bring forward a report next month on the expected level of policing for the town.