The Ontario government wants to merge provincial police services boards, so there is one police service board per OPP detachment.
Conmee Mayor Kevin Holland tells us for the Thunder Bay OPP, that means the potential merger of two service boards which guide that force.
“One is the Lakehead Police Service Board, which serves the Municipality of Neebing, the Township of O’Connor, and the Township of Conmee. And then there’s the Shuniah Police Services Board, which serves the community of Shuniah,” says Holland.
He adds the two local boards will discuss this, and decide whether to present a case to the province as to why they should not merge. “There is quite a bit of concern with regards to the one board per detachment structure because of the distance between our communities. Each community has its own unique policing needs.”
The Fort Frances police may consider a Rainy River board along with Atikokan.
The Mayor of Conmee feels this plan could be to save money.
“In southern Ontario there’s a lot of boards in one detachment, so it takes up a lot of the detachment commander’s time to try and get around to meetings with every single one of the boards that exist,” says Holland.
He adds they’ve met with the province and expressed their concerns with this plan, and that should this happen in the north, police service for the communities they serve will not be affected.
