Under review: police board calls itself second-busiest in the province

Thunder Bay Report - The Thunder Bay Police Services Board is under inspection, and that is just one of the reasons they say their workload is so heavy that it makes them the second busiest police board in Ontario, behind only Toronto.

"I believe you are aware that the Inspector General has said we are being inspected because we are not acting the way we should be, and that is my wording. I am not saying he said that exactly, but there are clearly some issues," said Board Chair Karen Machado.

"Our current staffing structure cannot meet our capacity, and we have a lot of work to do. When the Inspector General was here last December, the Vice-Chair and I met with him and had some conversations, and they realized we are the second busiest board in Ontario, behind only Toronto."

In terms of scale and capacity issues, she said they only provide a small portion of services, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

"We have focused all our attention on ourselves. We have a lot of work to do, but we just do not have the capacity to do it," Machado said.

The board is creating a new position - Executive Director - to help manage the workload in the future.

"We have too much work to do. We want to do good things. We want to make progress. We want to build relationships and rebuild trust, and to do that and stay focused, we need someone to lead us down that path, and that is what this position is for," Machado said.

This new full-time position will replace the existing Board Administrator position.

Machado said that since they still need to determine the position and job description, post the job, conduct interviews, make an offer, and negotiate a contract, they do not expect to hire anyone until June or July, when another contract expires.

Machado said, "Their salary will be half of what it was, and there may be a slight overlap to allow for some mentoring and training."

Vice-Chair Denise Baxter said the board expects to receive the Inspector General's report this year.

She said she believes "an assessment is always a good thing because it provides another opportunity for others to look at what you are doing. Are you really on the best path? So, hearing that someone is taking a close look at what we do is actually very welcome news."

She said she is very grateful that the plan aligns with the implementation of the Community Safety and Policing Act, which came into effect in April 2024, and noted that their inspector, Tom Gervais, is working closely with them.

Baxter said, "I do think this will help determine some direction, but I also think we are heading in the right direction."

Baxter said the matter will be brought before the board next month.

Source: https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/under-inspection-police-board-is-second-busiest-in-province-10145740