Communities in Grey Highlands can expect to see an increase in proactive patrolling on area roadways from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) this summer.
“We will have two officers in your municipality for the weekend, doing proactive traffic enforcement for 10 hours a day. I believe that this is very important for your traffic safety and the safety not only of the residents here, but people using the roadway through your municipality,” said Grey-Bruce OPP detachment commander Debra Anderson.
Anderson spoke to Grey Highlands council members at a meeting held on Wednesday evening where she presented an offer of initiating pay-duty officers for one weekend out of the 10 weekends in the summer.
According to Anderson, the Grey Bruce OPP detachment currently has 103 active uniformed members including one inspector, two staff sergeants and nine sergeants.
The March 2021 detachment commander’s report shows Grey Bruce officers responded to 829 calls for service in January and February and spent 95.2 hours dealing with traffic-related offences.
She explained that the addition would not change that makeup or the detachment's current level of service.
“The level of service to respond to calls hasn’t changed,” Anderson explained. “The two paid-duty officers for proactive traffic enforcement are to address the increase in traffic during the summer months on Highways 6 and 10 to ensure safe travel.”
Proactive enforcement is the act of law enforcement preventing a crime before it takes place.
“Officers are required to do proactive police work between calls but one thing that we noticed from 2020 is our calls for service, particularly with respect to traffic enforcement, increased greatly,” she explained.
She said calls for service in July and August increased by 51 per cent and she is anticipating similar increased calls for service this summer, adding that the extra calls occupy the time officers would use to conduct the proactive enforcement activities.
In addition to Grey Highlands, the detachment commander is also offering the increased weekend patrols to Chatsworth, South Grey, Georgian Bluffs, North Bruce Peninsula and Meaford. But, it does come at a cost.
To encourage buy-in from the municipalities, Anderson waived an associated administration fee and the hourly cost associated with using the police cruisers. She anticipates the cost of two officers for 10 hours to be $5,100.
While Anderson offered the municipality one additional weekend of service, Grey Highlands council members requested the service for two additional weekends.
“I do agree that this is something that's sorely needed. Especially during the summer months, we have had reports of excesses speeding through all of our communities,” said Grey Highlands Deputy Mayor Aakash Desai.
With the waived expenses, two weekends of additional police service will cost the municipality $10,200. The funds are expected to come from the Policing Reserve Fund if COVID-19 relief funding is not applicable. The Grey Highlands Police Reserve currently sits with a balance of $75,618.
Desai also asked if it were possible to explore the possibility of establishing proactive OPP patrols for all 10 summer weekends in 2022, which could potentially be worked into the municipality's annual budget process.
Anderson said it could be possible but added that if all area municipalities opt-in for the additional weekend patrols, it will likely have a ripple effect across all of the Grey County communities, especially those connected to Highway 10 and 6.
“If you picture somebody leaving the GTA area coming up to this area, let's say they're going to Tobermory, they're going to go through Southgate, Grey Highlands, Chatsworth, and so forth. And so, I believe everyone will benefit from increased enforcement on Highway 10 and 6,” Anderson said.
Anderson has not assigned the two weekends the OPP are expected to be present in Grey Highlands but noted that she would communicate the final plans to the Grey Highlands Police Service Board once all of the other municipalities have confirmed their intentions.
