Chatham-Kent council will soon get schooled on what exactly the OPP does for the community.
Councillor Frank Vercouteren's motion for administration to request that local OPP give council a free presentation about its services at an upcoming meeting passed 8-6 Monday night.
Vercouteren had brought the idea to council in the past, but it came back in a tied vote. Now the motion finally has the green light to move forward.
"I would say that we did the right thing," says Vercouteren. "They're gonna bring a presentation, show us what they do, and how they get along with our police. Maybe nobody wants to admit this, but they help us an awful lot. They have the equipment and they're certainly there to help us keep this a nice community."
Vercouteren says council is not asking to look at pricing.
"We're not asking for costing and we're not asking for a competition to get the job -- that's not it. All we're trying to do is get familiar with them," he says.
Vercouteren says the municipality's police system has changed a lot over the years.
"All of the county of Kent, other than the city, was OPP. The city, of course, had their local police," he explains. "When we restructured, it came up for tendering and OPP tendered and they were a bit higher than our local police... so our local police had the hire of course to do the whole area."
According to Vercouteren, no review of the OPP's operations has been done since the restructuring in Chatham-Kent.
"I'm just happy that we may see a nice presentation from them," he says. "I think we've got a lot to learn. I think they're going to show us a lot of things that I don't know anything about and I'm sure half of the public don't."
Mayor Randy Hope expressed his disapproval of the motion saying that he does not see the relevance of the presentation and feels the timing is off with the term ending and an election coming up.
In the same boat, Councillor Derek Robertson says this is the worst period of the term to introduce this motion.
Councillor Michael Bondy and Councillor Steve Pinsonneault share the similar view that there is no harm in listening to a presentation and that council should at least hear what the OPP has to say. Pinsonneault adds that council requests presentations from many other departments in the municipality, it is just about being transparent.
Councillor Trevor Thompson says he would like an opportunity to discuss community issues with OPP representatives. Likewise, Councillor Karen Herman says it is a chance for council members to ask the OPP important questions as a community partner.