West Perth Council has moved forward with extending its enhanced services agreement with the OPP.
Daniel Hobson, Director of Legislative Services and Clerk, says council already had an agreement with the OPP, and while this extends the life of the enhanced services agreement, that service was already in place.
"But because of the new policing legislation, the Community Safety and Policing Act coming into effect on April 1, there had to be a couple tweaks made in the contract to bring it into line with the new legislation. So, in essence, it's not really a renewal as much as an amendment, but because there's new legislation involved, it is a renewal or an extension, if you will," said Hobson.
The extension for the enhanced OPP service is for three years. Hobson says a basic OPP service agreement is roughly $1.3 million a year, and the enhanced services tacks on roughly another $300,000.
Hobson notes the enhanced services agreement brings certain benefits that a basic agreement doesn't.
"So the enhanced services from the OPP essentially gives us a dedicated municipal officer and a dedicated policing administration service which is located in downtown Mitchell. If we didn't have the enhanced services, we wouldn't have that OPP office or presence, and that's the big thing," Hobson noted.
Also, as Hobson explains, there's no cost associated with having to call in special services under the agreement.
"If you didn't have that and you needed other specialty services, you can expect a bill for those services. Say we needed a chopper or something like that, obviously West Perth OPP doesn't have a chopper on hand. But if one needs to come in for some reason, that can happen at no additional cost," Hobson shared.
Hobson adds that for now, West Perth is happy to move forward with the OPP services, but he acknowledges that municipalities in other areas have had discussions before about moving to other municipal policing partners, such as Stratford Police Service. He says if there ever was a mandate from council to investigate other options, staff would look into it.
