The Sarnia Police Service is planning for the future.
The police service board is developing its 2026-2028 Strategic Business Plan, and is looking to the community for its input.
According to the Community Safety and Policing Act (CSPA), which took effect in April 2024, police boards are required to develop and maintain a strategic plan.
Sarnia Police Service Board Chair Paul Wiersma said the present three year plan is coming to an end.
"In our previous plan, one of the things that was talked about was dealing with mental health and wellbeing, also homelessness," said Wiersma. "So some of those teams were put in place over the last few years. The IMPACT team, I think of MHEART and the Canine Unit came out of the consultations."
Wiersma said once again, they want community members to provide input on a new plan and share their priorities for the service.
"We have organized a number of stakeholder meetings with the community to invite people to express to us what they would like to see in terms of policing in Sarnia," he said. "We've got four external meetings planned for the next few weeks, and we also have survey that people can fill out."
The online survey is available through the Sarnia Police Service website.
Wiersma said the first in a series of town hall meetings will be held Tuesday, September 9 at Our Lady of Mercy Parish Hall from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
*A town hall meeting was initially scheduled to take place on Monday, September 15, at Lambton College Residence and Event Centre, however, it was cancelled due to the strike by full-time support staff.
The next public meeting will be held on Thursday, September 18 at Northern Collegiate Institute and Vocational School.
The Sarnia Police Service also updated the location for a future meeting in Bright's Grove, which will be held at Lakeshore Community Church on Monday, September 22. All town hall meetings will be held from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Editor's note: Updates regarding the cancelled town hall meeting and a location for the Bright's Grove meeting were made on September 11.