Image from West Grey Police Facebook page
West Grey is starting discussions with Owen Sound to look at ways their two municipal police services can work together to find efficiencies.
West Grey council approved a motion from Mayor Kevin Eccles during Tuesday’s meeting to evaluate the feasibility, benefits and potential structure of a joint police force with Owen Sound.
The motion says as municipalities have a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of their residents, a joint municipal police service can lead to enhanced resource allocation, improved coordination, and greater operational efficiency.
Additionally, it could provide access to specialized units and advanced technology which may not be available for individual municipal police forces to sustain on their own.
The mayor’s motion also says a joint municipal police service could enhance the ability to respond to emergencies and large-scale incidents as neighbouring municipalities often face similar public safety challenges and can benefit from a unified approach to law enforcement.
The approved motion directs staff to start discussions with representatives from the city, as well as the Owen Sound Police Services board and the West Grey Police Services board to determine if a joint policing model would be beneficial.
“We have had some initial conversations at the police services and the staff from the City of Owen Sound Police that they would like to enter into basically a partnership and enter into conversations on how the two police services, West Grey and Owen Sound can work together to find cost efficiencies to basically help one another out,” says Eccles.
Eccles says this would start out as each police service assisting each other with administrative needs, but it could eventually turn into sharing services and merging police forces.
“There could be some discussion on it, but anything going forward about what it would look like would absolutely have to come back here,” says Eccles.