While Sarnia's mayor commends the idea of supporting municipalities who are facing increased Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) costs, he's also calling on the provincial government to offer financial support to cities with their own police services, as they too are facing "skyrocketing" costs.
Mayor Mike Bradley recently sent a letter to Premier Doug Ford and Ontario's Ministry of the Solicitor General, after the province proposed to spend over $77 million to help offset the increased cost of municipal police services provided by OPP. However, funding was not officially announced.
During an interview with Sarnia News Today, Bradley said "it's a matter of fairness."
"It's important that we also receive some compensation," Bradley said. "In the past, the province gave money directly for policing to communities. They really don't do that anymore."
As noted in the letter, Bradley said the City of Sarnia has seen a cost increase of over 35 per cent over three years.
"While we all support frontline policing and acknowledge the importance of civilian administrators in policing, a significant portion of these costs are procedural and burdensome, negatively impacting our overall budgets," read the letter.
Bradley said part of the reason why policing costs have gone up is due to the proclamation of Bill 68, the Comprehensive Ontario Police Services Act, which includes diversity training, the development of diversity plans, and mandatory training for board members.
Bill 68 received royal assent in March of 2019.
"I think this letter is going to receive a favorable response from urban cities that have their own police service, who understand that this is not sustainable," Bradley said. "The province cannot keep adding new costs to us. When they proclaimed Bill 68, which is the new police act, those costs have hit us hard at a time when we're trying to keep our communities and our tax increases affordable."
Bradley said he plans to give the premier and the solicitor general time to respond before he follows up.
"I also have been told that I'm going to meet with the new inspector general of Ontario -- who's dealing with policing -- in the next couple of weeks and I hope to express my concerns at that time too," Bradley said.
Since sending the letter, Bradley has received at least one response of support from the mayor of Clarence-Rockland.