Sarnia's Police Chief Derek Davis is reflecting on the challenges and highlights in 2024 for the police service, as we head into the new year.
He said there was some modernization the service was doing internally.
"New policies, new processes, different accountability mechanisms, all things that are long overdue in terms of needed change within our organization," Davis said. "Our members across the board have done a tremendous job in adapting to those changes and working through everything."
Davis said he is pleased with how the service responded to the variety of challenges like Rainbow Park and addiction issues.
"These are all challenging in terms of resources and workload, but the officers and the civilian support staff have done a tremendous job helping us deal with those things as they come in. Unfortunately we can't predict them but we have to adapt when they arrive," he said.
Davis also said city police appreciated the engagement from the public in 2024. He said one of these instances was the town hall that was held in the fall.
"There were some very hard conversations had there. We really appreciate our community engaging with us on social media, attending those sessions and getting us the feedback we need to deliver our services," said Davis.
In April 2024, Sarnia police introduced a new Canine Unit. The German Shepherd Vader was sworn in during the summer after a 15-week training period.
The police service also introduced two new programs, the Community Crime Unit, in partnership with Lambton College and the Auxiliary Unit.
He said both programs have been successful.
"Students from that program become auxiliary's and we've seen students from that program become special constables and are starting to see them arrive at the constable application," Davis said.
Additionally, the police service underwent some staffing changes. Deputy Chief Julie Craddock left her position with the service after she was named as the new deputy chief with the Anishinabek Police Service.
There were some additions to staffing as well. Sarnia police hired an additional deputy chief, Ron Hansen in the summer and Michael Van Sickle took over Craddock's role in the fall.
Davis said he was pleased with council approving the police budget.
He said in 2025 there is some funding that will be allocated to the Facilities Master Plan.
"I was very pleased to see the Mayor's budget included from the outset those initial funds to start our board approved new facility projects, so definitely looking forward to working with the mayor, with council and city staff to address this going ahead," Davis said.
Eight new officers have also been hired by the Sarnia Police Service (SPS) and they will be heading to the police college.
Davis said those new officers will be on the streets and ready for summer.
"This was a change in our police college allotment which we have taken full advantage of and brings us up to our authorized strength, which we're really pleased to see," he said. "It's great news for our frontline platoons, great news for our community and for these eight new officers that are out starting new careers."
Davis said in 2025 SPS has their strategic plan renewal.
"We'll start looking at how we're going to renew or revamp through the police board. The strategic plan for the Sarnia Police Service, so [I'm] looking forward to some public engagement and discussion," he said.
Davis said there continues to be a number of challenges in the community.
"We're working right now with some of the symbols of crime and recidivism, such as shopping carts for example, or dealing with the low level thefts. We've got a number of different programs we're looking at implementing overtime," he said.
Additionally, SPS is dealing with provincial challenges which Davis said the Mayor is in full support of.
"Sarnia police are committed to continuous improvement and doing better everyday," he said.