The Sarnia Police Service will re-evaluate its priorities in the coming months as it develops a new Strategic Business Plan.
The current plan was implemented in 2023 and expires at the end of 2025.
"We use it to identify budgets, operational changes, so it's really the board's governing document for the organization to say these are the high level things we want you to work towards, strive towards to achieve," said Sarnia Police Chief Derek Davis.
Over the fall, police will look for public feedback on priority items and issues with a public survey launching later this month, and a series of town hall meetings.
Davis said while the service has to meet legislative requirements, they also need to meet the expectations of the community.
"[We'll] consult with the community and find out what the priorities are. What do the residents of Sarnia want to see their police service achieve, what do they want our priorities to be and then we of course meet our legislative [requirements] and then we look at what are the expectations and then we blend those two and that becomes the plan going forward," he said.
The first town hall meeting is set for Tuesday, September 9 at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church.
Meetings will also be held on Monday, September 15 at Lambton College and on Tuesday, September 16 at Northern Collegiate High School.
"We're hoping the community gives us some issues that they would like us to talk about and we can certainly address, answer questions and have a conversation in each of the town halls," said Davis.
Sarnia police will also invite governing bodies to arrange meetings and there will also be internal consultations.
In 2022, some of the key priorities included more patrol officers, construction of a new police building, fleet vehicle improvements and alternate call handling.
Davis said the police service has been able to address some initial concerns with the introduction of a canine unit, a new cell monitoring system and more patrol officers in the downtown core.
He said creating the plan was a learning experience in 2022 when he first became chief.
"The learning process has never really stopped, but that was a real speedball in terms of trying to understand what the issues were and there were a lot back in 2022," Davis said.
It's anticipated the draft 2026-2028 strategic business plan will be completed by the end of the year, with the final copy to be approved in early 2026.