The province is looking into getting the Windsor Police Service a helicopter to help police the border.
Premier Doug Ford made the statement at a news conference this week while speaking about border safety. He emphasized that, while it is not a provincial responsibility, his government will support federal efforts.
"A small police service down in Windsor, what a great group of people down there," said Ford. "[Canadian Border Service Agency] does not have a boat to patrol the water on one of the largest border crossings in Canada, it's the Windsor police that are going to be doing that. We're going to support them, possibly with a helicopter. I've directed my solicitor general to look at a cost to patrol every where from Windsor down to Niagara."
Windsor Police Chief Jason Bellaire said he has not been a part of any discussions about patrolling the border by air.
"I haven't been in conversation with anybody. We are involved in a lot of the conversations with border security because Windsor police takes a lot of the border issues in the City of Windsor. The CBSA has their mandate and in the absence of CBSA, Windsor police takes on really the lion's share of all criminal activity at the border," said Bellaire.
Chief Bellaire said if the federal and provincial governments are serious about protecting the border, more resources need to be dedicated to it.
"Somebody somewhere has to start taking those issues seriously and taking those issues seriously comes with investment," said Bellaire. "I guess we'll see. We'll see what the plan is, I'm sure somebody has a plan. The Windsor Police is not in charge of the national strategy for border integrity."
