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The Brussels Post, 1974-05-15, Page 3h:7•1, 6." 1°0'4 igie Haitian °lice chiefs favour Huron county force rmen of the police commit- the five municipalities in County will be approach- u nty Council May 31 to to study on future policing area , mmittee was formed at a meeting held last week at Clinton Town Hall, conducted by the five police chiefs in the county. Panel members at the meeting included four members of the Ontario Police Commission: Judge T.J. Graham, Ronald Dur- RON r:j1);4.1". ; •, • • 4.40 • Agroma rt Baler Twi ne and, Walter Johnson and Police Commissioner Elmer Bell. Exeter Police Chief Ted Day conducted. the meeting where area elected officials were informed of the police chiefs proposed county police force. ti The police chiefs drew up their' proposal in response to the • recently released task force report on policing in Ontario. In the report, it is suggested that all communities having less than • 15,000 people should be policed by the OPP or a regional or county force. Judge Graham explained that people in southern Ontario should have to pay for their policing. Rural areas, now policed by the OPP for free would have to pay for their service if the task force is accepted by the government. If this happens, the local forces would like to offer the county an alternative. Costs seem to be the biggest problem in both a county force and use of the OPP. The county force would be missing ,a great deal of equipment that would be needed to cover the whole county. A central communications cen- tre would be set up, including a Canadian Police Information Cen- tre (CPIC) machine. The OPP now have a CPIC machine in Goder- ich. The government would pay 75 per cent of -the costs for a new one in the area with the munici- palities paying the rest. Many people expressed their concern over the high cost of the CPIC machine. Goderich police- man Tom Jarczak explained that the machine was 'his lifeline on the job. 25 percent is not too much money.' An additional cost in the proposed force would be the installation of personalized port- able radios (PREP) for all officers on patrol. These radios would enable all officers to leave their cars and circulate around towns and villages and still be in contact with the central communications centre. Boosters would be placed in the. cruisers to give the radios enough power to return calls to the centre. No one seems quite sure of who is going to pay for these addi- tions. Even if the OPP does take over the area the county will still have to pay. Police Chief Pat King believes costs will be shared on a head count of some sort. Seaforth Mayor Frank Sills told others at the meeting he person- ally was in favor of letting the OPP take over the job because they already have the equipment. Bill Harris, chairman of the police committee in Wingham, questioned the cost factor invol- ved with the OPP taking over the county. Prepared with figures he had gathered from the OPP and Wingham's own police force, Mr. Harris explained the difference in costs for the policing of Wing- ham. The 1974 budget for the police force in that town totaled $85,110. In Wingham there are three constables, a sergeant and chief now on the force. If OPP took over the town they would establish a." force of seven constables and one corporal. Their salaries would come to $120,000 a year excluding overtime. The town would have to supply an office and equipment plus pay 15 cents a mile for the cruisers. Including overtime the OPP would cost $128,084 a year. Mr. Harris then said that despite the initial costs, the `central communications centre is necessary whether we like it or not. We must work together.' Advantages of the county force were pointed out by Chief Day at the beginning of the meeting. He said that Huron County was fortunate in having only three sides to police and that all forces were now in communication with ,each other. They also use the same court although the jail is outside the county. Property checks in all villages and towns could be made each nights and use of unmarked cars and plainclothesmen could be utilized in county trouble spots. Policemen now on the five forces would also be able to remain in their present homes and work in the same area. Reassurances have been made though, that if the OPP does take over, men now employed by the local forces would be absorbed into the OPP and given the option of remaining where they are now located. Several members of the aud- ience were concerned that other alternatives were not being dis- cussed. Wayne Ellis, chairman of the Seaforth police committee, sail later that the purpose of the study will be to decide what type of policing would be the best for Huron County, not necessarily if the county force is feasible. `I'm interested in what type will cost the taxpayers the least amount of money and offer the best service,' he said. Chief Pat King explained at the meeting that the chiefs drew up this proposal as one answer should the task force be accepted. When the report was released the chiefs knew there would be questions and they wanted to have some answers ready for the public. Constant questions of 'are there other alternatives' finally led to the discussion of having a study made be the Ontario Police Commission. Ontario Police Com- mission Chairman Elmer Bell told the guests that they had no alternatives to getting the study done. `You can ask county council to ask the Solicitor General to ask the police commission to make a comparative study in costs or ask county council to ask the police commission to ask the Solicitor General for permission to conduct the study,' he said. Either way they decide to do it, county council must first approve the idea of a study at no cost to the county. Warden Bill Elston explained that council knew little or nothing of any proposals concerning the police forces. He suggested a committee approach countil on May 31 to explain the need for a study before taking it to a vote. `Get it out of the rumor stage,' he said. 'Let the county people know what's going on.' He went on further to say that presenting a county police force proposal first could be futile as county people receive their policing free now. !They get good policing from the OPP now,' he added. On a motion from Mayor Sills, a committee of the five chairmen of the police committees was dele- gated to approach the county council. Bill Harris was elected, chairman of the committee. By forming the committee at. the meeting, Seaforth Police Chief A.L. Vaughan said later he felt the meeting achieved what the police chiefs set out to do. • Suggested Possible Divisions For Huron County,Polive No. I — Division — Total Population — 19.9'46 No. 'L— Division — Clinton — Total Population — 9,657 No. :1 Division Wingham -- Total, Population — 9,797 No. 4 -- Division — Seaforth — Total Population -- 7,1511 No. 5 ,— Division — Exeter — Total. Population — 10.600 CL Agrorriart Bator Twit* themioally tr ti eated against rot rodento;, and in8ebt,. High strength and. knoesso. Wt.. the. 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