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Lots of questions to ask

April 6, 2017   ·   0 Comments

AS WE SEE IT, there’s no need for a rush to judgment by Orangeville Council on the issue of local policing.

Even if Council accepts the Treasurer’s analysis indicating long-term savings of $4.5 million annually in the event of a takeover by the Ontario Provincial Police, that shouldn’t be a determining factor.

For one thing, it appears that a significant portion of the predicted savings come from provincial subsidies, and what guarantee is there that those subsidies will be maintained in the likely event of a new government taking office at Queen’s Park next year?

Equally unpredictable is the long-term impact of policing being done by officers who could be transferred to another part of the province on a virtual moment’s notice.

One thing we suspect that all Orangeville residents have come to agree on is that the Orangeville Police Service is currently in good hands with Wayne Kalinski as police chief. And as long as he is at the helm there is clearly no need for any rush to judgment.

It’s also pretty obvious that an OPP takeover will lead to a lot less local control. And is there any reason to believe that benefits now offered by the OPP will disappear in a couple of years?

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