Reaching out for help resolve the staffing crisis at the local police service isn't a move the association made recklessly.
Timmins Police Association (TPA) president Luc Lamarche said he and other members of the association have had many sleepless nights making the decision.
"It's not lost on me that this is not a common thing. It's not lost on me at all. But I'm not going to wait until a member of the public gets hurt because we didn't have an officer to send to a call, or one of our members gets killed in the line of duty, because we didn't have enough officers on the street. We know this is a violent city, we know that there's been a lot of violent crime in the City of Timmins. That's just the reality. That's not a secret," says Lamarche.
A week ago, 91.5 per cent of the TPA members voted in favour of asking the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) for help in addressing a staffing crisis and public and officer safety concerns that go with it.
SEE: Police association asking for help to address staffing crisis, safety concerns
The Timmins Police Services Board welcomes open communication and collaboration, said chair Kraymr Grenke in a statement.
"We are committed to providing the OCPC with relevant data to facilitate a constructive dialogue about the services we are delivering within our community," he said.
The OCPC is an independent third-party agency that can conduct investigations and resolve disputes about the oversight and provision of policing services.
It's one of Ontario's three civilian police oversight agencies; the others being the Special Investigations Unit, which investigates police-involved incidents where there's a death, serious injury or sexual assault, and the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) that receives and manages complaints about police.
Four days after the association voted to go to the OCPC, Dan Foy, who had been chief since February 2022, announced his retirement, effective immediately.
With the sudden retirement, Henry Dacosta is the acting chief and Darren Dinel is the acting deputy chief. Dacosta has been deputy chief since 2018. Dinel is currently an inspector at the service.
When the association went public with their concerns yesterday (Nov. 20), the letter hadn't been sent to the OCPC yet, but was being drafted, said Lamarche.
The move puts the association into unchartered waters.
"It's just to hopefully get all the parties working together again, to get us in a place where we don't end up, you know, having to deal with a real tragic situation within our community," he said.
The issues have been an internal discussion for almost two years, but started before that. Noting that every organization has internal issues, he didn't get into specifics.
The police force is approved for 96 officers, but the highest it's ever been is 88.
The complement is currently just over 80, which includes all uniformed staff from cadets to the chief.
Over the last couple of years, a number of officers have left Timmins Police.
In 2023, so far at least eight officers have resigned, and two officers retired — one long-time constable and the chief. Ten cadets have been hired this year and there have been three direct transfers.
A recruitment incentive offering cash for experienced officers failed to attract people to the service earlier this year. The incentive was recently relaunched, with one officer qualifying for it so far.
SEE: Police relaunch, expand cash incentive to attract experienced officers
As part of the original incentive, Timmins Police was going to pay the cost of attending Ontario Police College (OPC) for successful cadets.
Shortly after the local announcement, however, Ontario eliminated police college tuition fees and expanded the number of recruits being trained each year in the province.
While Lamarche said recruitment has been going relatively well, they aren't attracting enough people.
"It's basically allowed us to kind of remain the status quo. But the status quo has not been enough for several years now. And we never seem to be able to take that step forward," he said.
With recruitment slowing down, more officers applying to other police services and retirements coming up in 2024, Lamarche said it became clear to association members that the staffing levels wouldn't be sustainable.
"If we don't ring the bell now and ask for help now, you know, the true fear from the association is we get to a point where we honestly just don't have the bodies to do the job anymore. And we can't allow ourselves to get to that it's not fair to the community. It's not fair to us as an organization," he said.
The police services board is also acknowledging the challenges it's facing in recruiting and retaining officers and civilian positions.
"This trend is unfortunately prevalent in police services across the country. According to Statistics Canada, there has been a notable decline in active police officers nationwide over the past year. We understand and empathize with the TPA's concerns regarding the personnel crisis affecting the Timmins community and have been at the table trying to find solutions to moving forward as an organization," wrote Grenke.
Despite the personnel challenges, Grenke said essential policing services are being provided.
"While some reassignments have occurred within specialty units, community policing efforts, and critical partnerships, such as the agreement with Ontario Health for the Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Unit, remain intact. Our focus is on maintaining a level of service where prompt responses to both urgent and non-urgent calls are ensured, distinguishing us from situations in larger communities where citizens sometimes experience delays of days in receiving police assistance," he said.
'We want to remain the Timmins Police Service'
Earlier this year, Timmins Coun. John Curley wanted council to look at OPP costs to help deliver policing services in the outlying areas such as Kamiskotia and Connaught. That motion never passed.
Lamarche said asking the OPP, who also have personnel shortages, to help isn't the answer.
"The goal of this is not to somehow backdoor the OPP to come in and police our community. We want to remain the Timmins Police Service, we want to remain the Timmins Police Association, I strongly believe in community policing, the value that this police service provides our community. We just don't have the proper amount of bodies right now to do that job effectively," he said.
Message to the community
As alarming as the ask for help may be to people in the community, Lamarche is assuring people that police will be there when they're required.
"We are still there, we will still be there when you call for help. This step is being taken now to ensure that that continues and that we don't get to a situation or in a position where when you call for help, we can't be there and we're doing absolutely everything we can to ensure we don't get to that level," he said.
For its part, the police services board says it's dedicated to working closely with the TPA and Senior Officers Association for uniform and civilian members "to address the challenges at hand and ensure that our community continues to receive the quality policing services it deserves."
TimminsToday has asked for more information from the board about what the process is to hire a new chief and if the OCPC request impacts that process. A response has not been received as of this publishing.
