Sioux Lookout OPP costs too high, Leney
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2014 5:14 pmSioux Lookout Mayor Dennis Leney is hoping to address the cost of policing in the municipality. He says he's concerned about the amount Sioux Lookout residents are paying, compared to other municipalities across Ontario.
"We have the busiest detachment in the province, and our cost per household, when they take away the funding, is $1,500 per household. Down in southern Ontario, I talked to one councillor, I'm not going to name any names, they pay nine dollars a year for OPP policing service. Somewhere there's a little bit of a gap that sounds like Sioux Lookout is subsidizing most of the costs for other municipalities" he said.
The cost of policing was one of the issues outlined by the municipal treasurer, Henry Wall. He noted that police costs, along with other costs leaves the municipality less than 50 per cent of their budget to work with in terms of cutting costs, or adjusting spending.
Leney says he believes cutting the costs at their local detachment may have some impact on the circumstances. He notes one of the major issues faced by their local officers is the travel expenses to transport young offenders to youth detention centres. He says he spoke with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, in order to address the possible creation of a youth detention centre in the community.
"They're quite receptive of the fact that we really need one because of the amount of travel that the OPP have to do to take these kids to Thunder Bay, or the amount of travel for parents coming to visit their parents. They're receptive of that and want to do a survey to find out if they do need another facility or what's going to happen with that," he said.
"We have one youth here who's been transported back and forth between Thunder Bay, the costs this year are already over $6,000 because it takes two officers to transport a young offender," he added.
Leney has been long battling for a youth detention centre in Sioux Lookout. He notes the benefits to the youth, the families and even the possibility of job creation as some of the benefits of the project. -
http://www.kenoraonline.com/index.php?o ... Itemid=160
"We have the busiest detachment in the province, and our cost per household, when they take away the funding, is $1,500 per household. Down in southern Ontario, I talked to one councillor, I'm not going to name any names, they pay nine dollars a year for OPP policing service. Somewhere there's a little bit of a gap that sounds like Sioux Lookout is subsidizing most of the costs for other municipalities" he said.
The cost of policing was one of the issues outlined by the municipal treasurer, Henry Wall. He noted that police costs, along with other costs leaves the municipality less than 50 per cent of their budget to work with in terms of cutting costs, or adjusting spending.
Leney says he believes cutting the costs at their local detachment may have some impact on the circumstances. He notes one of the major issues faced by their local officers is the travel expenses to transport young offenders to youth detention centres. He says he spoke with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, in order to address the possible creation of a youth detention centre in the community.
"They're quite receptive of the fact that we really need one because of the amount of travel that the OPP have to do to take these kids to Thunder Bay, or the amount of travel for parents coming to visit their parents. They're receptive of that and want to do a survey to find out if they do need another facility or what's going to happen with that," he said.
"We have one youth here who's been transported back and forth between Thunder Bay, the costs this year are already over $6,000 because it takes two officers to transport a young offender," he added.
Leney has been long battling for a youth detention centre in Sioux Lookout. He notes the benefits to the youth, the families and even the possibility of job creation as some of the benefits of the project. -
http://www.kenoraonline.com/index.php?o ... Itemid=160