Policing options in Amherstburg could get deferred to new council

AM800-News-Amherstburg-Police-Outside-Sign-October-2018.JPG

Amherstburg’s ongoing policing matter could be deferred to the next town council.

Councillor Linden Crain says the town’s CAO provided a brief update on Thursday, June 18 to members of council saying a report will be going before council on July 13.

He says the CAO also told council that the town received an update from Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), letting the town know that the OPP is preparing a policing resource plan for Amherstburg that was started in the summer of 2025.

However, Crain says provincial police have told the town that the proposal may not be ready until this September.

He says if the proposal comes in September, councillors may wish to defer it since they may be in a lame-duck position.

Crain says town staff is working extremely hard on the file and has made it a top priority.

He says he’s disappointed with the OPP’s timelines.

“I’m surprised that it took the OPP almost a year to come up with a police resourcing plan for the town, and they’re aware of our deadline to have a new force in effect in 2028,” he says.

Crain says the current council could defer the issue to the new council.

“Without having the OPP policing resource plan in front of us, it would make it very difficult for this council to decide on which policing option would work,” says Crain. " The only numbers that we would have would be restarting our own Amherstburg police, so we need to wait until we get an update from OPP, which could be in September when we’re in lame duck. So this matter may be deferred."

He says on July 13 council will be receiving a public report outlining all policing timelines.

“Following that, in September once OPP has the final figures and police resourcing plan to council, in September council would receive a new report outlining all of the options, and then a wholesome public consultation would take place in September and beyond,” he says.

Amherstburg is exploring policing options for the town after Windsor City Council voted at the end of 2024 to inform the town of its intention to end the agreement that had the Windsor Police Service handling the job.

Increasing policing costs were cited as the reason for the decision.

Windsor has been providing policing in the town since January 2019 after the Amherstburg council voted to approve a 20-year contract with the city and disband the former town police service.

The 20-year policing agreement with Windsor is divided into four five-year segments, and in late 2023, the town approved the first five-year renewal phase of the contract.

Under the terms of the original agreement, an 18-month notice of termination must be provided, but the agreement would not end until the current renewal expires, which is Dec. 31, 2028.

Amherstburg is now considering policing options including re-establishing its own police service as well as the OPP.