GUELPH – Members of the Wellington County’s Police Services Board (PSB) are concerned about residents’ perceptions of the police presence in the county.
“We live in a very safe place, but often we find that residents don’t share that perception,” said Warden and Wellington North Mayor Andy Lennox at an April 12 PSB meeting.
“Our statistics are really quite remarkably good.”
Lennox praised the police after a brief report on monthly crime and call statistics delivered by Wellington County OPP Inspector Steve Thomas.
The warden asked about how the agency balances policing done in the public view compared to desk work.
“[If] people don’t see police officers, then they hear about somebody who had a theft or something, then they think, ‘well, nobody’s enforcing the law here,’” Lennox said.
“It’s a perception, not a reality.”
Thomas said the agency’s social media strategy aims to broadcast police messaging, along with traditional routes such as news releases distributed to local media.
“We’re trying to use those avenues to let the public know what we are doing,” Thomas said.
“As far as visibility in the communities, you may not see a police car drive down your street on a particular day, but I can assure you our officers are out in the communities.”
New provincial PSB appointee Walter Trachsel said he has heard the same concerns voiced by the warden.
“Why not brag about it?” Trachsel said of the work police are doing in the community.
“I think if people saw that you were doing something,” Trachsel said, implying it would help form people’s views.
“Because they have the perception you’re not.”
Board chair Earl Campbell brought up restarting an OPP annual report published by WHA Publications Ltd., the company that publishes the Wellington Advertiser, that was circulated with the newspaper for over a decade.
Campbell previously brought up reviving the publication in January during a budget discussion.
“That’s your point of community contact when you put something like that out,” Campbell said at the April 12 meeting, adding it would allow the police to “toot” their “own horn” and “help solve some of your issues.”
Lennox jumped in saying, “I don’t like to frame it as an issue. I think we’re doing quite well.”
The warden reiterated he was wondering how the board and police might “enforce the perception that the police are very active in our community.”
OPP Staff Sergeant Ron Smith said the “perception issue” isn’t unique to the county.
“Our organization … has always moved to try to put as many officers on the road … we don’t want them in the office,” Smith said, adding that realistically police can’t be everywhere at once.
Trachsel, who is a former county politician and OPP inspector, suggested police host town hall meetings, and get positive stories published in the Advertiser.
Board members nodded along with a notion voiced by at least three members that criticism of the police merely comes from a vocal minority and “naysayers.”
“The average Joe, they just don’t know,” Trachsel said in part, heaping praise on the OPP.
No formal recommendations were put forward, and the board moved on to discussing other topics, including Black Cat speed radars.
