Clarington and the OPP

[VA3DBJ]

Supposedly a Clarington councilor has motioned during one of the last meetings to have council look at Clarington moving to OPP policing. This is the third time he has tried. It is based on the fact that stuff keeps on getting stolen out of his garage and it takes Durham Region hours to do the call.

He has a place off of Rice Lake and supposedly it takes the OPP only 15-20 minutes to do their calls. I am sure the call volume between DRPS and the Northumberland OPP are no were close, but the last two tries his motion was voted down, dues to obvious contract reasons with the Region.

So if you hear anything about OPP taking over Clarington, don't give it too much weight.

 

[VE3RADIO]

interesting.. it would be good for those of us who listen to scanners DRPS .. errrrr.. Telus.. errrr... I say errr because I am moving to Ajax from Mississauga in the near future.

 

[VA3DBJ]

To be honest, DRPS wasn't really very interesting to listen too, even before the switch. They were using the MDT's a lot and voice traffic was a bit on the boring side. Except for a short burst of excitement and then it would die off just as fast. It may sound strange, but I always found the OPP more interesting to listen to.

On the flip side, I heard that it is costing the Region almost twice the amount on yearly costs then first told by Telus and still the coverage isn't where its supposed to be. There are a lot of people in Clarington would rather be policed by the OPP, as the DRPS are snobs and don't really mix with us common folks. When OPP are in Bowmanville, they are always talking to people and kids. I'd be hard pressed to see a DRPS officer outside his/her cruiser, let a lone having a chit-chat with anyone.

 

[h4waii]

There are a lot of people in Clarington would rather be policed by the OPP, as the DRPS are snobs and don't really mix with us common folks. When OPP are in Bowmanville, they are always talking to people and kids. I'd be hard pressed to see a DRPS officer outside his/her cruiser, let a lone having a chit-chat with anyone.

Here here. Quoted this post for truth. OPP has a much personal approach, DRPS...well, I guess you become jaded after staying in Oshawa.

 

[VE3RADIO]

To be honest, DRPS wasn't really very interesting to listen too, even before the switch. They were using the MDT's a lot and voice traffic was a bit on the boring side. Except for a short burst of excitement and then it would die off just as fast. It may sound strange, but I always found the OPP more interesting to listen to.

On the flip side, I heard that it is costing the Region almost twice the amount on yearly costs then first told by Telus and still the coverage isn't where its supposed to be. There are a lot of people in Clarington would rather be policed by the OPP, as the DRPS are snobs and don't really mix with us common folks. When OPP are in Bowmanville, they are always talking to people and kids. I'd be hard pressed to see a DRPS officer outside his/her cruiser, let a lone having a chit-chat with anyone.

That's surprising considering that Oshawa is in Durham and let me tell you, everyone in the GTA knows about the Shwa and its issues..I was there the other day and got approched by a prostitute while I was waiting in the Tim Hortons parking lot for my wife to use the washroom and get coffee... LOL never the less Ajax, here I come!

 

[bigcam406]

as a resident of oshawa,i must put in my 2 cents.first of all,im wondering if this certain councillor is aware of what has transpired in the last year pertaining to negotiations with the police board.the police union wanted to hire 26 more officers,the police board said no,resulting in job action and arbitration.the end result was that the arbitrator ruled in favour of hiring officers,as the population out here has boomed in the past 5 yrs.i cant remember the amount they can hire,but the funny thing was the police service board wanted the force to cut a few mill off their operating budget.and the police service board consists of....local councillors from durham region who are not elected,just appointed.i think this councillor is just trying to grandstand to make a point,because he should of known what has transpired in the last year.as far as durham cops are concerned,i know a few of them.the ones i know are a good crop,but there are the young ones straight out of durham college with major buffalo chips on their shoulders.ive ran into them before in dealing with my job,and needless to say,they got a lot to learn in dealing with the public.as for the encrypted comm situation out here,their main reason for purchasing the contract was to deal with the biker problem out here.i personally think it was a waste of money,as all i heard is complaints about it for the past 9 yrs.

 

[VA3DBJ]

I am sure that this councilor is well aware of the budget and so on, as he would have first hand access, but he has this "I am a councilor" and they should be treated as such 24/7. Seen those come and go..

I'll be the first to acknowledge that yes there are some real good cops in the group, but I'll also be the first to say that we never see them in 16 division. We seem to always get the ones that have the " I just do the calls" badge on. I don't think it was the bikers alone, that made them switch, I also think that the Chief at the time had a major hard-on for encrypted comms. He forced it at the posting he was on previous as well.

The bigger problem was, and I heard this from an uniform officer, that there were a "few" that just didn't have a full grasp on how to properly use the radios and they were caught saying some things on simplex that they should not have said and they were, well exposed. The funny thing was, it just wasn't a now and again thing, it was a regular occurrence. Again, it comes down to how a "few" make it look bad for the whole.

A police force is simply not a group that can work on a set budget. You should always expect overruns. Maybe this Clarington councilor should stop worring over his mileage expenses and yearly 15% pay raises and start looking at the more important services.

Oh well, that was my political banter for the month..

 

[bigcam406]

well said!