Sault Ste. Marie City Council agreed Monday night to check the price of having Ontario Provincial Police provide protection within the city limits.
Only Ward 1 Coun. Sandra Hollingsworth voted against a resolution introduced by her wardmate Coun. Sonny Spina, a former city police detective.
"The intention behind this motion is nothing more than council doing due diligence for an expense line item to the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie," Spina said.
"I don't want in any way, shape or form to downplay the importance of the police services within our community, or the importance of the job that everyone within the police service does.
"But we do have to note that currently, the police services budget alone makes up 27 per cent of the entire municipal budget in the City of Sault Ste. Marie.
"And any time that a line item attracts that much of our budget, certainly it's going to attract attention.
"And certainly when there is a multimillion-dollar overage to that budget, it's something that city council has to look at finding whatever information is available publicly or otherwise to make sure that we are making the best decisions to be fiscally responsible."
Coun. Hollingsworth commended Spina for "thinking outside the box" and described his OPP resolution as "a brave step forward."
But Barrie, Sudbury and Thunder Bay all maintain their own police departments, she said.
"These are cities that I think are comparing oranges to oranges."
"The proposal of having the OPP, in my opinion, is not what I believe we should do," Hollingsworth said.
"Our needs are unique because we are very large. We need at our disposal undercover cops, SWAT teams, detectives, canine units. Instead of waiting for these services to come, we need them immediately."
Hollingsworth said the OPP is able to provide such services, but it would take time.
"By that time, the drug house may have already been disbanded because they are basically getting understanding that the police are coming."
"How are they going to give us a proper costing when they never manage an urban city of our size?"
Mayor Shoemaker supported getting cost information from the OPP.
"The fact that we've got a deficit in last year's police budget and a projected deficit in this year's police budget means that the cost of everything needs to be examined," the mayor said.
"Do I think that we will necessarily come in at an amount so much lower that it's going to make a transition to the OPP worth it? I highly doubt it, to be honest. But I'm not prejudging that issue."
"I support this as a first step. I suspect that there will be many updates on this before any decision were ever made."
"The analysis of the OPP costing is more important even than the costing itself," the mayor said.
The news that city council will obtain OPP costing for policing the community drew an angry response from Joshua Teresinski, president of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Association.
"With this push for Ontario Provincial Police costing, what’s happening now isn’t about saving money. It's politics, plain and simple," Teresinski said in a statement emailed to SooToday.
"Mayor (Matthew) Shoemaker, along with Couns. Spina, (Lisa) Vezeau-Allen and a few others, are pushing a message that isn’t telling the whole story.
"They already know the numbers. Both Couns. Spina and Vezeau-Allen were on the board and know the costs of policing. If you want the same level of service we provide now — with local dispatch, civilian support staff, specialty units, and officers who know our community — it will cost just as much, if not more, with the OPP. That’s the reality.
"Our police service and our police services board have been open and honest. We’ve shared the facts and the finances. But good policing is about more than just numbers. It’s about thoughtful planning and understanding the long game. You need to think ahead to keep people safe.
"We’re facing real staffing challenges. Many officers hired in the mid-90s are nearing retirement. And the truth is, we’re not seeing people lining up to join this job anymore.
"Across Ontario, it’s harder to recruit and keep officers. It takes 12 to 14 months before a recruit is fully trained and ready to go. If we don’t plan now, we’ll be left shorthanded and that is only common sense.
"We are not here to play politics. We are here to stand up for the people who keep our city safe every day and the community of Sault Ste. Marie. The political shots at our association, our service, and our police services board need to stop. It’s time to focus on the facts, use common sense, and stop using the police as a political tool. Sault Ste. Marie deserves better.
"If the mayor and councillors pushing this agenda want to talk about OPP costing, then they need to be honest with the public — compare apples to apples and be clear about what the community would be giving up," Teresinski added.
Council also approved a resolution from Ward 3 Coun. Angela Caputo suggesting that the local police services board submit quarterly financial reports to city council and work more closely with the city’s chief financial officer on future budgets.