Residents fight for future of West Grey Police Service

It doesn’t take long to find the “Save the West Grey Police Service” signs on lawns of taxpayers in and around Durham, Ont.

“We’ve come so far. The cops have really improved their service over the last couple of years, and I’d hate to see that disappear,” says lifelong Durham resident, Alex Neuman.

In a series of narrow votes, Municipality of West Grey councillors have decided to find out how much it would cost for the OPP or Owen Sound Police, to replace the West Grey Police Service. Rising local policing costs are to blame, says West Grey Coun. Geoffrey Shea.

“Since I’ve been on council this one term, costs have gone from $3 million a year to a little over $4 million a year now. That’s a million dollar increase, just in the four years I’ve been on council,” says Shea.

A 10 per cent jump this past year, exacerbated the situation, says Shea. But, you get what you pay for says Neuman. He says West Grey is growing, and the community, which is centred around Durham, needs its own police force.

“We need a big service. We need the police in town. We’ve got a hospital, arenas, we’ve got a lot of things in town, and a police service is just one more thing bring new people, and retain people, to town,” he says.

Shea says he thinks the 22 officer West Grey Police Service does a great job policing the community.

But, concerns over the proposed new $8-$12 million West Grey Police headquarters building, and the decline in local police forces in small Ontario municipalities, from 16 in 2000, to four in 2022, leads him to want to hear about policing alternatives.

“Will we still have a West Grey Police Service in 30 years, because that’s the decision making that we’re arriving at, if we decide to go ahead and build this new police station,” he says.

While there is no hard and fast timeline for a decision on sticking with the West Grey Police service or not, West Grey council hopes to have some costing options in hand, in the very near future.

“You get what you pay for. I think it’s money well spent. I don’t have a problem with it, as a taxpayer,” says Neuman.

“It seems to me, there’s an inexorable trend for small municipalities, like ours, to move to the OPP, eventually,” says Shea.