The Windsor Police Association is advocating for mandatory minimum staffing levels on patrol shifts after a recent shift saw a decrease in front-line officers. According to WPA president Kent Rice, a shift in October had only 13 front-line officers, which he deemed as dangerously low. Rice emphasized the potential risks this situation poses to both the community and response times.
Rice urged police administration and the board to establish mandatory minimums for front-line officers to prevent such occurrences in the future. Meanwhile, the Windsor Police Service and the Windsor Police Services Board did not provide comments on the issue when approached by CBC.
During a council meeting, police board chair Jo-Anne Gignac expressed concerns about escalating policing costs. Implementing mandatory minimums could lead to increased expenses, such as more overtime pay or additional officer deployments.
The Police Association of Ontario noted that while formal mandatory policing minimums are not widespread across the province, there has been a growing trend of local associations requesting patrol minimums. President Mark Baxter highlighted that such requests often stem from a lack of confidence in the appropriate deployment of resources by police chiefs.
Staffing shortages are a nationwide issue, not exclusive to Windsor. Rice explained that factors contributing to the shortages in Windsor include officers on leave for various reasons such as parental leave, sickness, injuries, training, or stress-related issues.
The absence of provincial standards for police staffing means that resourcing decisions are left to individual police services based on their community’s needs. Only a few police services in Ontario, like the Niagara Regional Police Service and the London Police Service, have mandatory minimum staffing levels in place.
Without these minimums, frontline deficiencies could arise, posing challenges and safety risks for officers. The London Police Association emphasized the importance of meeting minimum staffing requirements to effectively respond to the high volume of service calls they receive. In contrast, Rice questioned why minimums exist for the police communication center in Windsor but not for patrol officers.
In Amherstburg, where Windsor took over policing duties in 2019, a minimum of four officers per shift is maintained, as per Rice’s statement.