Staff
Fort Frances will welcome delegates from across the region next week when it hosts the Ontario Association of Police Services Boards Zone 1 conference.
After a mix-and-mingle at the Fort Frances Museum on Monday evening (Oct. 1), guests will attend the first full day of the conference at the Fort Frances Curling Club on Tuesday morning (Oct. 2).
Attendees will hear presentations on municipal policing, the Community Drug Action Team, aboriginal gangs, Critical Incident Command, and cyber-bullying, the last of which will be given by local OPP Community Services Officer Cst. Anne McCoy.
The day will end with a dinner at the curling club.
The conference then will wrap up next Wednesday morning (Oct. 3) with a presentation on human trafficking, followed by an OAPSB zone meeting.
The Police Services Board went over last-minute details during its meeting here Friday morning, including deciding to make donations to the “Together We Can” campaign for a new digital mammography unit at La Verendrye Hospital as “gifts” for each of the conference presenters.
In other news:
•Local OPP Insp. Steve Shouldice will attend the Commissioner’s Conference in Orillia on Oct. 15-17, where he will be one of 28 new inspectors in the province to receive the Queen’s Commission from Lt.-Gov. David C. Onley (due to retirements, this is the largest group of new inspectors being honoured at one time);
•Community Services Officer Cst. Anne McCoy also will be acting Regional Community Services co-ordinator this October through December as her superior is on temporary leave;
•Plans are underway for “Project: Safe Hallowe’en,” an award-winning safety program which includes several community partners and is being expanded throughout the OPP’s North West Region;
•Sgt. Phil Donald retired on June while Dereck McLean was promoted to sergeant on July 1;
•Cst. Jason Baxter started in Fort Frances during the first week of July (he is an experienced officer who previously worked for Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service);
•Scott Gobeil was promoted to detachment operations manager July 23 (he has been acting in this position since October, 2011);
•A competition is underway to fill the sergeant vacancy left by Gobeil (Greg Beazley currently is acting sergeant in that position); and
•Brenda Greengrass was hired as the new admin clerk at the Fort Frances OPP detachment (she started Aug. 7).
