I feel I need to respond to this.

The Renfrew and Area Connections Centre is closing, effective Friday.  The fellow issuing the statement on behalf of Renfrew OPP, Inspector Marc Hemmerick, used the word “pause”  in an emailed statement given to Renfrew’s myFM radio.  I have to crib the statement from their online site because, well, Inspector Hemmerick obviously doesn’t feel I’m worth responding to, having failed to return my call placed last week with the detachment seeking comment on this very topic

“As of Friday the 1 of November 2024, at 4 p.m., the Renfrew Detachment of the OPP will be pausing our participation at the Renfrew and Area Connections Center while the Detachment, OPP’s Grant Support Team and the Town of Renfrew determine what are the next best steps forward for the grant and the community activities it supports.”

That grant money being referred to was good until March 1, 2025.

This smells of sophistry to me. I’m sorry, but it does.  And regardless of the Bright White Shirt — batteries not included — saying “pause,” I hear “close permanently” instead.  I may be wrong, but I don’t think I am.  Time will settle that argument, but in the passing of that time, and amidst a vacuum of information, a vulnerable local population will be set adrift, and it will done with eyes wide-open by all appearances.

The Inspector, the interim detachment commander, cited changes to The Police Services Act and The Community Safety Policing Act as the rationale behind the closing.  As per Renfrew spokesperson Hannah MacMillan, “due to the restructuring of the OPP Detachment Board in Ontario municipalities, the town does hold the funding/grant for the Connection Centre now. “

Not bad for a place that “suggested” they had nothing to do with it outside of providing in-kind facilities for the Centre.

Continue reading “OPP DROP BOMB ON CONNECTIONS CENTRE. DID COUNCIL KNOW?” →