Part 1: Community Safety Plan, Funding Decisions, and Policing Trends - 06/19/2025

This meeting was largely about community safety beyond policing alone, with a heavy focus on prevention, coordination, and long-term planning rather than day-to-day enforcement issues. After the meeting was called to order, the agenda and previous minutes were approved without issue. There were no deputations, presentations from the public, or audience comments. The meeting moved quickly into substantive business.

The central item was a comprehensive update on the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan. This was presented as a high-level overview rather than a detailed project-by-project report, but it covered a wide range of issues affecting the County.

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The plan itself is provincially required and this was the second version developed for the county. It focuses on five priority areas that intersect and reinforce one another. Housing and homelessness. Senior support. Poverty reduction. Mental health and problematic substance use. Domestic, sexual, and intimate partner violence.

The update emphasized that the work is being done by action teams made up of frontline workers, managers, and community organizations, not just senior leadership. These teams meet regularly, share information, and adjust their priorities based on what they are seeing on the ground.

Several concrete initiatives were discussed. Housing work is focused on education and reducing stigma, including short videos explaining tenant rights, housing access, and successful tenancy. Senior-focused work included pedestrian safety campaigns, reflective gear distribution, fraud prevention initiatives, and the launch of a physical seniors centre in Picton. Poverty reduction efforts included community conversations, a revived county food collective, and work toward a formal poverty reduction strategy. Mental health and substance use initiatives included impaired driving prevention work, partnerships with advocacy organizations, and a youth resource fair. Violence prevention work included survivor forums, improved access to support information, and more trauma-informed tools for people seeking help.

A major theme throughout the presentation was coordination. The goal is not to duplicate services or create new silos, but to align existing work, identify gaps, and respond more quickly when community needs change.

A new data initiative was also discussed. A public-facing community well-being dashboard is being developed in partnership with the County Foundation. This tool is intended to track trends in housing, income, health, and belonging, and to support both accountability and future funding applications.

The presentation then turned to funding. Council had approved a total budget of $106,000 for Community Safety and Well-Being work in 2025, with $49,500 coming from the OPP Detachment Board. The request before the board was to approve the allocation of those funds across the five action teams, along with some shared funding for capacity building and data work.

The emphasis was on approving the direction now so the work could move forward during the remainder of the year, with a detailed interim report promised for November.

Following questions and discussion, the board approved the funding allocation and agreed to receive a follow-up report later in the year.

The meeting then moved into more traditional board business. The operating budget was received, with a brief discussion about staffing models and whether alternative support resources are used by the OPP. A verbal report from the Detachment Commander covered complaints, secondary employment requests, and policing statistics.

That report highlighted several notable trends. Injury and property damage collisions were significantly down during the reporting period. Speeding charges were lower than usual due to technical issues with radar equipment, but seatbelt enforcement had increased dramatically. Impaired driving remained a serious concern, with consistent numbers compared to the previous year and several incidents occurring each weekend. Property crime was down, while drug-related charges were up due to targeted enforcement activity. Mental health calls had decreased during the reporting period, prompting questions about whether new support models are reducing repeat calls. Domestic violence remained a persistent and troubling issue.

The board formally acknowledged the retirement of the previous Detachment Commander and approved sending a letter recognizing years of service.

The final major discussion item was a policy-focused discussion paper on board responsibilities under the Community Safety and Policing Act. The paper focused on the requirement for detachment boards to set clear objectives and priorities. Three areas were proposed as priorities for the County. Intimate partner violence. Impaired driving. Illicit drug activity. The discussion emphasized the need for evidence-based approaches, better data, prevention, enforcement, and victim support.

The board received the paper and agreed that it provided a strong foundation for future work, while recognizing that more discussion would follow.

Before adjournment, additional topics were flagged for future meetings, including victim services, leadership development in policing, and gender representation within police services. The meeting adjourned just after 11:00 p.m.

Key Takeaways

1. Community safety goes beyond policing. The updated Community Safety and Well-Being Plan focuses on prevention and coordination across housing, senior support, poverty reduction, mental health, and violence prevention in the County.

   
   

2. Funding approved to support action teams. A total of $106,000 was allocated for 2025 to support frontline action teams and initiatives addressing community well-being priorities.

   
   

3. Key safety concerns remain on the radar. While property crime and collisions have decreased, impaired driving, drug activity, and domestic violence continue to be major concerns guiding future priorities.

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Disclaimer: This article is based on a meeting with an approximate duration of 1:15:13 Due to the length of the meeting, our team was not able to independently review the full recording in its entirety. As a result, we relied on software-generated transcription, automated summarization, and automated recognition of speakers and participants, which may not be entirely accurate. All transcriptions, summaries, and related content are prepared by our team in good faith and on a reasonable best-efforts basis. The content is provided for general informational purposes only and is intended to support public understanding of the topics discussed. While reasonable efforts have been made to present the information accurately, automated processes may result in errors, omissions, or unintended misinterpretations. This article does not constitute an official, certified, or verbatim record of the meeting, and it should not be relied upon as such. Readers are encouraged to consult original source materials, official minutes, or recordings where available for confirmation or clarification. Questions, requests for clarification, or suggested corrections may be submitted to hello@pecconnect.ca for review and consideration.x