Windsor

New police chief should be named before end of June, says Windsor mayor

Before Windsor police chief Al Frederick's contract expires at the end of June, a replacement is expected to be named by then.

WPS board now interviewing candidates to replace outgoing chief Al Frederick

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens fields questions from reporters during a May 17 press conference. (Chris Ensing/CBC)

Windsor police chief Al Frederick's contract expires at the end of June, and a replacement is expected to be named by then.

But with a little more than a month to go, mayor Drew Dilkens says the Windsor Police Services Board is currently in the interview stage.

"We're quite pleased with the calibre of the applicants," he said. "We had six interviews this week in fact — very strong candidates from coast to coast, including some internally."

The search to find a new chief has been made a bit more difficult since other municipalities — including Ottawa, London, Woodstock and Brantford — are also searching for new chiefs.

Al Frederick was named interim chief in December 2011 before being hired full-time about one year later. (Dale Molnar/CBC)

But according to Dilkens, there's no shortage of current chiefs who might be looking to relocate to Ontario or deputy chiefs who want to advance their careers.

"I think we've found some good ones that are interested in our area," said Dilkens, adding he doesn't believe recent investigations involving the chief have hindered applicants from coming forward.

"When we put the chief recruitment out this time, we actually had more applicants than we did the last time."