Windsor, LaSalle, Amherstburg mayors talk regional police
LaSalle Mayor Ken Antaya says '100% of constituents' he's spoke with don't want regional police
The mayors of Windsor, LaSalle and Amherstburg discussed regional policing at an early-morning breakfast meeting Wednesday.
Drew Dilkens, Ken Antaya and Aldo DiCarlo met bright and early at 7 a.m., before attending a Windsor Essex Economic Development Corporation event at the Fogolar Furlan Club.
In a tweet, early Wednesday morning, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens called it “a good meeting.”
“With respect to LaSalle, what we agreed to, on a high level, was that the chiefs will sit down and discuss the level of service that’s being provided.”
LaSalle Mayor Ken Antaya told CBC on Tuesday night that “100 per cent of constituents” he spoke with said they are not interested in regional policing.
“It continues to fester in the community,” Antaya said Wednesday. “We maintain our position that we’re very happy with our services.
“However, it is our obligation to make sure that if there is more efficient or more economic viable service out there, we should look at it.
“But generally speaking, we’re very happy with our service.”
Antaya did Windsor will provide LaSalle a costing model for Windsor police service to be provided in LaSalle. The costing will come on the City of Windsor’s timetable.
Still, Antaya said his town is “rallying” around the LaSalle police department.
“That’s important to our council,” Antaya said.
Dilkens said “there may be more factors than costing at play.”
Dilkens will appear on Windsor Morning at 7:10 a.m. Thursday on 97.5 FM or steaming live at cbc.ca/windsor.
The City of Windsor is already pricing out how much it would cost to take over the Amherstburg Police Service.
Amherstburg is in discussions with the City of Windsor and the Ontario Provincial Police to integrate it's police force in an effort to save money to pay down $46 million worth of debt.
Dilkens said it would make more sense to merge both LaSalle and Amherstburg into his city's police department.