Windsor police name Pam Mizuno as acting chief
Mayor Drew Dilkens says they're down to three candidates for the role
An abrupt retirement in 2011 saw then-deputy police chief Al Frederick named acting chief of the Windsor Police Service (WPS).
Now chief Frederick is retiring — and deputy chief Pam Mizuno will take the chair until a new chief is named.
In May, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens confirmed the WPS board was in the interview stage for a new chief — cutting close the June 30 contract end for Frederick.
The search to find a new chief was made more difficult, said Dilkens, because there were a number of other municipalities looking for police chiefs at the same time.
Dilkens said the search is down to three candidates for the role of chief. He would not confirm if Mizuno is one of those candidates. He also would not confirm a date for when the process would be completed, but suggested it would be a matter of weeks, not months.
So who is Pam Mizuno?
Mizuno joined the service in 1994 and was named superintendent in 2016. At the time, she was the highest-ranking female in WPS history.
In 2018, Mizuno took a deputy chief role, the first female to do so for WPS. She remains the highest-ranking female officer in WPS history.
Mizuno has repeatedly said she hopes to be a role model for other women in policing.
"I think some of the attributes of females are valued … much more in our police service and across Ontario," said Mizuno. "I don't think an old boys club exists in the Windsor Police Service today."
"I'm excited to be the acting chief," said Mizuno. "Hopefully the process doesn't take too much longer and we'll have a new chief in place in the near future."
Saying goodbye to chief Frederick
Gary Smith walked away from the top job in the force under a cloud of controversy over several high-profile problems in the department.
When Frederick took over from Smith, he said there would be a "top-down and bottom-up" organizational review of the Windsor Police Service, promising to restore public trust.
His predecessor allegedly refused to respond to letters sent from the Special Investigations Unit, and never informed the SIU about an assault on a Windsor doctor in 2010 by Windsor Police Det. David Van Buskirk. At the time of Smith's retirement, there were two lawsuits against the police.
At the time, then-mayor Eddie Francis said the city was receiving three public complaints about the police service every day.
Frederick was named permanent chief in 2012.
After eight years on the job, Frederick's tenure as chief is not without its share of controversies — highlighting the challenging nature of the position.
At a retirement celebration in June, Frederick said the service has made "great strides" in becoming a more transparent organization, involving the SIU on more cases and creating the Human Rights Project in 2014.
But some of those controversies have yet to be resolved, including a human rights complaint filed by female officer Christine Bissonnette, who claims gender discrimination halted her advancement through the ranks.
Diversity: only minimal progress in the last eight years
Frederick made multiple public announcements about trying to make the force more diverse, including in racial diversity and gender balance.
Only 16 per cent of Windsor officers are women, among the lowest proportion represented in Canada, according to Statistics Canada.
A 2018 internal census showed that more than 82 per cent of officers are white.
Mizuno is the first woman in the role in Windsor, coming shortly after London, Ont. named Trish McIntyre as their acting deputy police chief, which is the highest role a woman has held there.