To the editor:
Here we go again. Another investigation into the Thunder Bay Police Service orchestrated by the political leadership of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation and their advisors for what only can be described as a misguided witch hunt.
There have been numerous investigations and reports into the very same issues that the Inspector General is referring to. These include the Office of the Independant Police Review Director’s investigation, report and recommendations, Justice Sinclair’s investigation, report and recommendations, the Coroner’s Inquest, report and recommendations, at least three investigative reviews by the Ontario Provincial Police into TBPS investigations of First Nation’s deaths and the review of the Expert Panel commissioned by the Thunder Bay Police Service’s Board. I’m sure I’ve missed a few but you get my point. The cost of these reviews and the appointment of an Administrator to oversee the police service for two years easily exceeds ten million dollars by now.
NAN has made its objective very clear. That objective is nothing short of the disbandment of the Thunder Bay Police Service and its replacement by who knows what. It can’t be the OPP because NAN turns on that police service as well when it suits them. It is time for the political leaders of Thunder Bay and our provincially elected representatives to stand up and make it clear that enough is enough.
The police service and the Police Services Board have been working tirelessly to implement the recommendations from these numerous inquires and investigations for the past several years. What is disheartening is that during the entire time that the police service has been under this microscope, the men and woman of the Thunder Bay Police Service have been serving the citizens of Thunder Bay in very trying circumstances to the best of their ability and very few have been standing up for them.
I served as chief of police in Thunder Bay for over 10 years and acting chief of police of the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service for a period of time as well. I can tell you that no police service is perfect, including these two, but the one consistent factor that I observed is that the vast majority of the people providing policing to Thunder Bay and the 34 communities policed by the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service was that they had the best interests of the people they served as a top priority.
Its time to let Chief Fleury and the Thunder Bay Police Service’s Board get on with their jobs of implementing and working through the countless recommendations of all the previous inquiries and to stop these endless costly investigations that are a distraction from the task before them.
If the leadership of NAN was serious about improving relationships between TBPS and their people they wouldn’t be continuing this witch hunt for their own political purposes, when everybody already knows what is needed to be done. Like I said, it’s high time for our elected leaders to stand up and say enough is enough.
Bob Herman
Thunder Bay
Bob Herman is the former police chief of the Thunder Bay Police Service.
