HORNEPAYNE — Local residents are expressing concern about situations where calls have been made to police, but nobody has been available to respond.
Some Hornepayne residents have spoken out recently as the local OPP detachment faces a lack of staff, leading to serious concerns about a lack of police presence in the township.
On Oct. 2, Albena Liebigt of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 194, formally submitted her concerns about the local OPP through a form on the township’s website.
In her submission, Liebigt wrote that the OPP were called to intervene in an incident with a patron in the Legion's clubroom bar on Sept. 29 but “there [were] no police in town to respond to the call as they were in Wawa.”
She further mentioned that “this has happened on several occasions.”
In a follow-up letter sent to municipal chief administrative officer Aileen Singh on Oct. 27, Liebigt said that staff at the Legion have grown uncomfortable calling the police since they believe there will be no response.
She said that one staff member even resigned because they feel unsafe.
“If staff and volunteers don’t feel safe or confident that when they call the police they will respond to the call, then the Legion will have no option but to close its doors,” Liebigt wrote.
Hornepayne Mayor Cheryl Fort and Singh attended a meeting with OPP Staff Sgt. Kevin Fellinger, the acting commander of the Superior East detachment, where they brought the Legion’s concerns and inquiries to Sgt. Fellinger’s attention.
Singh shared a response on behalf of Fellinger to the council on Nov 15.
She said that there are “no immediate solutions.”
“They always aim for police presence in town and they want to answer and attend to each and every call,” Singh said. “But they’re also working with limited staffing and having difficulties in recruiting new members to the north.”
Singh said that Fellinger’s response has already been shared with Albena and the Legion and that he further directed them — and other residents — to submit their concerns to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) rather than to the township.
“At the end of the day, it’s best for… affected parties to submit their complaints and concerns directly to the OPP through the OIPRD,” Singh continued.
Fort was quick to remind council and residents of Hornepayne that even calls that go without a response are still important, particularly in terms of how data is collected and changes that need to be made are identified and addressed.
“It also helps for data,” Fort said. “Kevin gets all of the information, everything is followed up with, and it actually creates data for the system. Even when calls aren’t answered — like in this case — even that data gets captured. If [there are] calls that police do not make it to because they’re out on another call — that data gets captured as well… it doesn’t just get lost.”
Fort added that the detachment is currently operating with around five officers but has the capacity to operate with up to 12.
She said Fellinger hopes to at least reach between seven to eight officers through recruitment measures.