Business plan tab $73,387

Police board called in a second firm to finish new city police business plan

The Peterborough Police Services Board paid $73,387 for its new business plan, says chairman Bob Hall – less than the $75,000 budgeted.

The board adopted the new plan for Peterborough Police on Tuesday night. The plan is expected to be in effect until the end of 2019.

At the meeting on Tuesday, Hall couldn’t answer when asked how much the plan cost. But on Wednesday, he supplied the figures to

The plan was a long time coming: It took from 2015 until now to develop it and adopt it.

It took so long because the current police board wasn’t happy with work done by a Toronto firm – Robinson Organizational Consulting - that had been hired by the former police board to write a plan.

“We just didn’t believe the work met the statutory requirements under the Police Act,” Hall said.

He said they hired the second firm – MPM Consulting, of Barrie – to “basically finish the job.”

The Toronto firm received $45,792 from the police board before it was replaced by the Barrie firm (which was paid $34,995).

Hall said some of the data and research done by the original firm was used by the subsequent firm.

“The plan was refined and finished by MPM Consulting,” Hall said.

The rest of the costs were for purposes such as advertising the request for proposal and for public meetings.

The 11-page business plan says Peterborough Police is “exceptionally” well-run, but the plan still calls for measures to help officers deal with a heavy workload.

The plan asks police to “examine all potential options” for handling matters such as domestic disturbances, for example, to see if some of these calls can be referred to another agency.