Retiring chief of police lauded as strong leader
Frederick reflects on ‘great career’ in announcing he’s stepping down
Windsor police Chief Al Frederick, credited with making the force more transparent in his five years as top cop, will retire Jan. 30.
“It’s been an honour,” Frederick said after the announcement was made at Thursday’s regular Windsor Police Services Board meeting. “Every minute of every day, I work with the best people in the business, no question about it. “I’ve had a great career.” Frederick, 56, who started as a cadet with Windsor police in 1984 and worked his way up as a detective and much more, publicly said when he was named chief in October 2012 that he would stay five years. He’s holding true to his word.
Mayor Drew Dilkens, who made the announcement as chair of the police services board, said Frederick provided welcome leadership — launching Project Accountability, which among other things provided more info to the public — after a string of police brutality cases.
“When Al Frederick took over the police service it was a tough time,” Dilkens said. “There were some things going on here that he had to get his arms around and show strong leadership. And Al has done that very well.”
Dilkens said the board will begin looking internally and nationally for a replacement almost immediately.
“The best thing about Al Frederick is that’s he a really humble guy,” Dilkens said. “What you see is what you get. He’s a very easy person to work with.”
Frederick has no immediate plans, other than to volunteer more and enjoy the outdoors with his wife, Simone. The couple’s older son, Albert, became a Windsor police officer while their younger son, Kurt, is a lawyer in Calgary.
When Frederick reflects on his 33-year policing career, some of the hardest cases come to mind.
“I was a detective for a long time and we had many successes, but the one that we didn’t solve, Carol Christou, always stays with you,” Frederick said about the unsolved homicide for which he was lead detective.
“I remember that one like it was yesterday.”
Christou, 55, was found dead in her bathroom in October 2000 with stab wounds to her throat and abdomen.
Also, the death of Const. John Atkinson, who in 2006 became the first Windsor police officer murdered on the job when he was fatally shot while looking into a drug deal, also plays on the chief ’s consciousness.
“John Atkinson is in the psyche of this organization,” said Frederick, who rushed to the crime scene that day and stayed till midnight. “His career and his death will always resonate with all of us who worked with him.”
Frederick is also politically aware. The outspoken chief takes issue with marijuana legalization scheduled for the summer of 2018.
“The great work our people do is being minimized by legislation,” he said. “We do tons in regard to education with substance abuse and then something like that is thrown at us.
“It almost makes you reconsider what is the purpose of policing. We’ve had the laws for so long and in the blink of an eye it’s legal. We think it’s a bad mistake.”
But above all else, what the 2015 Member of the Order of Merit of Police Services recipient thinks about most over a long career — which includes acting as a chair for the 2009 and 2013 Ontario Special Olympics — is the daily, unsung triumphs of his officers.
He said seeing the entire force spring into action, as it did Thursday to help find a missing 10-month-old baby, continues to inspire him.
For now, the man who holds a bachelor of arts, a bachelor of education and a masters of business administration, still wants to learn.
“I’m going to go through life with my eyes open,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed every minute here but I’m going to take a few minutes to sit back and reflect.
“Certainly my wife and I are looking forward to tomorrow.”