Jail union not worried about cuts to policing
CKL officers will no longer be stationed within Lindsay jail
While some are crying foul at the cancellation of the Police Liaison Officer (PLO) program at the Central East Correctional Centre, the president of the union representing many of those who work there sees it differently.
“I don’t think it affects us at all,” says OPSEU Local 368 president Chris Butsch.
While it is obviously necessary for police officers to investigate and lay charges for crimes that take place within the jail, Butsch says he doesn’t think it will make any difference not having dedicated officers stationed within the institution.
Under the program, three Kawartha Lakes Police Service officers were stationed at the Hwy. 36 facility on a full-time basis, with their salaries paid for by the province.
When a crime occurs at the
Central East Correctional Centre, the union president says it is the correctional officers and other front line workers who deal with it regardless.
“It didn’t improve anything in the sense of timeliness,” to have police officers on site, he says. “We’ve had staff assaulted in our institution where they haven’t even been approached by the police until three months after the fact.”
Butsch adds, for the most part, the police liaison officers seem to work more with management at the institution rather than the staff.
In one case, he alleges, police at the jail refused to investigate after a prohibited weapon, a pair of brass knuckles, was found in the parking lot.
The Ministry of the Solicitor General announced last month that, as of Dec. 31 of this year, funding for the PLO program will be cancelled.
Marion Ringuette, press secretary with the Office of the Solicitor General, explained in a statement that “while police officers were on-site at these particular facilities, front line correctional staff were always responsible for the security of our operations, including responding to and managing incidents of violence, suspected contraband and medical emergencies. This will not change.”
Ringuette further noted that, “When criminal activity is suspected or alleged, or there are situations that require police involvement, the local police service will be contacted. This has always been the case, even in those facilities with on-site police officers.”
At a special meeting of city council Oct. 29, the Kawartha Lakes Police Service proposed 2020 budget was presented, which was developed before the cancellation notice was sent out. Councillors were told the cancelled program creates a correction services gap of about $445,000.
Previously, Kawartha Lakes Police Chief Mark Mitchell told This Week, “the cost for providing policing services to the CECC will fall onto the municipal tax base if this decision remains unchanged.”
As a provincial institution, Butsch says he doesn’t understand why the CECC isn’t policed by the OPP, as opposed to the municipal police service even though the facility falls within the KLPS jurisdiction.
Additionally, he notes that the nearly $500,000 in provincial dollars could be much better spent within corrections, improving the conditions for those who work and are incarcerated at the jail. Personally, he would like to see the creation of an Institutional Security Team (IST) made up of correctional employees who would be able to work in a preventive role at the jail, which would include monitoring gang relationships, communications and drug smuggling at the facility.
As it stands now, without any additional funding, the only was to establish a IST team would be depleting the front line, says Butsch.
Busch adds that the province’s money could also be better served providing additional programming for inmates to keep them busier inside and out of trouble and teaching them transferable life skills or by providing mental health support services for employees.