Lakefield Herald Special Report

Community Policing volunteers honoured

by Anita Locke

An awards ceremony honouring volunteers of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Smith-Ennismore Ward Community Policing was held July 16 at the Bridgenorth Fire Hall.

In attendance were a large number of community policing volunteers, award recipients and invited guests.

A 10-year service award was presented to William Downey. He joined community policing in October 1998; his wife Sylvia joined in 2002.

William said, upon receiving the award, “Being involved with the OPP is wonderful!” The plaque which he received was designed by a former member.

William was instrumental in setting up the radar program, and laid out a lot of the protocols. A member of the OPP for many years, he served as an auxiliary officer.

A “farewell” certificate was presented to Matthew (Matt) Lauder. He has been hired by the OPP and has been assigned to the Huntsville Detachment.

New members who have joined in the past year are Jim Copson and Mike Fillmore.

Anita Hayes, Chair of the group said, “We have an excellent group of volunteers, and we are very, very proud of them.”

Many former community policing volunteers have moved on to policing positions with the Peterborough Lakefield Community Police Service, the OPP and RCMP.

They have been posted to such places as Cochrane, Milton, Colling-wood, Pickle Lake and other locations.

Being recognized as a Community Partner at this year’s awards ceremony was BEL (Bridgenorth-Ennismore-Lakefield) Rotary.

Accepting the award on behalf of BEL Rotary were Tony and Susan Davidson. BEL Rotary and the community policing volunteers have established a good relationship, participating in such events as Polar Fest, Triathlon and others.

Community Policing is involved in over 35 events per year.

The guest speaker for the evening was former volunteer Corporal Carl Keenan. He was a community policing volunteer from 2003 to 2005.

Following that, he enlisted in the Military Police program of the Canadian Armed Forces and was posted to Afghanistan from August 2007 to March 2008. He was deployed to Afghanistan three days after he and his wife were married.

His wife Samantha and parents Derek and Thelma Keenan were also in attendance.

Military Police with the Canadian Forces (CF) serve a community of approximately 200,000 Regular and Reserve Force members, National Defence civilian employees, cadets, and family members residing on military establishments in Canada and abroad.

Whether at home on CF bases or abroad on international missions, Military Police, in conjunction with civilian and allied military police forces, protect and support all components of the CF.

With over 1,250 full-time members, they form one of the largest police agencies in Canada.

They participate in humanitarian support operations, peacemaking or war fighting, and other situations.

Smith-Ennismore Ward Community Policing has a number of committees, including Executive, office, events, recruitment and training, radar board, Community Policing clothing, media and technology.

For more information about the OPP Smith-Ennismore Ward Community Policing, call Anita Hayes at (705) 292-7283 or send an email to ahayes1@sympatico.ca.

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