Diane Deans named first female chair of Ottawa Police Services Board
Posted Dec 11, 2018 07:53:41 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
One of the more notable shake ups for this term of city council involves the Ottawa Police Services Board.
Gloucester-Southgate councillor Diane Deans has been nominated to take over as chair of the board, which has been chaired by councillor Eli El-Chantiry for nearly a decade.
With that nomination, Deans will become the first woman to chair the board.
“I'm very excited about this, I'm very happy to take on this challenge,” she exclaimed after hearing the news on Tuesday. “As you know, we have seen an escalation in street violence in our community over the last year or so. I think that the police services board needs strong leadership and they're about to get it.”
The south end councillor said that her first job will be to get the police the resources they need to do their job.
One of her first tasks will be asking for a bigger budget at Wednesday's council meeting and she will be looking to the federal and provincial governments to lend a hand.
“I think we need to shake down those upper tier governments and get them to deliver some money to the city.”
Deans explained that a city recommendation of a 3 per cent increase to the police board budget is something she will be looking at getting rid of immediately.
“Let them tell us what they think they need, and then we can look at what the money is,” Deans explained.
One of her other first tasks, once confirmed to the job on Wednesday, could be finding a new police chief. Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau's contract is up in 2019, and the board must decide whether or not to extend the contract.
Should they decide not to move ahead with Bordeleau, Deans explained that the board would look at a number of factors.
“I for one, believe that the police service needs to reflect the community that it serves,” she said. “So we'll be looking for people who have experience and knowledge. I think we should be looking at diversity, if that's possible. But, ultimately we'll pick the best person for the job.”
