Chatham-Kent Police Chief Gary Conn is looking forward to a year of growth for the force in 2024.
With many projects and initiatives underway, Conn believes more personnel being added to the force in the new year, will increase service across the community.
"Having these additional resources will no doubt assist towards increasing supports and services," said Conn. "It will also help change our service delivery model from a reactive one, which we have right now, to a more proactive and preventative one."
In November, Chatham-Kent Council approved the police budget request, which included adding more members to the service.
Over the next four years, Conn says the service plans to phase in four sergeants, one inspector, 11 new constables, 11 special constables, and 16 civilian staffers.
According to Conn, the service was able to get provincial funding for several initiatives over the past year.
Those grants allowed police to implement various programs including community safety and policing, auto theft prevention, and victim support.
"We've implemented a couple of crime preventative initiatives to assist us," said Conn. "Like our CCTV pilot project for the downtown Chatham area which went live this past summer. This project has not been completed, we still have a few more cameras to add, but we wish to expand this project throughout of municipality."
Heading into the new year, one of the biggest challenges, according to Conn, will be continuing to mitigate and decrease complex social issues.
That includes mental health issues, addiction, homelessness, poverty, and encampments in Chatham-Kent.
Conn said those will be initiatives the service continues to work towards. The new year will also see the rollout of body-worn cameras for all front-line officers.
"This will help us facilitate both officer and public safety while increasing public trust and community confidence, as well as police legitimacy as well," said Conn.
Other projects in 2024 include radio revitalization, CCTV expansion in Wallaceburg, and next-generation 911.
"We will be going live with next-generation 911 near the end of the second quarter or the very beginning of the third quarter in 2024," said Conn. "This monumental change will deliver improved emergency services to allow us to receive real-time texts, but also pictures and videos."