The South Simcoe Police Service’s auxiliary unit may be short staffed, but they’re still pulling their weight.
Insp. Henry Geoffroy presented the service’s semi-annual report on the auxiliary unit from Jan. 1 to June 30, as prepared by Sgt. Kai Johnson as part of the Bradford West Gwillimbury/Innisfil Police Services Board meeting at the Innisfil Town Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 25.
Despite currently having just 16 of the 30 members authorized, the unit still contributed 1,269.25 hours of volunteer work including:
- 336 hours of training
- 280.75 hours of community engagement
- 333 hours in ride-along and Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) programs
- 62.5 hours working parades and festivals
- 257 hours working on station details and administrative tasks
“Those hours are actually a little bit impressive, because they’re a bit better than half (of usual), yet we only have half our strength, so they’re all doing a lot,” Geoffroy said.
Some areas where the auxiliary unit helped included Valentine’s Day events at retirement residences, participating in the Coldest Night of the Year Walk, supporting Police Week open houses, Neighbourhood Nights, school bicycle rallies and several summer events including Wing Ding, Carrot Fest, Onion Fest and more.
Bradford Mayor James Leduc extended his thanks to the unit for their help with town’s Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) centennial celebration on June 14.
“It was a huge honour to be a part of that and help celebrate that milestone for our military members,” Geoffroy said.
The unit even helped assist the fleet manager by shuttling cruisers for spring maintenance and tire swaps.
“It would be so difficult for this organization to function without the auxiliaries,” said the board chair, Chris Gariepy. “We really appreciate the work they all do. Even those small couple hours, they all mount up and they make a big difference for the service.”
While the number of hours decreased from the first half of last year, which totalled 2,077 hours, the unit is also down from last year’s 24 members, and started 2024 with 20 members before four left.
“That’s for very good positive reasons,” Geoffroy said. “Many we’ve hired internally.”
Two members have successfully become front-line officers in the service, while one left to become a full-time dispatcher with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).
Another is on leave for personal reasons.
However, 11 new volunteers are currently in training and by November are expected to bring the unit back up to 27 members — just in time for parade season.
“We have very good, strong candidates applying for the process and they have another three to four weeks of training to go through,” Geoffroy said.
The quality of people volunteering for the auxiliary unit is a bit of a double-edged sword though, as Geoffroy expects roughly half of the 11 currently in training are likely to become full police officers within the next 12-18 months.
Not all auxiliary constables go on to become front-line officers though.
Within the first six months of the year two “dedicated” members, Ryan Gainer and Jacquie Papel, were promoted to auxiliary sergeants, in a process that mirrors the sworn side of the service including a formal panel interview, according to Geoffroy.
He was “very happy” to note the two “long-standing” members have “given lots of time” and “shown great leadership.”
Geoffroy also praised the effort of Auxiliary Const. Tom Kalsbeek who during a ride along provided “incredible assistance” in dealing with a sudden death — so much so that an officer wrote Kalsbeek a commendation letter, which will be considered for the service’s next annual recognition awards.
Started in 1997, the South Simcoe Police Service’s auxiliary unit is staffed by citizens who volunteer to assist the service with community events, by performing duties such as crowd control, traffic control and public relations.
A member of the service, Sgt. Kai Johnson, acts as a liaison for the unit under the direction of the police chief.
