Some of familiar faces will be forging ahead in new roles at the South Simcoe Police Service.
Chief John Van Dyke announced that as of Jan. 1 the service has promoted five sergeants and three staff sergeants to address long-standing vacancies from last year, during the Feb. 14 police services board meeting at the South Division station in Bradford.
“We’re moving forward with new leadership,” he said. “We have a bunch of young supervisors and managers that will make positive contributions to our organization.”
To address ongoing issues of short staffing, those members had the opportunity to fill those roles in acting capacities for between six and 12 months last year, before competing for the full promotions in the fall.
In anticipation of needing to make the most promotions the service has ever experienced at one time, Deputy Chief Sheryl Sutton explained they wanted to give candidates opportunities to prepare for the new roles.
“I’m big on mentoring and development,” she said, emphasizing the benefit of promoting from within to bring new concepts and thought processes to the organization’s leadership.
“That’s what I love about promotions, is that you can see the difference in the officers and their experience. Everybody brings something unique to the table, and it’s good for morale,” she said.
The chief explained the service still isn’t quite at its authorized complement of 104 officers, but they’re getting closer after four new hires in November, including two experienced officer from Toronto Police Service, plus three new hires in January who are expected to begin next week.
However, before they can get out on patrol independently, those three will need to complete two weeks of pre-Ontario Police College (OPC) training, 13 weeks at OPC and another two weeks post-OPC training, before spending several months with the South Simcoe Police Service’s training branch.
As a result, the chief doesn’t expect them to be out on their own until October.
The service also hired a new human resources manager who started on Jan. 29.
Spotlight on accomplishments
Van Dyke provided brief introductions to four of the newly promoted staff including two sergeants and two staff sergeants who were able to attend the meeting.
Staff Sgt. Mike Adams
Adams began his career with the Toronto Police Service in 2008 before joining South Simcoe in 2016 where he was one of the first group of officers selected to form the community mobilization and engagement unit.
He was promoted to sergeant in 2019 and deployed to the street crime unit, before moving to D Platoon in 2022.
He is an “accomplished” crisis negotiator and a “proud member” of the peer support team.
“We’re really, really happy to have Mike onboard in his new role, which he has embraced with passion and dedication already, and I know he will do good things for the service,” Van Dyke said.
Staff Sgt. Sean Willan
Willan began as a court officer with the Toronto police in 1995 before becoming a constable in 1997, and joining the South Simcoe Police Service in 2006, where he established the bike unit in 2007 before being assigned to the criminal investigation bureau in 2008.
He served as the service designate for the Criminal Intelligence Service of Ontario, and in 2013 was promoted to sergeant.
Some of his career achievements include: being the site security coordinator for the 2015 Pan-Am games in Innisfil, designing and coordinating the new cadet program in South Simcoe, being a trained search master for search and rescue, helping the roll-out of the what3words app and the body-worn camera project last year, and serving as the intimate partner violence coordinator and a professional standards investigator.
He has received two South Simcoe awards for excellence in emergency response, a Governor General certificate of accommodation and a St. John Ambulance life-saving certificate (with risk) for saving nine lives in an apartment firer in 1999.
“Command is really excited to have Sean onboard and he’s already making his impact know in (his) units even though he’s only been there six weeks,” Van Dyke said.
Sgt. Gerry Crane
A life-long Innisfil resident, Crane started his policing career as a civilian with the intelligence division of Toronto police, and became a constable in January 2010, before transferring to South Simcoe in December 2016. After the “very recent” promotion he is now a sergeant on C Platoon and is also an active member of the emergency response unit.
“Command is very excited to have Gerry on board taking a leadership role in the organization we know he’ll make a positive impact on his shift as well. He’s really a superb individual,” Van Dyke said.
Sgt. Clint McLellan
McLellan started with South Simcoe in 2016 and since then has worked in general patrol, community mobilization and engagement as well as the criminal investigation bureau street crime unit.
He is a qualified breath technician and a Special Olympics law enforcement torch run coordinator for the department, and he sits on the health and safety committee.
He has a diploma in police foundations, a bachelor of arts in criminology and justice as well as a masters degree in public safety.
He has the “notoriety” of being the youngest serving member ever promoted to sergeant in the service, a record previously held by Adams.
“We’re really excited to have Clint as part of our leadership group. He’s very passionate about what he does. He leads our street crime unit and we’re really happy to have him on board. And he’s also very much known for his sense of humour, which we appreciate,” Van Dyke said.
