The Haliburton Highlands OPP Detachment Board will be asking the public what they think the OPP’s priorities should be for the coming year, board chairman Andrew Fletcher told a board meeting Nov. 4 in Minden.
In 2025, the board approved a five-year strategic plan, targeting reducing some crime categories and boosting things such as traffic and waterways’ enforcement. Part of that initiative involves an annual review Fletcher does with detachment commander, Staff. Sgt. Deb McClure, to set goals for the coming year; and to measure those goals through the detachment commander’s performance appraisal.
Fletcher said he believed the upcoming public engagement was unique in the province, and “very important to do.
“To have community consultation around what they believe are the priorities for our current year – even though it’s a five-year plan. We want to make sure we’re still aligned with what the community needs and what the community thinks we should be doing in Haliburton County.”
Fletcher said he had met with McClure and the County’s Sue Tiffin with a plan to launch a two-week, online, public survey. He said it would be like the one they did in 2025.
The board chair added there would be similar questions, “so we can measure the responses against what we get now. Once we’ve gathered all that feedback, Deb and I will meet again to go through what the specific goals will be for 2027 and see if they’ve changed at all from 2026.”
There will be hard copies at libraries, and the survey will contain details on the strategic plan as well as board contact information.
There will be queries such as, “were you satisfied with the actions of the OPP this past year? yes or no? and then asks them to explain that a little bit,” Fletcher told the board.
Fletcher added people can rank crime priorities. “They may not have specific data. They may just be going on a gut feeling, but that’s OK. We’re looking to get their feedback on what they believe the crimes are in the community that we should be focusing on.” The survey also has questions about crime prevention programs, and roads, waterways, and trails enforcement. There are also community and well-being questions, around topics such as mental health and homelessness.
Fletcher noted another question centres around the level of police engagement. “Are they seeing our police officers out there? Would they like to see more?” There will be open-ended questions, and Fletcher said the last couple of questions are around how the detachment board, and detachment, can engage with the community.
Following the public survey, Fletcher said they plan to host a community town hall sometime in January.
“That will give us an opportunity to present survey results and the proposed plan to the community and one last opportunity to garner their feedback before we bring it back to the board at our meeting in January to finalize the 2027 plan. Our specific action plans might be tailored differently, depending on what we hear back from our community.” Find the survey at https://www.haliburtoncounty.ca/PDBsurvey
