Meeting minutes
January 29, 2020
Birthdays:
- Tom Jeary and Ian Robertson, both Jan. 31st.
Wedding Anniversaries
Club Anniversaries
Business:
- State of the Region, Region Chair Karen Redman – President Laura announced that the State of the Region luncheon was a huge success. Thanks to the Committee members, and of course Neil Aitchison for his always enjoyable work as MC.
- Soup Sisters – Jan. 28th - also huge success, well attended and for a great cause.
- Curling – February 22 at Westmount Golf & Curling Club – contact Marc Engel for info and registrations
- John Thompson (supported by Doug Fischer) mentioned that they are testing the waters to see if the Club members are interested in visiting the Mildmay region for their Antique Car Garage Tour next summer. More specifics to follow.
Other news:
- KW Trivia Challenge – Mac Graham is again this year spearheading this fun night March 6, 2020 at the Crowne Plaza. MC’d by Police Chief Brian Larkin. Contact Mac to register.
Guess the member
- Judy Nairn – lived in Gibbons, BC, owend a Lada and a close personal friend of Bruno Gerussi. Troy Stuebing nailed it.
50/50
- Kyle Lambert, Dave Forwell and Dave Barth all struck out – the $500 pot keeps growing for next meeting.
Speaker:
Waterloo Region Police Chief Brian Larkin
Introduced by Todd Aitchison, Bryan began his policing career in 1991 here in Waterloo Region. Bryan was appointed Chief in 2014. Bryan holds or has a held a number of positions on provincial and national association boards and committees and is incredibly involved in Waterloo Region, attending roughly 500 events annually. Bryan was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 for his commitment to community volunteerism, and was invested as a member of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces in 2016.
Bryan recognized member Kyle Lambert, and commended him on his incredible work at the Police Association in the area of training.
Waterloo Region is the 10th largest community in Canada with the 6th largest police service in Ontario, with 800 officers and 400 civilian staff.
Bryan commended his predecessors for changing the name of our policing organization from a ‘force’ to ‘service’, which more reflects the organization’s approach to serving Waterloo Region.
Bryan noted that roughly 1/3 of the Region’s budget goes to support the Police Service, and noted that the Region has purchased the property at 220 Frederick St., which will be the new home of the Kitchener branch of the service, in the Service’s move to become more visible throughout Waterloo Region. The move will cost approximately $65 million.
Roughly 90% of the Service’s budget is human resources, and Bryan was quick to point out how proud he is of the work his team does in our community.
Bryan address some key issues facing the Service:
Addiction. The Service’s focus in on the traffickers. Death’s from drug overdoses was down to 58 in 2019. The service deals with roughly 700 drug related calls annually. Bryan pointed out that the Regional Service needs even stronger support from the province to even further reduce drug related deaths and crime.
Violence. The number of violent crimes as increased over the last few years, and fire arms is a key component. There were twenty-one incidents involving fire arms in the Region last year, and homicides have typically been approximately five annually, most involving illegal fire arms. Bryan pointed out how it difficult to police fire arms when our neighbours to the south so strongly embrace them. Bryan noted that a typical homicide investigation costs the Service approximately $1 million to deal with.
Chief Larkin entertained some excellent questions and was thanked by John Thompson for his excellent leadership at the Service.
