Amherstburg town council votes to contract police to Windsor

By Barry Hazlehurst

Amherstburg Police contract with Windsor.

On February 26 Amherstburg Mayor Aldo DiCarlo cast the deciding vote to contract policing of the Town of Amherstburg to the Windsor Police Service.

The act will take effect in 2019 and is estimated to save the town $18 million over a 20 year period.

The Windsor Police service has pledged to keep all of its officers working the front lines while bolstering Amherstburg services.

Councilor Jason Lavigne and Councilor Joan Courtney voted against the motion for the 20-year contract. According to the Windsor Star, Lavigne said, many Amherstburg residents said they wanted to keep their small town police service.

Amherstburg votes by a narrow margin to contract their town policing to Windsor Police.

Amherstburg business owner Derek Didone, who owns County Towing voiced his concerns over the deal.

“As a local business owner and vendor there are concerns that our contracts may be void,” said Didone.

The motion still needs to be approved by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission. An obstacle seen by the opponents of the motion is that Windsor and Amherstburg do not share a border. A similar arrangement was approved by the OCPC between St. Mary’s and Stratford which are separated by Perth.