Belleville Police Chief Mike Callaghan is retiring.
The Belleville Police Services Board accepted his notice of retirement at its meeting on Thursday.
“It has been an honour and a privilege to serve as the Deputy and the Chief in my hometown,” Callaghan said in his notice.
“I have been very blessed to work with a group of amazing people at the Belleville Police Service and there will be many great memories to carry through my retirement.”
Speaking with Quinte News after the meeting, Callaghan says retirement is something he has been thinking about for a while.
“I just believe that, you know what, it’s an opportunity for me,” Callaghan said.
“I’m turning 60 this year and get out of a great career that I’ve had with this community and look at other opportunities to spend time with my wife and my family and I’m looking forward to that.”
Chief Callaghan has served as a police officer for over 38 years, including 30 years at the Ottawa Police Service. He was hired as an Inspector for the Belleville Police Service in 2016 and then became the Deputy Chief and finally the Chief of Police in 2020.
Looking back on his career, Callaghan said he was happy with getting a new police building and having the service embrace technology including the use of body cameras.
He also credits the impact team with being able to help those in crisis from mental health and addictions.
“I believe that our team has looked at the needs of the community and tried as much as possible to ensure that we have addressed those concerns from the community members,” Callaghan said.
“Have we been perfect? No, but we continue to strive to be perfect.”
There are still many months until the City of Belleville selects a new police chief.
In the meantime, Callaghan says he will continue to work on bringing a detox centre to the City of Belleville.
“We really need to focus on the mental health and addictions,” Callaghan tells Quinte News.
“I just came back from a trip from Europe and I was in two different countries and they still have their mental health and addiction facilities. It’s interesting because their social support mechanisms for homeless and those with mental health and addictions is incredibly strong and it’s a model that we need to look at here in North America.”
Callaghan concluded the interview with Quinte News thanking the community “from the bottom of my heart.”
Callaghan’s final day as Police Chief will be June 30, 2024.
