Police Service Board Chair refutes inferences made on social media

The chair of the Belleville Police Service Board says she doesn’t usually get involved with a lot of social media but felt compelled to provide comment to Quinte News about a recent Facebook post on Belleville Neighbours (uncensored).

Heather Smith was referring to a recent Facebook post by long-retired Belleville Police Service Inspector Merle Foster.

Foster posted a “scenario” about the hiring of a chief of police for a small city.

Below is the Belleville Neighbours (uncensored) Facebook post by Foster.

Belleville Neighbours (uncensored)

Merle Foster

Lets say you live in a small city and your municipal leaders decide to hire a new Chief of Police. Lets say that that Chief lives 80 or 90 km away and that the City Leaders agree to purchase him/her a new vehicle and pay all travel expenses for that Chief to commute weekly to his home. For the sake of this story lets say that the Chief is readily available most Tuesdays to Thursdays. Question: In your view, is that Chief committed to your community ???? Just wonderin….

When asked if his scenario was about the hiring of current Police Chief Murray Rodd, a former Peterborough Police Service Chief who still resides in that area, Foster said he’d leave that up to readers to decide.

However, Police Board Chair Heather Smith reacted to the post, believing it was indeed a reference to Chief Rodd and wanted to state what she termed “facts.”

Smith said the board spared no effort in coming up with the best candidate to replace the retiring Chief Mike Callaghan.

Along with board members, there was support from a neighbouring police chief, and a consultant with over 30 years in the policing sector was brought on board.

“Chief Rodd was clearly the best candidate. And as it turns out he is a really respected community leader right across the province.”

Smith went on to comment on the post pointing to the “scenario’s” chief enjoying a three-day work week.

“He has annual leave to take, and on occasion he takes a Monday and Friday, and our board is very grateful that he’s coming in Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in case something comes up but his work week is Monday to Friday. It is not Tuesday to Thursday so I have no idea where that came from.”

And in regard to the “scenario’s” chief having vehicle and travel expenses paid by the city, Smith said all police services pay for their chief’s transportation and also commented on the chief not living in the city.

“He does not live in the community but that is not unusual among policing leaders also. Many commute from a residence to the community in which they work.”