Police Service Board

In Ontario, a police service board exists under the Municipal Act, but gets its authority from the Community Safety and Policing Act (CSPA).

The Woodstock Police Service Board provides civilian governance of the Woodstock Police Service and is responsible for ensuring the delivery of adequate and effective policing in the City of Woodstock. The Board provides accountability to the public through governance activities that contribute to locally responsive policing.

The primary role of the Board, after consultation with the Chief of Police, is to establish policies, objectives and priorities to ensure requirements found within the CSPA are met or exceeded.

The Board cannot direct the Chief with respect to specific investigations, conduct of specific operations, discipline of specific officers, or the day-to-day operation of the Police Service.

The Chief of Police is responsible for administering the Police Service and overseeing its operation in accordance with the Board’s policies and strategic plan.

The Community Safety and Policing Act outlines the following responsibilities of the board.

A police service board shall:

ensure adequate and effective policing is provided in the area for which it has policing responsibility
employ members of the police service;
appoint members of the police service as police officers;
recruit and appoint the chief of police and any deputy chief of police and determine their remuneration and working conditions, taking their submissions into account;
prepare and adopt a diversity plan to ensure that the members of the police service reflect the diversity of the area for which the board has policing responsibility;
monitor the chief of police’s performance;
conduct a review of the chief of police’s performance at least annually in accordance with the regulations made by the Minister, if any;
monitor the chief of police’s decisions regarding the restrictions on secondary activities set out in section 89 and review the reports from the chief of police on those decisions;
monitor the chief of police’s handling of discipline within the police service;
ensure that any police facilities, including police lock-ups, used by the board comply with the prescribed standards, if any; and
perform such other duties as are assigned to it by or under this or any other Act, including any prescribed duties.

Police Service Board Members & Staff
Ken Whiteford - Board Chair, Provincial Appointee	Leslie Farrell - Vice-Chair, Provincial Appointee
Mayor Jerry Acchione - Board Member, Council Representative	Connie Lauder - Board Member, Council Representative
Daryl Stevenson - Board Member, Community Appointee Kristin Barnim - Executive Assistant

The Woodstock Police Service Board meets on the second Monday of each month at 3:00 p.m. with no meetings in July and August. The meeting schedule is subject to change or reschedule.