General News

New Caledon OPP station is officially opened

June 20, 2013   ·   0 Comments

By Bill Rea
It’s been operating for a couple of months, but the new home of Caledon OPP was officially opened Tuesday.
A host of dignitaries, including OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis, were on hand for the occasion.
There was much talk about partnerships and cooperation between the local police service, the Town and community.
Mayor Marolyn Morrison said this new modern facility reflects what community policing is all about.
She also said it was a former detachment commander, Inspector Andy Karski, who had the dream of combining that various police facilities in town into one.
“We used to tease him that we were going to call it the Andy Karski Centre of Excellence,” she joked.
Morrison added it was the current commander, Inspector Rose DiMarco, who took up that dream and ran with it.
The Mayor pointed to the fact that Maclean’s magazine for several years judged Caledon the safest community in Canada, and she pointed to a number of other successful programs that have been launched through cooperative efforts, such as Road Watch, the Policing Advisory Council of Caledon (PACC), the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program and the new GREAT program.
“Caledon’s success as a safe community is enviable,” Morrison declared, adding the whole community has made a commitment to public safety.
Referring to the new station, Morrison said it’s both energy efficient and cost effective.
Lewis observed that the partnerships and support the police enjoy locally is evident in the new station, pointing out it provides an environment that maintains health and safety.
“It is a beauty,” he said. “It is our biggest detachment in Ontario.”
Lewis noted representatives of other police services were on hand for the ceremony, including Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans, as well as several retired members of the Caledon detachment.
“You’ve always been an important part of the OPP family, and that will never change,” he said.
“We have a wonderful team,” he remarked, adding a lot of good work was done in the former cramped station, and then the detachment had to get over the stress of moving.
“This building really culminates what has been a wonderful relationship over many years,” Lewis observed.
“This occasion continues the long history between the Town of Caledon and the Ontario Provincial Police,” commented Peel Region Chair and CEO Emil Kolb.
He also recalled his years as a Town councillor and mayor, remembering the land the new station occupies used to be a farm. He also said the Town has always established positive working relationships with every detachment commander to provide the police service that Caledon needed.
He also praised DiMarco for her understanding of the community, as she follows a line of officers who believed in community policing.
“Policing is never about the bricks and mortar,” he said. “It’s all about the people and the community.”
DiMarco commented that when she came to Caledon about four years ago, she was aware of the community side of policing.
“The community engagement here is next to none,” she declared.
She too referred to the cramped quarters they used to have.
“There was not another square inch in the detachment for another officer to be assigned,” she said, adding things are a lot better now. And she’s been hearing the reaction from officers entering the new building.
“Wow,” she quoted one as saying, “it’s like a real police station and not a house.”

Inspector Rose DiMarco was assisted by Mayor Marolyn Morrison, OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis and Peel Region Chair and CEO Emil Kolb in cutting the ribbon Tuesday to officially open the new Caledon OPP station on Innis Lake Road in Caledon East. Holding the ribbon were Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School students Nicole Rak, Christine Skowron and Alexandra Scandolo, who along with Brigida DiMatteo, created a mural which will be on permanent display in the front hall fo the station.
Photo by Bill Rea

Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School students Christine Skowron, Alexandra Scandolo and Nicole Rak are seen here with this mural they created, along with Brigida DiMatteo, in the front hall of the new OPP station.
Photo by Bill Rea

         

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