The last serious OPP attempt was in 2016–2017

It arose from Owen Sound’s broader municipal service review in January 2016. Council asked the OPP to prepare an “apples-to-apples” proposal based on the services then supplied by the Owen Sound Police Service. Levack Management Consulting Group was subsequently hired to compare the two models. (Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre)

What the OPP proposed

The preliminary OPP presentation calculated $8.58 million for policing plus roughly $1.3 million in one-time start-up and capital costs. It also called for five more constables and renovations to the Owen Sound police station. (97.9 the Bruce)

By the final council decision, the reported first-year OPP total had increased to $12.5 million. The accessible reports leave the $2.7-million difference between the September and December figures unexplained. It likely reflects additional transition assumptions incorporated by the consultant, although that remains an inference because the original costing tables are currently difficult to retrieve through the city archive. (97.9 the Bruce)

Why council rejected it

On December 18, 2017, council voted unanimously to reject the OPP proposal and retain the Owen Sound Police Service. (97.9 the Bruce)

The decisive factors appear to have been:

1. The projected long-term saving was relatively small. The consultant projected $82.9 million for OPP versus $84.7 million for Owen Sound Police over ten years. That was only about $1.8 million, or 2.1 per cent, over the full decade. The OPP became cheaper only after approximately three years because of the initial transition costs. (Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre)

2. The first-year cost increase was very large. The reported $12.5-million first-year OPP cost was about $5.2 million above the projected $7.32-million municipal-force budget. Even with later savings, council would have needed to finance the transition immediately. (97.9 the Bruce)

3. More than 30 local jobs were at risk. The greatest employment impact would have fallen on Owen Sound’s dispatch centre and civilian administrative staff because the OPP already operated its own centralized support systems. (Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre)

4. The OPP offer did not create an overwhelming service advantage. OPP proposed 35 constables rather than 30, but Owen Sound Police already had access to provincial assets such as OPP helicopters and boats when required. (97.9 the Bruce)

5. Council preferred to retain local control while using the OPP proposal as a cost benchmark. Mayor Ian Boddy said the city now had OPP baseline figures against which the municipal force could be measured. The police board agreed to undertake a service review aimed at finding approximately $1 million in annual savings. (Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre)

What happened after the rejection

The promised service review was eventually presented in May 2019. Levack identified up to $560,000 in possible reductions:

• $225,000 from structural and operational changes
• $335,000 associated with services Owen Sound supplied that the OPP comparison excluded, including community programmes, bylaw work, storefront hours and some benefit-sharing arrangements

Police Chief Craig Ambrose disputed much of the projected saving. For 11 recommendations where the consultant projected $131,000 in savings, the police analysis projected more than $122,500 in additional expenses. Some recommendations involved reduced platoon staffing, officers typing their own reports and shorter storefront hours. The chief cited collective agreements, lost revenue, legislative requirements and reduced efficiency as obstacles. (Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre)

The consultant nevertheless concluded that Owen Sound Police was efficiently managed and faced unusually demanding conditions because Owen Sound functions as a regional service centre and handles a high number of complex mental-health calls. Council therefore failed to secure the requested $1-million reduction without cutting services. (Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre)

Regional policing was considered afterward

There were later efforts concerning regional municipal policing, distinct from replacing Owen Sound Police with the OPP.

In 2019, council authorized outreach to Hanover, West Grey and other possible partners concerning a regional force. The concept failed to advance into an operating regional service. Owen Sound and West Grey revived the idea in 2024, considering shared recruitment, management, dispatch and specialized functions. That proposed feasibility study ended in June 2025 after the West Grey Police Association declined to endorse it. (Owen Sound Meeting Agendas)

Main lesson for a new review

The 2017 decision was less a finding that OPP was financially inferior and more a finding that the projected saving was too small and too delayed to justify the transition, employment losses and loss of local control.

A new comparison could produce a different result because wages, OPP billing, dispatch technology, staffing levels and provincial funding have changed substantially since 2017. However, the old review shows why any new study must publish:

• annual cash flow for at least ten years
• severance, pension and collective-agreement liabilities
• treatment of Owen Sound’s dispatch centre and outside dispatch revenue
• station renovation and ongoing accommodation costs
• court security, bylaw enforcement and community programmes
• guaranteed Owen Sound staffing and downtown patrol levels
• services currently supplied by OSPS that fall outside the OPP base bill