Quinte News caught up with Belleville Police Chief Ron Gignac to talk about 2018 and the year it was.
Belleville Police Chief Ron Gignac at the November 20, 2018 meeting of the Belleville Police Services Board. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)
He says there were some great strides made over these last 12 months.
The motto is: loyalty, tradition, progress and Gignac says progress is a big part of what they are striving for.
One of the highlights was a recruit standardized training program created by Inspector Sheri Meeks.
Other highlights include: a partnership with Wounded Warriors Canada, bringing in a dog therapy program to help comfort victims while giving their statement or prior to testifying.
They got permission from Transport Canada to get their drone program up and running which faced some hurdles because of 8 Wing Trenton and the special air space zone we are in and a few more rules and regulations they need to comply with.
Their traffic safety team was expanded and they now have three Automated Licence Plate Recognition systems in use and the Internet Child Exploitation team was also expanded with one full-time investigator and one full-time technologist.
There were some challenges faced as well in 2018 by the force.
The start of 2018 saw the implementation of new street check regulations which required training by all officers as well as the legalization of marijuana in October.
Gignac says these new laws and regulations require training, equipment purchases and additional equipment which comes with a significant cost and that is one of the biggest hurdles they faced in 2018.
