After a nearly 35-year career with the St. Thomas Police Service – the last five at the helm – Chief Chris Herridge, this week announced he is retiring.
“It is time for a new journey,” noted Herridge.
Speaking with Herridge minutes before the official announcement on Thursday, he confided, “It is a personal and professional decision.”
He continued, “My family, Kim and the girls, have given up so much for my career in policing.
“The time has come, I have 34-plus years when it is all said and done and it’s time to give back to them. I’m a grandfather now.”
Like an athlete hanging up the cleats or skates, Herridge stressed, “It’s time.”
Herridge observed, “People always say you will realize it. I still love this job but as much as I love it, it’s time.”
To use another sports analogy, you are best to go out on a winning or high note.
“We have made tremendous strides in transforming into one of the most professional, advanced and transparent police services in Ontario,” noted Herridge.
“Leadership is about preparing, empowering and inspiring others to lead.

“Professionally, we have such a talented leadership team organization and it’s time to give them an opportunity to take this organization even further than what has happened in the past five years during my time as chief.
“I’ve been surrounded by very smart, dedicated, community-minded people both in the leadership position and on the front line.”
He will remain with the service until the end of February and Deputy Chief Marc Roskamp will assume the role of chief in an acting capacity in January and officially take over the reins next May.
Roskamp is a 25-year veteran of the service and was appointed to his current position in 2018.
Roskamp advises, “A main priority of mine will be to ensure the St. Thomas Police Service continues to deliver services to the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.”
We’ll speak further with Roskamp next week in this corner.
With a first-class leadership team in place, Herridge assures the transition will be a smooth one.
“Our presence on social media and staying in contact with our community partners and building those relationships and our passion for enhancing the safety and well-being in our community is not going to be lost when I walk out the door.
“The other members of this organization feel the same way, they act the same way, they are just as passionate about this community as I am and our police service and our men and women do a fantastic job.”
During his tenure as chief, Herridge always kept an eye out for the well-being of all members of the service.

“But, I also feel we have done a tremendous job ensuring that the well-being and safety of our members have been looked after as well so they can deliver and meet the demands of the community.”

“There is a lot of demand on policing. We’ve taken on a lot of responsibilities in the community outside of the core functions of policing that we used to do several years ago.
“That puts a lot of stress and anxiety on our members and we have definitely implemented a number of wellness programs for our staff and that’s one of the most important things internally.
“We’ve done a number of things externally, which is very important as well for the community who we serve because we truly are public servants to the residents of St. Thomas.

“The face of our community is changing. The face of our police is changing and we need to change with it. We need to have diversity. We need to understand diversity and educate ourselves about diversity.”

“But, I also feel we have done a tremendous job ensuring that the well-being and safety of our members have been looked after as well so they can deliver and meet the demands of the community.”
Herridge launched many initiatives in his time as chief, one of the latest being the Community Inclusion Committee to help better represent the diverse population served by city police.
“The face of our community is changing. The face of our police is changing and we need to change with it.
“We need to have diversity. We need to understand diversity and educate ourselves about diversity.”
Additional moves were announced this week with Insp. Scott Barnes moving into the deputy chief position and Insp. Steve Bogart was promoted to staff inspector.
And Kim Manual was recently promoted to inspector, the first sworn female member of the administration.

You can hear the interview with Chief Chris Herridge here.

2022 MUNICIPAL ELECTION RESULTS

Mayor
(numbers in brackets are 2018 election results, not all candidates ran four years ago)

Joe Preston – 5526 (3731)

Heather Jackson – 2912 (3189)

Gregg McCart – 906

Councillors

Steve Peters – 7385 (8197)

Steve Wookey – 5564 (lost to Joe Preston in mayoral race)

Jeff Kohler – 5253 (5888)

Lori Baldwin-Sands – 5057 (5019)

Gary Clarke – 4811 (5032)

Jim Herbert– 3521 (3417)

Rose Gibson – 3266 (2927)

McCaulley, Tara – 3101

———————

Earl Taylor – 3096

Petrusia Hontar – 2251 (1995)

Joe Docherty Jr. – 2140

Dawn Docker – 2031

Devon Church – 1896

Shawn DeNeire – 1803

Harald Schraeder – 1739

Timothy Hedden – 1479 (1711)

The voter turnout was 30.6 per cent, down from 36.07 in 2018.
It was the second lowest in the past 60 years. The lowest was 29.3 per cent in 1970.
The new council will be sworn in at the Nov. 21 council meeting.

A CAKEWALK FOR PRESTON

While he is reluctant to admit it, Joe Preston won the mayoral race in a landslide.
“Good people today and I’m thankful to be able to come out on top.
“I think the job myself and this council have done, we have now a mandate to move forward and finish the job that we started.
“But, everyone who put their name forward today deserves to be congratulated.”
Preston was generous in his praise for the two newcomers elected to council, Rose Gibson in her sixth run at a seat at the table and Tara McCaulley who was successful in her first attempt.

“We have to be able to grow St. Thomas at the rate it’s been growing. But, we have to take care of the most vulnerable in our community, too.”

“They are both personal friends and fantastic friends of the city.
“Rose has tried a number of times and has always kept going back to serving the people well in this community.
“And Tara has shown with her background at the Economic Development Development Corporation and the Small Business Enterprise Centre that this is the type of job we need for our city, a good business focus.”
First up, stresses Preston, “we have to focus on more than one thing. We have to be able to multitask.
“We have to be able to grow St. Thomas at the rate it’s been growing.
“But, we have to take care of the most vulnerable in our community, too.
“Across the city different things were important and we’ve heard from all and I’ll wait to hear from the eight councillors to come to the table with me at that first meeting to share with us what they think we also need to work on and what they heard at the doors.”

CAPACITY ISSUES AGAIN AT STEGH

An ominous sign as we head into cold and flu season.
This week, St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital warned it is again experiencing capacity issues.
Combined with concerns around staffing numbers and occupancy rates, the result is a shortage of beds and longer emergency wait times.
And, it is only likely to get worse as fall gives way to winter, cautions hospital president and CEO Karen Davies.
“Certainly we are concerned as we go into the late fall and winter season. Which is typically a season where we see more respiratory illness in general.
“But we’re certainly more concerned this year knowing that we’re starting to see some more surges in our COVID numbers.
“We’re seeing a significant number of patients, not just presenting to the emergency department, but being admitted for other respiratory illnesses.
As of Thursday, the hospital was dealing with 27 COVID patients and the coronavirus has hit STEGH harder than other area hospitals.
“I’m not surprised to see we’re still higher than a lot of the hospitals closer to us. But, we’re a bit concerned with the rising rate of that too.
“Because of the respiratory illnesses circulating out there, the staff are also getting sick and we are experiencing a high number of staff who are off.”
As for the emergency department, it is a very fluid situation subject to change daily.
“It’s a tricky one. You will see a lot of focus on wait times and I don’t like to talk really about the wait times because they can change so rapidly.
“If you need to go to the hospital you don’t have the time to stop and look at the wait times, you are going to the hospital.
“And, we could have really low wait times and then all you need is one trauma, one cardiac arrest to come in and that changes the scenario very quickly.”

“I don’t think I would have even said a year ago that I could imagine it could become more difficult for those working in the system. But it has.”

As the hospital tackles the surgery backlog, the result of cancelled surgeries during the pandemic, Davies assures keeping surgery functioning is a top priority.
“We have not yet cancelled any of our surgeries. We’ve been working really hard to make sure we can keep the surgical side open to get rid of that backlog . . . so we’re keeping our surgery going right now and that will be a last resort for us to do that (close or limit surgeries).
“Having said that, we reassess those surgical lists every single morning.”
She concedes it’s a tough environment at present.

“And, I think that’s important because there are too many Ontarians who don’t have access to a primary care provider.”

“I don’t think I would have even said a year ago that I could imagine it could become more difficult for those working in the system.
“But it has. I continue to be exceptionally proud of our teams who are working day and night to care for anyone who needs
“It is a tough time and our staff is to be commended. Most of the people who come through our doors are super supportive, kind and patient.
“And, we really appreciate that.”
Davies stresses it is not necessarily a situation unique to this year.
“For many years, at this time of year, we start to think about and start planning and opening up extra beds where we might need them.
“The pandemic has just really put an extra level of stress and burden on that. And, add in the extra challenges we have right now with staffing and it’s made it all that much more difficult.
“We have higher volumes than in prior years but doing this with less staff than we had in the past.
“The system is under pressure at historical levels . . . and the environment is constantly shifting.”
Davies has a reminder for people, “There are other options, whether it’s your family doctor, a walk-in clinic or by calling 8-1-1. Twenty-four hours a day people can get health advice from a registered nurse.
“And, I think that’s important because there are too many Ontarians who don’t have access to a primary care provider.”

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And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.