But civilians also make up an important aspect of the force, which has been keeping the community safe since 1853, and is the second-oldest active police service in the province.
The corporate communications team of Peter Leon (a retired, longtime member of the OPP) and Jennett Mays (a former communications co-ordinator with Springwater Township and the Town of Collingwood) have many tasks, including working with local media and getting the word out during major incidents.
The duo also have the distinction of being the only full-time civilian members of a police service’s communications team in Ontario.
Keeping officers’ boots on the ground and utilizing civilians’ talents to deal with media and corporate communications only made sense to Barrie Police Chief Kimberley Greenwood.
In the past, the force had media relations officers who were sworn members of the service, similar to other jurisdictions across the province, she says.
“We’ve seen some changes in Ontario with a blended approach, so there are civilians and sworn members doing that role with media relations,” Greenwood says. “We have looked at civilianizaton strategies across the service. And this is one area we have focused on.
“From a corporate perspective, and not communications specifically, our human resources strategy was redeploying police officers into frontline duties,” she adds. “Crime prevention, community safety, law enforcement, emergency response: that’s where we should be putting our front line officers.”
Civilians also bring their skill sets to the table, the chief says.
“We have two different people with different skill sets and knowledge and abilities that are a perfect blend here,” Greenwood says of Leon and Mays.
“So it made sense to redeploy two officers back into our pool (of frontline uniforms) and bring two experts who come with all of that knowledge and all of that experience and training,” she adds.
Leon began his career — the majority of which has been spent dealing with media-related tasks and responsibilities — back in 1980 with the Toronto Police Service. He moved over to the OPP in 1997, working in different area detachments and eventually regional headquarters and then general headquarters up in Orillia.
“I had this wonderful opportunity come my way,” he says of his post-career job with Barrie police.
For her part, Mays’ communications work with two municipalities over the last 10 years pairs well with Leon’s experience, but she has never been far from policing.
Her father is a retired police officer, her brother is a police officer, as were her grandfather and great-grandfather.
She’s looking forward to spearheading a makeover of the Barrie police department's website.
“We’re working on a new site that will be a little more mobile-friendly for people who are accessing it on their devices and will have the same information we currently have on our website,” Mays says.
“We have the privilege and honour of promoting the Barrie Police Service (and) informing the public of events that are happening in the community which could potentially impact them somehow down the road,” Leon says, adding the public is also a valuable tool when it comes to keeping the community safe.
“It’s about being reactive at times, but also proactive in other senses and utilizing the social media platforms — the BPS website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter — that are in place to do our job.”
