Esquimalt鈥檚 tortured relationship with the Victoria Police Department takes a new twist with the township鈥檚 hiring of person who sounds like a police chief 鈥� but isn鈥檛.
The municipality is advertising for a director of community safety services at a salary of $106,000 to $120,000 a year. The new director will 鈥減lan, co-ordinate and manage policing and law enforcement liaison; community policing and crime prevention initiatives; bylaw enforcement; emergency planning; and building inspection.鈥�
That sounds a lot like a police chief, but municipal officials say the emphasis is really on the part about 鈥渓iaison.鈥� The potential confusion comes from the sentence structure: It could be read as 鈥減lan, co-ordinate and manage policing鈥� or as 鈥減lan, co-ordinate and manage policing liaison and law-enforcement liaison.鈥�
The municipality says the new official will have no role in the police chain of command.
Since the province rejected Esquimalt鈥檚 bid to have the RCMP take over policing, the township has to sign a new agreement with VicPD. Once that鈥檚 done, the new director will be responsible for keeping open the lines of communication, as well as co-ordinating other aspects of community safety and emergency preparedness.
Until now, Chief Administrative Officer Laurie Hurst has been doing it off the side of her desk 鈥� never the best approach for something as important to residents as policing.
The director will have to be as much diplomat as bureaucrat if the municipality hopes to cultivate a relationship that works in the best interest of citizens.
The first job will be clarifying just what the new person will do and who is the boss.
