By Pepper Parr
January 13th, 2021
BURLINGTON, ON
The Halton Police Services Board will meet on Friday in a closed session.
The former Chair of the Board, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, gave up the Chair but is thought to still be a member of the Board.
Jeff Knoll, an Oakville Councillor and a member of the Police Services Board will serve as acting Chair during a meeting that will have legal counsel on hand to advise.
On December 21st, Premier Ford announced a lock-down to take effect Dec 26.
On December 22nd, Police Chief Stephen Tanner asked the then Chair Rob Burton for permission to leave the jurisdiction to travel to Florida on a private matter.
Burton gave permission and said at the time that he didn’t have a problem with the Chief being away.
On December 26th, Chief Tanner left for the United States.
On December 26th, the province invoked a shut down for 28 days.
There has been considerable demand for the Chief to be fired.
He asked for and was given permission to travel.
Can he be fired?
In order to lead a leader has to have the confidence and respect of the people being led.
The rank and file of the Halton Police Service are said to be “outraged”.
Driving their feelings is the fact that the Chief was not on hand to meet with the family of a Detective Constable who died while on an observation assignment in Burlington.
One of the Deputy Chiefs met with the officer’s family.
Oakville Mayor Rob Burton
Chief of Police Steve Tanner
It is a messy situation created when a foolish decision was made by Burton.
Can the mess be cleaned up?
The retirement of the Chief and the former Chair will resolve the problems.
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.
