In a change of pace, Wednesday’s Greater Sudbury Police Board meeting was held in council chambers at Tom Davies Square.
It’s a shift intended to help improve transparency, chair Al Sizer told Sudbury.com following the meeting, noting that the new venue is easier to access than the fifth floor of Greater Sudbury Police Service headquarters, where attendees had to be escorted from the lobby.
Alongside publicizing meetings’ livestream details in advance of meetings, he said the underlying goal is to get the public better involved.
Although Wednesday’s gallery was limited to two journalists (Sudbury.com and CTV), Sizer said, “We’re hoping this will encourage people to attend and take notice of what we’re doing.”
Sizer noted that the newly adopted provincial Community Safety and Policing Act places even greater emphasis on transparency, which is a priority he’s keen on following through with.
“This was a process we had prior,” Sizer said. “We used to meet in council chambers, but at that time we would often get bumped.”
That was several years ago, he said, during which time elected officials have gained greater control over council chamber scheduling, so can book times without fear of being bumped.
Unlike city council and committee meetings, Greater Sudbury Police Board meetings are currently not recorded.
As Sudbury.com pointed out earlier this year in an article comparing Greater Sudbury Police Service’s transparency with other jurisdictions, some police boards, such as the one in Barrie, post their meetings online.
Sizer told Sudbury.com the Greater Sudbury Police Board is looking at posting videos of their meetings online “as soon as we possibly can,” with spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn noting that it’d be as simple as recording the livestream, posting it to YouTube and publicizing the link.
Although the Greater Sudbury Police Board has only booked meetings in council chambers to the end of the year, Sizer said, “If it’s not an inconvenience to staff, I’d much prefer it to stay here.”
The next police board meeting is scheduled to take place on Oct. 16, and they typically begin at 10 a.m. One of the main topics of discussion will be body-worn cameras for police officers.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.