OPP Communications Centre in Smiths Falls slated for closure

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Communications Centre in Smiths Falls will be closing in 2022.

The Communications Centre, located at 91 Cordelia Street in Smiths Falls, employs just over 100 OPP members, and is targeted for closure in early 2022, according to Bill Dickson, Acting Manager of Communications for the OPP East Region.

That closure will include a “phased decommissioning to be completed by June of 2022,” Dickson said, noting that those employed at the Centre are mostly civilian OPP employees.

“We are committed to supporting all of those impacted by the changes. This includes a variety of options, including potential transfers to other OPP locations,” he said in an email to The Kingstonist.

Dickson relayed that this closure will not impact frontline policing within the communities served by the Communications Centre, which includes all of the OPP sub-stations in the area surrounding Kingston, such as Napanee, Leeds and the Thousand Islands, and Frontenac.

“Call-taking and dispatch duties will be moved to the Communication Centre in Orillia. The OPP is implementing provincial call sharing, which will allow calls to be answered by the next available call taker at any OPP Communication Centre, regardless of where the call originates,” Dickson said.

This closure will not impact the OPP East Region Headquarters, also located in Smiths Falls, Dickson confirmed.

When asked why this decision was made, Dickson explained the number of factors the OPP considered.

“The decision was not made lightly and only after a comprehensive review and analysis of workload, human resources impacts, facilities costs, operational efficiencies and technology-related cost and re-alignment opportunities developed,” he said.

“The OPP regularly reviews and evaluates its facilities as part of ongoing efforts to modernize, reinvest and enhance service delivery to our communities.”