The Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) is the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

service operated by and serving the

Regional Municipality of Durham The Regional Municipality of Durham (), informally referred to as Durham Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada. Located east of Toronto and the Regional Municipality of York, it forms the east end of the Greater Toronto A ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The DRPS has a strength of over 900 sworn officers and over 300 unsworn members, and serves the following local municipalities, with a combined population of 706,200: * Pickering *

Oshawa Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the Greater Toronto Area and of the Golden Horseshoe. It ...

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

Clarington Clarington (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population 101,427) is a lower-tier municipality in the Regional Municipality of Durham in Ontario, Canada. It was incorporated in 1973 as the town of Newcastle with the merging of the town of Bowmanville, the ...

Scugog Scugog is a township in the Regional Municipality of Durham, south-central Ontario, Canada. It is northeast of Toronto and just north of Oshawa. The anchor and largest population base of the township is Port Perry. The township has a populatio ...

* Brock *

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

The DRPS was formed in 1974 through the amalgamation of a number of local police forces in the area, coinciding with the establishment of the Regional Municipality of Durham.

Organization

The Durham Regional Police Service is led by: *Chief of Police Peter Moreira *Deputy Chief Chris Kirkpatrick (Strategic & Operational Support Command) *Deputy Chief Dean Bertrim (Serious & Organized Crime Command) *Deputy Chief Kim Yeandle (Public Safety Command) *Chief Administrative Officer Stan MacLellan Durham Regional Police Headquarters is in

Whitby, Ontario Whitby is a town in Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham Region in Ontario, Canada. Whitby is located in Southern Ontario east of Ajax, Ontario, Ajax and west of Oshawa, on the north shore of Lake Ontario and is home to the headquarters of D ...

at the Regional Municipality of Durham Headquarters building. Budgeted expenditures for DRPS in Durham Region's 2020 budget were $241.4

million 1,000,000 (one million), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the ...

In October 2008, the Durham Regional Police Service was named one of "

Canada's Top 100 Employers Canada's Top 100 Employers is an annual editorial competition that recognizes the best places in Canada to work. First held in 1999, the project aims to single out the employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional working condition ...

" by Mediacorp Canada Inc. and was featured in ''

Maclean's ''Maclean's'' is a Canadian magazine founded in 1905 which reports on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, trends and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian ...

'' newsmagazine. Later that month, it was also named one of

Greater Toronto's Top Employers Canada's Top 100 Employers is an annual editorial competition that recognizes the best places in Canada to work. First held in 1999, the project aims to single out the employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional working condition ...

, which was announced by the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'' newspaper. Durham Regional Police is a member of OALEP. In late May 2019, after a request by the

Ministry of the Solicitor General (Ontario) The Ministry of the Solicitor General (; formerly known as the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services) is the ministry in the Government of Ontario responsible for public security, law enforcement and policing, emergency manageme ...

, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission issued an order that appointed a retired Toronto deputy chief, Mike Federico, as administrator to oversee the force during the OCPC investigation after some of the senior ranks were alleged to have been corrupt and of an abuse of power. As of May 24, 2019, none of the allegations had been proven. Federico’s responsibilities were to include "approving promotions and overseeing all internal discipline". The allegations were first brought to light in an April 19 report in the

; at the time, a lawyer representing Chief Paul Martin said the allegations are "false and defamatory". Martin announced on 9 July 2020 that he would be retiring from the Service effective September 2020.

Police senior officers

The day-to-day and regional operations are commanded by senior officers: *Deputy Chief *Superintendent *Inspector * Civilian directors and managers

Police officers

*Detective / Staff Sergeant *Detective / Sergeant *Detective Constable *Senior Constable *Constable - 1st class *Constable - 2nd class *Constable - 3rd class *Constable - 4th class *Special Constables

Operational support units

In 2014, the Durham Regional Police Service had an authorized strength of 871 sworn members and 331 civilians. Some of the units within the force are: * Air support unit * Auxiliary unit ( auxiliary constable) * Canine unit * Case management unit * Central cellblock unit * Communications-911 unit * Community services unit * Corporate communications unit * Courts unit * Crime analysis unit * Diversity unit * Domestic violence investigative unit * Drug enforcement unit * E-crimes unit * Emergency measures/labour liaison unit * Explosive disposal unit * Facilities management unit * Financial services unit * Firearms unit * Fleet services unit * Forensic identification unit * Fraud unit * Freedom of information unit * Gun and gang unit * General occurrence auditing unit * Health, wellness and safety unit * Homicide unit * Hostage negotiators * Human resources unit * Information technology unit * Legal services unit * Marine unit * Major incident command * Mental health unit * Offender management unit * Patrol support unit * Polygraph unit * Prisoner transport unit * Professional standards unit * Property unit * Public order unit * Quality assurance unit * Regional youth unit * Robbery unit * Records unit * Senior support unit * Sexual assault and child abuse unit * Strategic planning unit * Surveillance unit * Tactical support unit * Technical services section * Threat assessment unit * Traffic services branch * Victim services unit * Volunteer unit * Warrant liaison unit

Policing divisions

The force is organized into several divisions: * West Division - Serving Ajax and Pickering * Central West Division - Serving Whitby and Western Oshawa * Central East Division - Serving Oshawa * East Division - Serving Clarington, Oshawa and Scugog * North Division - Serving Brock, Scugog and Uxbridge The Durham Regional Police Service is one of two

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the Toronto, City of Toronto and the regional municipality, regional municipalities of Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham, Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton, Regional ...

police forces with

police aviation Police aviation is the use of aircraft in police operations. Police services commonly use aircraft for traffic control, ground support, search and rescue, high-speed car pursuits, observation, air patrol and control of large-scale public events ...

capabilities, the other being the

York Regional Police The York Regional Police (YRP; ) is the police service of the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, Canada. YRP was formed in 1971 from the police forces maintained by the nine municipalities which amalgamated into York Region at the time. The ...

. They operate one

Bell 206 The Bell 206 is a family of two-bladed, single- and twin-engined helicopters, manufactured by Bell Helicopter at its Mirabel, Quebec, plant. Originally developed as the Bell YOH-4 for the United States Army's Light Observation Helicopter progr ...

B-3 helicopter (callsign "AIR1") and delivered in 2003. DRP Air Unit began in 2000 with a leased Bell Jet Ranger helicopter after shared a helicopter with

for a two years pilot trial and was the Greater Toronto Region first police force to operate helicopters. Some vehicles bear the motto "Leaders in Community Safety".

Tactical Support Unit

The Tactical Support Unit is responsible for handling dangerous situations not handled by regular uniformed officers. The Durham Regional Police TSU also has a mutual-aid agreement with the York Regional Police Emergency Response Unit. In the event of a large-scale event, or an incident that could take a significant amount of time, both departments provide assistance to one another.

Marine unit

The marine unit is responsible for the enforcement of three bodies of water in the region: Lake Ontario, Lake Scugog, and Lake Simcoe. They also police the area of and around Beaverton, Thorah Island, and parts of the Trent-Severn Waterway. Members of the marine unit are specially trained for marine enforcement and rescue duties, including ice rescue. The unit is attached to the traffic enforcement unit. The Durham Regional Police Marine Unit also has a mutual aid agreement with the

Toronto Police Service The Toronto Police Service (TPS) is a municipal police force in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the primary agency responsible for providing law enforcement and policing services in Toronto. Established in 1834, it was the first local police se ...

for Lake Ontario as well as side-scan sonar and ROV, and with the York Regional Police for Lake Simcoe as well as side-scan sonar and diver services. In the event of a large-scale event, or a call-out that could take a significant amount of manpower, these police services provide mutual assistance to one another. The Marine Unit consists of one officer, active during the summer months. Durham Police do not patrol the water ways during the off season and winter months. Additional SAR support provided b
PARA-Marine Search and Rescue
and COMRA

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; ) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in Canadian waters, such as navigation aids and i ...

and

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

424 Squadron (air support from CFB Trenton).

Equipment

* a 26-foot Zodiac RHIB (2011) with two 200 hp Yamaha outboard engines - transported by trailer to

Lake Scugog Lake Scugog is an artificially flooded lake in Scugog, Regional Municipality of Durham and the unitary city of Kawartha Lakes in central Ontario, Canada. It lies between the communities of Port Perry and Lindsay. The lake has been raised and l ...

and

Lake Simcoe Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly within the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century, the lake was called ''Ouentir ...

* a 34-foot Hike Metal Products patrol with two 340 hp supercharged diesel Volvo engines, search and rescue vessel (2004) - named "David J. Edwards"

Uniform

The DRPS crest is used on vehicles, headgear and uniforms, and consists of St. Edward's Crown over a round blue shield with the legend "Durham Regional Police" in white, encircling a red maple leaf overlaid with gold scales of justice. The crest is based on that of the former City of Oshawa police department, with the maple leaf and scales replacing the city's coat of arms. Officers are issued

Glock Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military an ...

.40 caliber pistols.

References

External links

Durham Regional Police Service
{{Law enforcement agencies in Canada Law enforcement agencies of Ontario Regional Municipality of Durham Whitby, Ontario