The Town of Leamington is not happy with the service it's getting from the Ontario Provincial Police.
Council has approved a contract extension with the OPP but it include a one-year opt-out clause.
Mayor Hilda MacDonald says provincial police only provide six officers to service the town and if one is off for any reason, that person is not replaced.
Those concerns have the town exploring its options, with a consultant in the process of developing a report, which could lead to a Request for Proposals being issued.
MacDonald says the town has complex issues with migrant workers and drug concerns.
"We feel we need more coverage and we are not being given more coverage because it doesn't fit the model that they use across the province" she explains. "And we're saying to them we're not the same as other communities, you need to come and look at us."
MacDonald says the town has several options available.
"We have leverage, absolutely we do," she says. "What we're going to say is after our consultant's report is finished, and if council wants to take it where the consultant also does some public input meetings, we will then draw up a request for proposal."
MacDonald says the policing model the OPP is using is a quarter century out-of-date and the service is not offering any solutions.
She feels it makes no sense that the service doesn't backfill when a position is left vacant for any reason.
"They don't fill in those six, so we could end up having a week of coverage of three or less officers in a community of 30,000 to 40,000 people" says MacDonald. "And that to council is not adequate and effective policing."
She adds that both the Chatham-Kent Police and Windsor Police Service have expressed interest in taking over.