The Windsor Police Services Board hopes to have a new police chief hired and in place by October.
The board has retained the services of executive search firm Odgers Berndtson to aid in the nationwide search for a replacement for Chief Jason Bellaire, who announced in early February that he will retire effective November 2025.
The timeline for the process to find the next chief was laid out during Thursday's police service board meeting.
Over the next few weeks, officials from Odgers Berndtson will be meeting with board members to get an understanding of where the service is today and the future challenges facing the next chief.
Board Chair, Ward 6 Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac, says it's a shifting time for police when it comes to the challenges facing the next chief.
"Municipal police forces across the country are dealing with issues that the first two police chiefs I interviewed for, they weren't there. We weren't dealing with homelessness, mental health issues, drug-related issues, addiction issues to the extent we are now," she says.
The goal is to have an official job posting out by the end of June, and then sometime in late July, work will begin to identify and assess the candidates before conducting the first round of interviews in August and the second round of focused interviews with a smaller group of candidates in September.
Gignac says the landscape of policing has changed.
"It will be interesting to do those interviews and get their perspective," she says. "These will be people who have experience in policing and just have that conversation in terms of what they see from different areas of the country as to what challenges might be."
Throughout the initial process, officials from Odgers Berndtson intend to hold consultations with Chief Bellaire, the senior command team, along with various stakeholder and community groups to set priorities for the search.
Bellaire was appointed chief at the end of November 2022 after serving as acting chief since April 2022 following the resignation of former chief Pam Mizuno.
His appointment as Windsor's 19th police chief was for a five-year term that took effect on Dec. 1, 2022.