The Bruce Peninsula OPP have a new top cop for the next two months.
Staff Sergeant Joel Skelding of the Perth County OPP Detachment will serve as acting Detachment Commander.
It’s a career development for Skelding.
He is working towards the next level of his career and wants to compete for an Inspector’s position in the near future.
Skelding says the stint at Bruce Peninsula lets him oversee a detachment and allows him to improve his skills.
He says he’s already met with the South Bruce Peninsula Police Services Board in Wiarton and with Northern Bruce Peninsula Council.
Skelding notes he wants to make contacts with the community and identify issues the OPP should be focusing on.
Skelding says working with the Saugeen and Chippewas of Nawash First Nations will be new challenges for him, although he has some training and experience in First Nations policing from a previous posting in Northern Ontario.
He says each community within a detachment area has their own unique issues and concerns with policing, but notes the front line work officers do on the road is basically the same everywhere.
Skelding says it’s at the management level of the OPP where the politics of community policing often changes.
The 25 year OPP veteran is not a stranger to the Grey-Bruce region.
He lived in Owen Sound when he was younger while his father — also an OPP officer, was posted there.
Skelding still has friends and family in our region.
He is married with two children.