By: Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
Members of the Essex County OPP Detachment-North Board – which oversees Essex, Lakeshore, and Tecumseh – have responded to Superintendent Mark Loucas’s request to outline their priorities for the 2026-2029 Detachment Action Plan.
Last month, he asked members of the North Board to list those priorities, after first presenting the North Board with the 2026-2029 Action Plan and an analytical report that was conducted as part of the process. Through the report, he relayed that areas of concerns included Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), break and enters, theft over $5000, theft under $5000, stolen vehicles, fraud, drugs, mischief, and cyber bullying. He wanted to include the Board’s input, as well.
Since that last meeting, Tecumseh CAO Margaret Misek-Evans compiled the individual responses from North Board members into one document. The primary concerns from the Board members were: IPV, homelessness, crime, traffic issues, and municipal partnerships.
Members endorsed the information contained in the November 14, 2025 memorandum for input into the 2026-2029 Detachment Action Plan.
In terms of IPV, the OPP has noticed an increasing trend of 39%, from 2022 to 2024. There were 485 occurrences in 2022 to 674 in 2024. There is projected increase in 2025, Loucas told North Board members last month.
“This is a concerning trend,” Loucas said then.
Last week, Loucas noted a great deal of work has gone into the Detachment’s four-year Action Plan.
“I sent a draft version to the Strategy Management Unit, and they loved it,” Loucas was proud to relay to members of the North Board at their December 8 meeting.
“We really took the time to look at this from not only an analytical lens to see what the data was telling us, but through our consultations and the Board input, we really tried to integrate that within the plan to be responsive to the needs of our community,” Loucas added.
“In terms of our Organizational Plan, and our Strategic Plan, our people, our work, and our communities maintain our key priorities, and are weaved throughout our Action Plan,” he added.
The OPP has integrated not only the organization’s priorities its reps have seen, but also what has been seen through the community lens. This is to ensure the OPP is responsive and that the Action Plan is adequate for today’s policing needs and can evolve over its four-year lifecycle.
Big themes of the Action Plan were to focus on partnerships with Caldwell First Nations. So too was to deal with some of the more significant issues noticed, such as crimes against seniors and the vulnerabilities associated with that, human trafficking, and homelessness, Loucas highlighted. These focus areas are weaved throughout the Action Plan.
The Action Plan also focuses on maintaining collaboration with other specialty units the OPP could bring in as force-multipliers, and utilizing community wellbeing perspective to put a focus on helping people in crisis. There is also a plan to work with stakeholders and community partners to not only support victims of crime, but address those key social issues, such as IPV, homelessness, and issues such as vandalism.
North Board Chairperson, Paul Sweet, was glad the Action Plan addressed the root cause and reporting of IPV. He noted it is difficult to proceed with charges, etc., unless it is reported. He hopes resources can be directed to help those parties come forward to report these types of crimes.
He thanked Loucas for all the work in what he called a very detailed document.
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