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pff f ftl f rlsdnfethlrifebaytlneirs1 1998 st the tribune thursday june 25 1998 vol 110 no 50 the tribune is a member of the ontario press council comment m i m kj ps iy f w ik j i send your letters to the editor to the address below editorial new chief welcomed we welcome the news that julian fantino will lead york regions police force we dont envy him the task he faces but we believe he certainly has the ability and the track record to address among other issues the litany of problems with york regions police force recall what the force has been through in the past few years a damning provincial audit that indicated the force was poorly managed and ineffectively structured a serious morale problem among rankandfile officers who feel there is no opportunity for promotion or advance ment in the york region departments restrictive environ ment a former chief facing breach of public trust charges one involving a payment of 125000 from magna a weapons unit officer convicted of benefiting from the sale of weapons external criticism of the forces investigation tech niques and results particularly in the case of christine jes- sop whose killer has never been found and for whose mur der guy paul morin was wrongly convicted its definitely a challenge for any chief and thats why were delighted tosee someone with the experience and track record that fantino has he has been police chief in london since 1991 serving before that with metro police for 23 years in a variety of postings as head of londons forced he oversaw a massive restructuring of the department the creation of a public order unit and an emergency response unit the upgrading of the forces technology including installation of mobile computer workstations in the cruisers and the development of a computeraided dispatch system the development of many community partnerships and the opening of a police reporting centre as a cop he worked in uniform patrol undercover drug enforcement in the detective branch criminal intelligence homicide and as a division commander his knowledge and experience has resulted in numerous invitations to lecture to police forces the public sector and government bodies in canada and the united states on a wide variety of police matters and public safety issues he is a vicepresident of the ontario associations of chiefs of police and a member of the canadian associa tions of chiefs of police law amendment and crime pre vention committees all of this contributes to the general consensus that this appointment is precisely what the force needs in its official statement the police services board says its members are looking forward to working with fantino in light of the experience and leadership he will provide to the uniformed and civilian members of the police service we would encourage the police services board to show its support to the new chief by providing him with the appropriate funds to do the job he needs to do the job they say they want him to do police union president paul bailey was enthusiastic in offering the unions congratulations and welcome to the new chief our association indicated to the board that fantino has the style we believe is necessary for the job at hand he told the toronto star hes upfront and direct and ah accomplished adminis trator if anyones going to clean up this mess hes the one to do it we couldnt agree more as long as he continues to have the support of the officers who work for him and the board for whom he works with his reputation for being tough on crime for being forthright in his comments and criticisms for being direct in his approach and fair in his manner fantino is the pre scription york region needs to fix the police departments comeback kips lets not abandon service too hastily dear editor on june 15 the trent- way- wagar company announced to its riders that the service it offers to uxbridge stouffville markham and unionville passengers will cease this will come as a sur prise to those of you that didnt know the service existed providing twice- daily return rides to toronto express from highway 7 and the 404 advertising and promo tion has not been the strong point in trent- ways program this change comes from a decrease in rider- ship a change which itself may be brought about by an improvement in the go service as is so often the case better and faster service for those closest to a met ropolitan centre has the unintended effect of ser vice reduction sot those further away in this case north of markham espe cially uxbridge and points between no one thinks that trentway should not make money providing service as don charmichel the manager responsible for the route points out they do not letters have the luxury of finan cial subsidy as does go where there is financial support to achieve public policy transportation objectives in good faith they took over the line run when go backed out of it some years ago and they have provided exemplary ser vice comfortable clean coaches and dependable fast service when the province pri vatizes elements of the go service new service providers could take some lessons from trent- way this service reduction to uxbridge along high ways 47 48 and 7 mat ters not at all to those who prefer to drive pay ing in parking alone in downtown toronto the cost of daily return fare to stouffville but it mat ters to those who cant or dont want to drive direct access to the bloor street subway at castle frank in 45 to 60 minutes and other mid town points is far superi or to union station access to the yonge sub way offered by go shav ing commuting time for anyone working in mid town i hope the regional and municipal governments take note of in this ser vice reduction and that trentway wagar will make some effort to recapture and build rider- ship current users of the service might well be willing to solicit new rid ers if local advertising campaigns are too expen sive we have the incentive to keep the route perhaps given a bit more time and some pro motional materials we could make the route profitable lets not abandon a pre mium service too hastily at the very least all stakeholders should have an opportunity to discuss possible solutions to everyones benefit who is interested in convening a meeting ian hilton stouffville tribune a metroland community newspaper ian proudfoot publisher alvin brouwer general manager brenda larson editorinchief brian kirlik regional editor tracy kibble editor debra weller director of advertising stacey allen classified manager barry goodyear director of distribution margaret fleming business manager vivian o neil office manager pamela nichols operations manager about us news 9056402100 retail sales 9056402100 classifieds 18007433353 distribution 9056402100 9056405477 email thetribistarca 6244 main st stouffville ont l4a1e2- wj tv k v the 5 e pub- lished every tuesdaythursday- and saturday is one of the metroland printing publishing and distribution group of comma nlty newspapers which 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