Monday, August 14, 2006

Cam's Hoping for Hope

Sgt. Cam Wooley is the 'star' of the OPP, in my opinion.

One of the highlights of any long weekend in Ontario is listening to his animated reports about crazy drivers on the 400 series highways who push the limits in terms of speed and vehicles in various states of disrepair. He also compiles lists of excuses from motorists that could be humorous if the situation wasn't so dangerous.

I recently saw an interesting piece about his hobby/sideline. He repairs and restores old police vehicles, etc. for spots in films. His cars have to audition just like movie stars. He has had several successful entries.

All this serves as a backdrop for today's Toronto Sun article, "Who Will Lead the OPP?".
(H/T to Nealenews).

Cam, who is also head of the OPP union in the GTA, weighs in with his opinion about the possible candidates to replace outgoing OPP Commissioner Gwen Boniface. He seems to be favouring deputy commissioner Jay Hope:



In recent years, he has focused on recruiting women, First Nations people and minorities. The former GTA regional OPP commander and Canada's top-ranking black police officer "knows who his boss is -- the citizens," Woolley said. "He's a classy guy.

"He'd never give an order he wouldn't follow himself, and he's so in tune with officers in the community," he said, adding unlike most municipal chiefs, the OPP commissioner meets regularly with the police union.



Well, all I can say is, if he's good enough for Cam, he's good enough for me. Best wishes, Jay Hope.

6 comments:

Joan Tintor said...

I like Jay Hope too, but certainly not because of Camera Woolley's endorsement!

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Ha-ha! Joan, of course that was tongue-in-cheek, but I do like that Cam!

I'm not too familiar with Jay Hope, but looking forward to learning more about him.

OMMAG said...

Jay Hope - OPP Chief Superintendent & Graduate of UTSC....from the UTSC site.

"Jay Hope, OPP Chief Superintendent is the highest-ranking black police officer in Canada. Graduating from UTSC in 1979 with a BA in psychology and criminology, Hope is the head of the Ontario Provincial PoliceƂs (OPP) human resources bureau. During his more than 22 years with the OPP, Hope has taken an active role in operational policing, focusing on the recruitment of women, First Nations people and visible minorities. In the 1990s, he served as a senior investigator for the Ontario Human Rights Commission. In 2001, he was awarded the African-Canadian Achievement Award and the Amethyst Award, the highest award to civil servants"

Not one word on his performance in the line of duty.
It would be interesting to see if he really is the "Leader" he is being made out to be.

I would speculate that based on this information he is more of a career bureaucrat with leanings toward putting political correctness ahead of real issues. But that's just my opinion.

OMMAG

Joanne (True Blue) said...

PGP - Yeah, I heard about those concerns as well.

Mmm... I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Looks like Dalton has the final word on this (as always).

Really, though. Who would want that job?

Anonymous said...

I don't remember for sure but wasn't he involved when there was a big protest at Queen's Park by unions protesting against Mike Harris? Some union "leader" said that excessive force was used. If true and it was Hope then a bad word from a union leader means that he did a good job.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

x2para - Can you find some reference for that? I may have to change my opinion of Sgt. Cam. *sniff*