myFM has learned policing services at the Volkswagen EV battery plant scheduled to begin production in 2027 will be provided by an OPP tactical unit.
The decision was made at a meeting in Toronto attended by St. Thomas Mayor and police board vice-chairman Joe Preston, former St. Thomas Police Chief Chris Herridge and current Police Chief Marc Roskamp.
It is not known what input, if any, the latter two had at the table.
Although initially hesitant to confirm, Preston stressed the request came from the German auto manufacturer.
Volkswagen is asking for the OPP unit to be housed in a new OPP facility located no further than 2.5 kilometres from the gigafactory.
With an OPP tactical unit already located in London, it doesn’t make sense to have such a unit embedded with city police, advises Preston.
Roskamp tells myFM his service has a good working relationship with the OPP and their tactical unit was called in to the city in January for the targetted shooting on Palm Street.
myFM asked Preston whether he felt the security risk would be considered high at the factory when it begins production.
Preston added when St. Thomas assumed responsibility for the 1,500-acre site earlier this year, “our police and fire took over jurisdiction at that point and are still having it.”
According to Preston, the city’s Number 2 station on Burwell Road lies within a 2.5 km radius of the gigafactory and so St. Thomas firefighters would answer any call for service.
Speaking with St. Thomas Fire Chief Dave Gregory in April he advised, “As far as resources and stuff go, I’m unsure at this time because I haven’t seen a footprint or layout of any sort. But, it’s what we do. We have Magna, we have Presstran.
“All the equipment we have, the manpower and the training we do, we’re prepared for anything they will bring to us.”
Preston added their are literally hundreds of details that have yet to be worked out with Volkswagen and the province. That includes location of the new police station, staffing of the facility and whether the tactical unit would be able to provide service elsewhere in the region or be limited to the Volkswagen site.
This also includes road infrastructure projects like the extension of the Hwy. 3 bypass east from Centennial Ave to Yarmouth Centre Road and the Hwy. 3 bypass north of Talbotville.
