3 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,O ctober 10,2019 insidehalton.com delmanor.com This special lecture is free, but please RSVP as space is limited. (905) 469-3232 1459 Nottinghill Gate, Oakville The Science of Happiness It turns out happiness is not a whim of fate. You have control over the level of contentment in your own life. Hear about the six core elements for creating a life of fulfillment, happiness and meaning when psychologist and renowned speaker Brenda Jasmin visits Delmanor to speak on the "Science of Happiness." You will learn three easy-to-use, research-based strategies for boosting your own happiness and well-being. Thursday, October 24th, at 2:30 p.m. Brenda Jasmin Halton Police Chief Ste- phen Tanner says a provin- cial decision to decommis- sion police liaison officers (PLOs) at large prisons across Ontario, will have a significant impact on the Halton taxpayer. The chief noted during a meeting of the Halton Police Board on Oct. 3 that Halton police currently have three PLOs who work full time at Maplehurst Correctional Complex and the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton. These officers, Tanner noted, carry out criminal in- vestigations inside the pris- on, for which Halton police receive funding from the province. This year that funding amounted to $400,000. "There is so much work to do inside that correctional facility. The correctional of-facility. The correctional of-f ficers cannot do criminal in-ficers cannot do criminal in-f vestigations. They cannot do drug charges," said Tanner. "We're there to deal with the hundreds of assaults, the drug investigations and our officers also play a role every time there is a situation where a provincial correc- tional officer lays his hands on an inmate." Tanner said he was re- cently contacted by the Min- istry of the Solicitor General, who informed him that effec- tive Dec. 31, 2019 any agree- ment between the ministry and Halton police for polic- ing service in correctional institutions is terminated. "Moving forward, correc- tional services will leverage its own intelligence resourc- es, including filed intelli- gence officers and institu- tional security teams to gather intelligence within facilities to identify potentialfacilities to identify potentialf threats, prevent drug traf- ficking, and detect contra-ficking, and detect contra-f band items," wrote Assistant Deputy Minister Christina Danylchenko in a letter to Tanner, which was provided to insidehalton. "The government is com- mitted to working with our policing partners to ensure that criminal matters in our correctional facilities are identified and appropriately investigated." Tanner noted correction- al services has always done its own intelligence work and emphasized that is not what his officers do there. While Halton police will no longer have a presence in Maplehurst they will still be required to return to the prison every time a criminal investigation needs to be car- ried out. Tanner says this will cre- ate efficiency and budget is- sues since Halton police will no longer receive provincial funding for this work.funding for this work.f "This may add 20 to 25 minutes to every assault in- vestigation there. Every offi- cer from Milton who goes to Maplehurst will have to go through security and all those processes," said Tan- ner. "Frankly it's a total mess. It's one of the worst decisions I have ever seen from an op- POLICE CHIEF SAYS PROVINCE'S DECISION WILL COST TAXPAYERS Maplehurst Correctional Complex, which includes the Vanier Centre for Women. Graham Paine/Torstar DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com NEWS THE ISSUE: THE PROVINCE IS DECOMMISSIONING POLICE LIAISON OFFICERS INSIDE LARGE ONTARIO PRISONS INCLUDING MILTON'S MAPLEHURST CORRECTIONAL COMPLEX LOCAL IMPACT: HALTON POLICE CHIEF SAYS HALTON TAXPAYERS WILL NOW HAVE TO PAY FOR POLICE INVESTIGATIONS See HALTON, page 4