ONTARIO ASSOCIATION OF POLICE SERVICES BOARDS
History of the OAPSB

The Ontario Association of Police Services Boards was established in 1962, and until the mid 1980's, was essentially volunteer driven. A full time office was established in 1985 - at that time, membership dues were increased in order to support an administrative office. From the late 1980's through the mid 1990's, the OAPSB was supported through membership from almost every Police Services Board in Ontario. Since the late 1980's, the number of Section 31 Police Services Boards in Ontario has continued to decline due to amalgamation and the abolition of municipal police services in favor of contracts with the Ontario Provincial Police. In the early 1990's, the Province of Ontario provided funding on an annual basis to allow OAPSB to employ a full time training manager who developed and delivered training to Boards on a province-wide basis - the province discontinued this funding in 1996. These events had a considerable impact on the OAPSB annual budget, as membership dropped from 124 Boards in 1987 to 80 Boards in 1999. Toward the end of the 90's the OAPSB ran several years of deficit budgets.

Provincial Board Composite
In 2003 there are 90 Section 10 Boards, 67 Section 31 Boards and 7 First Nations Boards operating across the province. In 2001, OAPSB membership was at 114 Boards.

Large Police Service Boards: From the early days, the large Police Services Boards in Ontario, who refer to themselves as the "Big 12", were all members of the OAPSB. Throughout the 90's, four members of Big 12 Boards served as President of the OAPSB.
The Big 12 PSB section of the OAPSB is actively supporting a number of key Association initiatives.

Contract Police Services Boards
As a result of legislative change, there are 90 relatively new Police Services Boards who govern police services contracted with the Ontario Provincial Police. This relatively new sector and its needs are now considered one of the primary areas of development for the Association including offering training, support and a collective voice to government and OPP senior management on matters of common interest and concern.

Future Direction
The OAPSB Board of Directors recently completed a review of its 2001 Strategic Plan. It has been updated to reflect the Association's renewed emphasis on supporting PSBs in the areas of government relations, labour relations and collective bargaining, chief selection and performance evaluation, policy development, communications, training, and conferences.

The OAPSB's 2003 Strategic Plan is on the web.