Scott Tod admits he is a Detroit Red Wings fan, but he says he could not help himself from rooting for the St. Louis Blues this playoff run.
Tod saw some parallels between himself and veteran player Chris Thorburn of the Blues. Thorburn played his junior hockey with the Centennials and became one of the first players to hoist the Cup Wednesday as the Blues captured their first Stanley Cup Championship in franchise history.
“I feel much like Chris did being the old man on the team and being the chief I feel like I have won the Stanley Cup in policing,” admitted Tod.
See related: The last Centennial hoists the Cup
Chief Tod, and new Deputy Chief Mike Daze were officially sworn in at a ceremony this morning at the Grande Event Centre in downtown North Bay.
Tod says he feels much like Thorburn; a veteran leader, who will work at keeping the team together.
“I think that is part of any responsibility of a leader to develop your people, make sure your people are properly trained, properly equipped with resources so they can be successful,” said Tod.
“The leader is never successful alone, the leader is only successful with the team that he has and that is what Chris Thorburn found out last night.”
And as a good leader is supposed to, Tod recognizes there needs to be more support internally for his team.
“If our employees are not healthy they cannot deliver the services to the community that we should deliver,” noted Tod.
“We have learned recently about post-traumatic stress disease and occupational stress injury and how many significant traumatic events that police officers experience in their careers. We need to address that by having better peer support programs internally and better psychological services for our members so they can be healthy and happy at work.”
Tod says he wants the North Bay Police Service to have the reputation as being one of the finest police services in the country. He also hopes to use technology to create more effective patrol strategies along with services to the public that he says will be modern and efficient.
For Mike Daze, he is still getting to know the community. The new deputy chief likes what he has seen so far.
“I think it is a big learning curve trying to figure out what is working, and there will be no changes until we figure out where we stand,” he said.
“The organization has a great reputation and some terrific leaders so it is in great shape and I look forward to being a part of that. What I have picked up really quickly is the sense of community. It is a very welcoming community, the members are very welcoming within the police service, and their engagement with the community, I have been really impressed with."
Meantime, outgoing Chief Shawn Devine reflected on his long career with the North Bay Police Service. He believes Tod and Daze are going in the right direction with the Service.
"The number one thing we have in this organization is our people and that is what we should be focusing in on," said Devine
"I hope Scott can see some of the changes we started three years ago, or that may be the next leader, but I feel very strong in the new leadership and we have some very smart and educated young people that are coming up that I can see in a command staff position in five to six years."
