As she delivered what is expected to be her final annual report before retiring later this year, Smiths Falls Police Chief Jodi Empey focused less on statistics and more on the people behind them.
Speaking to council’s committee of the whole June 22, Empey said much of what police officers and civilian staff do every day happens out of public view.
“If you really saw what goes on in our community and saw what these men and women are doing, especially our civilian staff, having to talk people down from harming themselves until police get there or help get there … we seem to be everything to everybody,” she said.
Her remarks accompanied the release of the Smiths Falls Police Service’s 2025 annual report, which showed 7,746 calls for service, including 1,105 emergency 911 calls, more than 1,000 traffic stops and a 25 per cent increase in intimate partner violence investigations.
To illustrate the human side of policing, Empey shared several recent examples.
In one case, a dispatcher spotted a person in crisis outside the police station and alerted officers, helping save the person’s life.
In another, she recalled arriving at a call involving an elderly resident who had fallen in her bathtub.
“When I came in, there was Constable (Andrew) Simmons on his knees with a blanket over this poor woman that had probably been there for a while. She was still barely alive and just reassuring her,” Empey said. “It’s just, like …” she tapped her chest, “right there in my heart.”
The chief said those moments often go unnoticed by the public.
“I think that sometimes these officers get a bad rap publicly,” she said.
Several councillors echoed her comments.
Coun. Dawn Quinn shared a personal experience involving Const. Karling Fraser following an attempted theft of her husband’s truck.
“She was fantastic,” Quinn said. “How she sat in the kitchen, how she just kept us calm and explain things to us, and it was wonderful to have somebody there … calm like that, because we were sort of like, what’s happening.”
Coun. Jennifer Miller thanked Empey for her leadership as Smiths Falls’ first female chief and expressed concern about the continued underrepresentation of women in policing.
“I’m really glad that you are our first female chief,” Miller said, but, “we have work to do.”
Miller also praised the Youth in Policing Initiative and encouraged young women to consider policing careers.
Empey shared the importance of diversity while also challenging stereotypes about police officers.
“The men that I work with are the most compassionate men that I would ever have the pleasure of working with in my life,” she said.
She pointed to the care shown by officers during medical emergencies, mental health calls and interactions with vulnerable residents, saying those moments often happen far from public view.
Mayor Shawn Pankow, who is also on the police services board, credited investments in staffing and recruitment for strengthening the service in recent years.
“We wanted to be the employer of choice,” Pankow said. “We wanted to make sure you could hire the best possible personnel to serve our community.”
The annual report notes the service maintained a complement of 32 uniform officers and finished the year approximately $345,952 under budget on a total budget of $6.8 million, largely due to successful grant funding.
Asked by the mayor if she had any final advice, Empey reflected on lessons learned during her policing career.
“Look after yourself first, because no one’s going to do it for you,” she said. “It’s OK to get help, OK to ask for help.”
Empey said the annual report will be posted online and paper copies will be available upon request.
Council reviews OPP costing process
Later in the meeting, council received an information report outlining the steps required should a future council wish to pursue an Ontario Provincial Police costing review.
Coun. Peter McKenna said the issue regularly arises during budget consultations and is likely to surface during the 2026 municipal election campaign.
“It’s come up at every budget consultation process survey from the public,” McKenna said. “What I really didn’t want to see was uninformed people either running or talking throughout the campaign about what should be done and how it could be done.”
The report outlines a multi-step process that would begin with a council resolution requesting a review. Any request would then require approval from the Ministry of the Solicitor General before an OPP policing resource plan could be prepared. Staff noted that stage alone can take up to a year.
McKenna emphasized the report was intended to provide factual information and does not commit the municipality to pursuing an OPP contract.
“We try to take the rhetoric and emotion and the misinformation out of this discussion and put the facts in,” he said.
Coun. Jay Brennan encouraged residents to fully understand both costs and service implications before taking a position.
“It’s a different model than that you would get with OPP,” Brennan said. “It (town policing) is far superior. Is it expensive? Yes, it is. Is it worth every penny? Absolutely.”
Council received the report for information.
Keep connected to your community—Read the latest Smiths Falls news.
