New Chief In Town

Thursday, 20 November 2014 05:23

William Renton sworn in as new Chief of Police for Woodstock at a Change of Command Ceremony Wednesday.

WOODSTOCK - The torch has officially been passed to new Woodstock Chief of Police William Renton.

Renton has spent the past 34 years of his career serving on the Haldimand-Norfolk Regional Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police, and RCMP, most recently joining the Woodstock Police force as Inspector of Operations in 2010.

Renton was sworn in as Chief of Police on Wednesday in front of family, friends and colleagues at the Quality Hotel and Suites in Woodstock. "Feels great, it feels awesome, I feel incredibly honoured and privileged to have the opportunity to serve such a great city and such a police force," said an excited Renton.

Renton is taking over the Chief of Police position from retiring Chief Rodney Freeman.

Freeman was the longest serving active police chief, his career having spanned over three decades, nearly 37 years of service. The Change of Command ceremony gave a send-off to Freeman including a number of tributes ranging from the City giving Freeman the Key to the City and a letter from Prime Minister Stephen Harper thanking him for his service. Many references were made to Freeman's love of Harley Davidson motorcycles.

"I don't think you'll see a big difference in the approach to our policing and our service delivery," said incoming Chief of Woodstock Police Bill Renton adds residents can expect similar leadership when he takes the helm. "Rod and I are of the same vintage we've grown up through the community based policing era and I think you're going to see pretty well the same consistency in our programs."

Renton was one of only 35 officers across Canada in 2012 to have received the Order of Merit, the highest honour bestowed to serving police officers in Canada. Outgoing Chief of Police Rod Freeman had nominated Renton for the award. The Governor General of Canada presented Renton with the award at a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

It was another moment in Renton's career that really struck a cord with the new police chief, "probably the biggest being the finality of the Tori Stafford investigation that was a long tedious investigation that involved a lot of officers such a tragic, tragic event and to be able to bring closure for the Stafford and McDonald family in a successful manner, as successful as you can be is probably going to be the highlight."

"Over my career, 34 years I've had the opportunity I started in the old Haldimand-Norfolk Regional Police, I did a stint the RCMP, I got amalgamated into the OPP into the crime program worked in the homicide section for a number of years and had the opportunity to do some major cases and meet some really great people."

The new chief says he has some plans for the Woodstock Police station next year. "We have some exciting things on the go were looking hopefully next year to do an addition to our police station."