Wingham Police Chief Tim Poole had nothing but good things to say about his officers at the North Huron Police Services Board meeting, Feb. 18.
He said he had every officer working on the investigation of the Feb. 12 murder of Wingham resident Scott Hayes.
“Every one of our officers were available and on scene within an hour,” Poole said. “Everybody jumped on board,”
He said he called upon Const. Kevin McAdam, who is on leave, and even received phone calls from Const. Darren Doucet who is in Vancouver working security for the Olympics.
“They did an excellent job,” he said.
The chief did call in the Ontario Provincial Police to take the reins of the investigation, however, the town’s police service helped canvass the area, while still having to do regular patrol.
He said that decision was met with some questions on why the service handed over the investigation, and the answer comes down to manpower.
“If you look at the qualifications, we could do it, we just don’t have the numbers to make it happen,” Poole said.
There’s only one officer that doesn’t have crime scene investigation training, he said, so the service was more than qualified, but “then you don’t have any policing being done.”
He had kind words for the West Grey service and the Hanover police, who volunteered officers on the Saturday following the crime, also for the OPP, which has a unit of 15 working the investigation.
But the Wingham service isn’t totally out of the loop. Sgt. Murray Foxton was signed on to the OPP to help with the ongoing investigation.
Two suspects remain in custody awaiting a bail hearing after being charged with second degree murder.