KAWARTHA LAKES-“There cannot be two Chiefs,” said Mark Mitchell as he handed over the reins of Kawartha Lakes Police Service to Chief Designate Kirk Robertson.
Mitchell announced his intention to retire back in October 2022. The ceremonial change in command will not take place until August but as of Thursday Robertson has command and control of the police service.
Then Inspector Mitchell took over from Chief John Hagarty in 2018. It was the first time in approximately 60 years a new chief had been hired from within the ranks. Mitchell began his career in policing in Peel in 1988 and joined KLPS in 1990. Â In 2009 he took a leave of absence to serve in Afghanistan with the RCMP International Peace Operations Branch helping to train Afghan soldiers. He is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamon Jubilee Medal, the Police Exemplary Service Medal and the South-West Asia Service Medal.
“I am very pleased to be able to turn the position of Chief over to Kirk,” Mitchell told the police services board on Thursday. “Thank you very sincerely, it’s been an absolute pleasure and an honour to be part of this organization for the past 30-some years and today will be somewhat bittersweet for me.”
Board Chair Wanda Perceival thanks Mitchell for his 38 years of service.
“We sincerely appreciate your leadership and support and when I came on this board a few years ago I was thinking I really don’t know a lot about policing and you have always been there to answer questions from each one of us so I know that I can speak on behalf of everyone that we have really appreciated what you’ve done for us as a board and also we’ve appreciated your leadership within the service. You’ve mentored an excellent senior team and they too have been supportive of us and you have been outstanding in the community.”
With that, Robertson became Chief and thanked the board for its confidence in him.
“I’m very excited to be here and I want to just take the opportunity to thank the board for putting your faith in me to take over from Chief Mitchell,” said Robertson. “There’s a lot of knowledge that’s leaving this room after today but I feel over the last five years that I’ve had the opportunity to be part of the senior team and learn from everyone here and I’ve taken from that to be prepared for the next step.”
Perceival said there had been a lot of interest in the position and they interviewed a number of candidates.
“We spent a lot of time interviewing and you certainly presented so well and so knowledgable and we look forward to working with you as chief.”
Robertson was born and raised in Lindsay and has been a member of the Kawartha Lakes Police Service for 22 years with a total of 27 years of policing.
Congratulations to both!
