Adedokun Waliyu 
The City of Ottawa is recruiting for a citizen volunteer on the Ottawa Police Services Board after the abrupt resignation of its chair.
The police oversight board is made up of city councillors, provincial appointees and citizens appointed by Ottawa city council.
Council members and citizens are appointed for the duration of council’s term, the police board’s website says, while provincial appointees serve three-year terms. The board appoints its chairperson at the first meeting of each year.
For citizen appointees, the posting issued Friday says, the volunteer position “is an opportunity for a qualified resident to provide governance and oversight to the Ottawa Police Service.”
The city will accept applications until Friday, Jan. 19, at 4:30 p.m. Applicants must live in Ottawa, be at least 18 years of age, and not be employed by the city.
Dr. Gail Beck’s resignation as chair of the police services board was announced Dec. 14 after her adult son was arrested in what the police chief called one of the largest drug busts in Ottawa history, with police seizing 40 kilograms of cocaine and four kilograms of crack with an estimated wholesale value of $1.5 million, or $4.5 million on the street.
Timon Beck, 37, was charged with participating in a criminal organization and conspiracy to traffic cocaine and crack.
Vice-chair Salim Fakirani has assumed the role of acting chair of the police services board.
The police board provides governance and oversight to the city’s police force, but has been wracked by turmoil.
City council voted to remove previous chair Diane Deans from the board after she hired Matt Torigian, former chief of the Waterloo Regional Police Service, as interim chief of the Ottawa Police Service without a job competition following Peter Sloly’s resignation during the 2022 convoy protest. Three other city councillors then resigned from the board in protest.
Vacancies were filled and former board chair Eli El-Chantiry was appointed interim chair, serving until his term as councillor ended last fall.
Dr. Gail Beck, appointed Ottawa Police Services Board chair in April, resigned from the position on Thursday.
