A newly minted media cop is on the beat in Collingwood.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we spoke with Sgt. Wesley Staddon, 50, media relations officer with the Collingwood/Blue Mountains OPP.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I grew up in West Elgin.
I called Dutton my home.
Q: When did you know you wanted to go into policing?
A: Originally, I wasn’t a police officer.
I went to school for mathematics and physics at the University of Waterloo.
I didn’t finish my degree. This was the early 1990s, and Top Gun was a big thing. I wanted to be a pilot.
I went to Seneca College and got my diploma. I flew for about six years, and then 9/11 happened. I was literally flying on 9/11 -- I was flight instructing with a student and ordered to land and not told why (yet). I was deeply impacted by that and particularly motivated towards law enforcement.
I had to take a second job because a lot of pilots were out of work. An officer with Durham Region had their helicopter in our same hangar. He suggested policing would have a similar skill set.
So I worked toward that. I went to police college. I was 30.
With flying, you need to be a critical thinker, a planner, a decision-maker. It rolled right in.
Q: Where was your first assignment as an officer?
A: At first I was hired with Waterloo Regional Police as a special constable for two years.
I moved over to OPP working out of Paris in Brant County, which is close to Six Nations.
In 2008, I came here.
Q: What brought you up here?
A: I wanted to be here.
I had visited a few times and absolutely fell in love with the place. There’s like an urban, modern feel and ideas and it still has a smaller hometown feel. That’s still here.
I worked for Orillia a few times as an instructor for in-service training at the central region office.
I’ve been back in Collingwood since 2018.
Q: What beats have you done in your time with Collingwood OPP?
A: I was a road sergeant.
There’s lots of work to do. Media and community engagement is a big thing for us. Our detachment commander asked for assistance with that, so here I am, newly minted.
Q: What are some things you like about policing?
A: I love this town. I love the community.
You grow an attachment to it, because you care.
It’s nice to interact with so many different people, and be there during a crisis.
We see some interesting things.
Q: Is there anything you’ve seen in your career as a police officer that’s stuck with you?
A: Yes.
Very early on down in Paris – I was only two months on the job back in 2007.
It was the weekend of Nov. 11, there was a big rescue operation at a farmer’s pond.
A 17-year old kid and his uncle were clearing out some logs at a giant grate, and it let go. It turned into a giant whirlpool and he got stuck. He had hip waders on that got wrapped up.
Because it was November, his body temperature started dropping, and we started to lose him.
It was a community effort – paramedics, firefighters, us – we were all in the water holding him up. At one point, we did CPR because he went into severe hypothermia. There were farmers trying to move the dirt to lower the water level.
It was a medical miracle because we got him out. His core temperature was below human possibility, but he ended up living. It was crazy.
I’m still friends with him today. He’s a great kid.
Even in this town, people will come up to me with stories about how I helped them. It’s nice when people come up. More people like us than people realize sometimes.
Q: Are there any misconceptions out there about policing that you’d like to correct?
A: One of the biggest challenges is the uniform.
We wear a uniform to identify who we are. But, there are individuals in those uniforms.
See me first, then the uniform.
Q: What are your hobbies?
A: Pickleball! That’s big. I love it.
I do a lot, but it depends on the season. In the winter, I’m skiing. In the summer, I’m sailing.
I like learning. I like to pass on what I know.
We’re lucky because there are so many things to do here. I have a fitness regime. Did I mention pickleball?
Q: Is there anything else you’d like people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: See the person first, then the uniform.
What I’d like to see, especially with media, is some speed and consistency with how we talk to the public. With the evolution of social media, AI and influencers, it just muddies the waters and it’s really hard for anyone to navigate.
I’d like to see if we can steady the compass a bit with more regular posting.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we speak with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way, letting them tell their own stories in their own words. This feature runs on CollingwoodToday every weekend. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
