OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino will be hanging up his police hat this weekend, making room for Ontario's new top cop, Chris Lewis.
Lewis officially takes over the job on Aug. 1, after serving the Ontario Provincial Police as deputy commissioner of field operations since 2007.
In this role, Lewis made a name for himself by overseeing the creation of the organization's aboriginal policing bureau. He has helped manage the ongoing conflict between Native protesters and non-Native residents living in Caledonia.
He was also responsible for planning the police response to the Aboriginal National Day of Action for three years in a row.
The 57-year-old first joined the police in 1978 from his Sault Ste. Marie hometown and since then has filled a variety of positions. Most notably, he was the director of criminal intelligence service Ontario and was seconded to the RCMP from 1993 to 1994.
The OPP is one of North America's largest police services. The organization includes:
- 5,900 uniformed officers
- 1,800 civilian employees
- 850 auxiliary members
The OPP oversees 922,752 square kilometres of land and 110,398 square kilometres of waterways.
