Niagara Regional Police Service
The Niagara Regional Police Service is a regional police service maintained by the Regional Municipality of Niagara in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, the force employed 774 sworn police officers and 326 non-sworn support staff members.
The NRPS was established on January 1, 1971, and was the second police service to serve a regional municipality after the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force. Its headquarters is located in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
History
The Regional Municipality of Niagara was created on January 1, 1970 through the amalgamation of Welland and Lincoln Counties and the re-organization of the 26 villages, towns, townships, and cities into 12 municipalities. As a part of the reorganization, the municipal police commissions were amalgamated into one regional board, and three deputy chiefs from the region's municipal police forces were appointed to oversee the process of creating a regional police force. One year later, on January 1, 1971, the Niagara Regional Police Force took over policing for the regional municipality, with 398 sworn officers and 42 non-sworn support staff. On February 5, 2025, Constable Joseph Arsenault became the longest-serving member in Niagara Regional Police history, completing 52 years, 6 months, and 4 days of service.In 2016, the Service opened a new headquarters in Niagara Falls, the first in the force's history that wasn't located in St. Catharines. The new headquarters was designed to replace both the previous headquarters and the Niagara Falls district station. The St. Catharines district station, which had previously also served as the headquarters for the Service, was replaced in 2021.
Effingham St Incident
On November 29, 2018, Constable Nathan Parker was shot nine times by Detective Sergeant Shane Donovan while the officers investigated a traffic collision in the rural town of Pelham, Ontario. Donovan was leading the collision reconstruction team, while Parker was a district officer assigned to keep the road closed while investigators worked the collision. While Donovan left to refuel his vehicle and pick up food for the investigators, Parker allegedly also left his post without informing any other officers, thus re-opening part of the road. When Donovan confronted him, Parker allegedly became irate, pushing, punching, and then drawing his baton on Det. Sgt. Donovan, to which Donovan responded by attempting to arrest Parker, drawing his firearm in the process. Parker then drew his gun, and Donovan shot Cst. Parker until he fell to the ground. Donovan then radioed for an ambulance, saying "PC Parker attacked me, shots fired" and "he did pull a gun on me, but I shot him." Parker survived the shooting with serious injuries.Immediately after the shooting, the SIU invoked its mandate to investigate the shooting, and the chief of the Niagara Regional Police Service requested the OPP conduct a parallel investigation to "determine if there was any criminal culpability outside of the SIU’s scope."
Parker had a history of misconduct, facing four different disciplinary board hearings, three of which were for violent behaviour. At the time of the shooting, Parker had been docked a cumulative 326 hours of pay for incidents that included excessive force used against prisoners, arresting a cyclist without cause, and opening his investigation into a supervisor who had already been cleared of wrongdoing. His reputation was so poor that one Niagara officer told the Toronto Sun that "nobody feels sorry for ," prompting questions about why Parker had been employed by the force before the shooting.
In March 2019, the SIU charged Det. Sgt. Donovan was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and assault with a weapon. Those charges were dropped by the Crown months later, citing a lack of reasonable prospect of conviction. The OPP, meanwhile, charged Cst. Parker with assaulting a peace officer, assault with intent to resist arrest, and assault with a weapon. The charges against Parker were also dropped after a brief trial after it was revealed that Donovan had inappropriately accessed case evidence — evidence he had from when he had been a defendant on the SIU charges. Donovan was subsequently charged with perjury in 2022.
That same year, Cst. Parker was charged with mischief under $5000 and assault by the Halton Regional Police Service in an unrelated road rage incident that occurred while Parker had been off-duty.
Police chiefs
Line of duty deaths
Since the Service's incorporation in 1971, five Regional Police officers have died in the line of duty.| Name | Date | Cause of death |
| Constable Luciano DeSimone | May 2, 1974 | Automobile accident |
| Constable Stephen Peazel | January 25, 1988 | Pulmonary embolism |
| Constable Jeffrey Paolozzi | February 6, 1993 | Accidental gunfire |
| Constable Daniel Rathonyi | September 15, 2005 | Heart failure |
| Constable Joan VanBreda | May 22, 2020 | Medical complications from the 1986 workplace injury |
Organization
The NRPS provides all general policing duties in the region, including patrol of municipal and regional roads and waterways within the region, including the Welland Canal, the Niagara River, and lakes Erie and Ontario. Patrol of provincial highways in the region, such as the Queen Elizabeth Way, is handled by the Ontario Provincial Police, while patrol services on Niagara Parks Commission property are handled by the Niagara Parks Police Service. However, this police service is mandated to investigate all major crimes in the region, including those that occur on provincial highways or NPC property.Police services board
Like all municipalities in Ontario, the Regional Municipality of Niagara maintains a police services board, responsible for overseeing policing services in the Region. The board approves the police budget, hires the chief and deputy chiefs of police directly, and is the legal employer of every Niagara Regional Police employee. Although the board sets overall service policy and direction, it has no operational control over the service or its officers, and day-to-day policing decisions are the exclusive jurisdiction of the police chief.The Board has 2 full-time employees, an executive director, and an executive assistant, and consists of seven members: the regional chair ; two regional councillors; one member of the public appointed by the regional council; and three members of the public appointed by the province. As of 2023, its members are:
| Name | Position | Appointed by |
| Jen Lawson | Chair | Province |
| David Eke | Vice-chair | Province |
| Tara McKendrick | Member | Province |
| Pat Chiocchio | Councillor | Niagara Regional Council |
| Laura Ip | Councillor | Niagara Regional Council |
| Bill Steele | Councillor | Niagara Regional Council |
| Nyarayi Kapisavanhu | Member | Niagara Regional Council |
Special constabularies
In addition to maintaining the Niagara Regional Police Service, the Board is responsible for approving and overseeing special constabularies that operate in the regional municipality. Currently, there are two special constabularies under the Board's jurisdiction, the Niagara Parks Police Service and the Brock University Campus Safety Services division. The Parks Police Service is unique among special constabularies in Ontario in that its members carry firearms and are trained alongside police officers at the Ontario Police College.Rank structure
Districts
The Niagara Regional Police Service is divided into six districts, numbered 1-3, 5-6, and 8:| Name | Address | Communities served |
| 1 District | 198 Welland Avenue | St. Catharines, Thorold |
| 2 District | 5700 Valley Way | Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake |
| 3 District | 5 Lincoln Street West | Welland, Pelham |
| 5 District | 650 Gilmore Road | Fort Erie |
| 6 District | 501 Fielden Avenue | Port Colborne, Wainfleet |
| 8 District | 45 Clarke Street | Grimsby, Lincoln, West Lincoln |
Headquarters and administrative offices are located at 5700 Valley Way, Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Support services are located on Welland Canals Parkway in St. Catharines.
2 District is also referred to as the Casino District.
Services
Pipes and Drums Band
The Niagara Regional Police Pipe Band is a grade three pipe band based in Niagara Falls.The band's pipe major is Alick Feller.
There was a grade 2 pipe band in existence until the end of the 2009 season, led by Dave Goodall and Graham Kirkwood, however, that group dissolved in the fall of 2009.