After 25 years with the OPP, East Region Media Relations Coordinator Bill Dickson is getting ready to retire.
Dickson got into media relations with the OPP after having worked in radio and television broadcasting for most of his life since he was a teenager growing up in Nova Scotia.
He worked in communications for some time before seeing a posting for an OPP media relations position.
Dickson is not a uniform member of the OPP, and for a few years, he served as the first civilian manager in recent memory for province-wide OPP media relations.
Dickson said he’s enjoyed bringing his radio and public speaking background into the position.
When he was first starting out, Dickson said social media was still in its infancy stage. Since then, it has become a valuable tool for informing the public.
“When we talk about public safety and when we talk about situations in which there is a risk to that public safety, there is very few quicker opportunities to get the message out to members of the public, than through social media,” he said.
Dickson said through his career with the OPP, he has seen all kinds of situations unfold, from deaths in the line of duty to finding a missing person against all odds.
He said he is ready to take some time to decompress, before leaving the door open for new opportunities to come his way.
