Vaughan – Ontario
October 28, 2021
Paramount EventSpace

Anthony Odoardi, Deputy Chief, Peel Regional Police, began his career in 1995 with the Halton Regional Police (HRP) where he worked in all aspects of Operations and Administration.  At the rank of Superintendent with HRP, Anthony led a number of strategic and innovative police initiatives, including the Public Safety Broadband Network (PSBN).  Anthony also provided oversight for special projects including enhancing police response and services for sexual assault survivors and implementation of electronic notes integration for front line officers.  In 2015, Anthony served as a Security Commander for the Pan AM Games and currently sits on the Board of Directors for RADIUS Child and Youth Services.

In June 2020, Anthony was hired as Deputy Chief with Peel Regional Police, Commanding Officer of Innovation and Technology directly affecting over 3000 PRP members.  Anthony hit the ground running initiating PRP’s Digital Officer Transformation Program with a vision of becoming one of North America’s most progressive and innovative police services.  Anthony implemented PRP’s first ever I.T. Strategic Roadmap with the Public Safety Broadband Network as a core foundational element of the strategy and also serves as the Managing Director of the PSBN Innovation Alliance (PIA).  The PIA aims to provide advocacy and governance structure for a reliable, cost effective and cyber-secure data communication network to all first responders and critical infrastructure partners in Ontario and across Canada. More recently, Deputy Chief Odoardi was named as Chair of the Ontario Association Chiefs of Police (OACP) Interagency Advisory Panel (IAP) for NG-911 implementation recommendations to the Ontario Government.  Deputy Chief Odoardi current serves as the Executive Sponsor of the PRP / OHRC Human Rights project aimed at identifying and eliminating system discrimination in policing.

Chief Nishan Duraiappah was born in Sri Lanka, and immigrated to Canada. Chief Duraiappah began his career with Halton Police in December 1995. He served in a variety of assignments throughout his career including front line policing, specialized investigations and Diversity and Community relations. He was promoted to Deputy Chief of Halton Police in 2015 leading front line policing, community mobilization as well as innovation and technology.

In October 2019, Chief Duraiappah was appointed Chief of Peel Regional Police. Chief Duraiappah arrived with a mandate for change and the strategic goal of becoming the most progressive police service in Canada. Amidst the first year of his command, Peel Regional Police championed:

• The creation of its first-ever community-embedded Intimate and Partner Violence Unit to respond to the growing needs in our Region.

• A re-emphasis on front line policing.

• A road map for Innovation and Technology, as well as a Digital Officer Transformation plan to better equip officers to serve the community.

• The adoption of the Community Safety and Well-Being (CSWB) framework and establishment of a CSWB Bureau to modernize traditional community policing.

Chief Duraiappah is committed to the safety and well-being of the community he serves, with one of the primary focuses being mental health and seeking multi-sectoral collaborative partnerships to reduce risk in the community.

Chief Duraiappah is heavily involved in the community. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Criminology from the University of Toronto, and a Diploma of Public Administration from the University of Western Ontario. Chief Duraiappah serves as Vice President of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Board of Directors. He is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), and is a Member of the Order of Merit Canada (2016).

Michael Akpata joined Mutualink on April 26th 2021 as the Applied Solutions Manager for Canada. Prior to joining Mutualink Mike was the North American Lead for Policing and Public Safety for BlackBerry AtHoc. Mike worked for IBM Canada as the Team Lead Public Safety, Investigations & Counter-Fraud and the SME for Canadian Law Enforcement.

Mike served for 21years with the Windsor Police Service in Windsor, Ontario. Then Senior Constable Akpata was assigned to the Investigations Branch where he served as both an Arson and Fraud Investigator. Mike has had a diverse career with the Windsor Police Service that has seen him assigned to Drugs and Gangs, Break and enter, Training Branch, and uniform patrol. For four years he was the Ontario Police Memorial Sergeant Major and was the Windsor Police Honour Guard Sergeant Major from 1998 to 2015.

As a Windsor Police Officer Mike has been recognized and received several awards including the Queens’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Neal Jessop award for excellence, and the Senior Constable John Atkinson Memorial Award. In 2015 he was recognized by the Coordinated Community Response Coalition of Wayne and Oakland County Michigan and was named the Advocate of the Year for Older Adults.

Mike retired from the Canadian Armed Forces Primary Reserve with 26 years of service. As an infantry reservist he served in Afghanistan with 2nd Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment where he received both the Taskforce Commander’s Commendation, and the Area Commander’s Commendation.

In 2014 Mike ran and was elected to the position of Councillor for the Town of LaSalle where he resides with his wife Sheri and his two children, Reece and Regan. He was subsequently re-elected to his second term of council in October of 2018.

Mike is active in volunteering with the LaSalle Sabres minor hockey club, and coaches one of his children’s hockey teams. He is the Prevention Services Coordinator for two junior hockey clubs, The LaSalle Vipers, and the Lakeshore Canadiens. He was the Military Liaison on the Windsor Host Committee for the 2017 MasterCard Memorial Cup, and subsequently joined the Canadian Hockey League Memorial Cup 2018 Committee. He recently joined the executive committee of his regiment the Essex and Kent Scottish Regimental Association. Mike remains active with the Royal Canadian Legion, and Veteran activities and causes.

Peter Collins has been the forensic psychiatrist with the Ontario Provincial Police, since 1995. From 1990 to 1995 he was a member of the first profiling unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Violent Crime Analysis Section) and was involved in the development of the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System (ViCLAS). Since 1992 he has been a member of the crisis/hostage negotiation team of the Toronto Police Service Emergency Task Force.

Peter obtained his Masters in Applied Criminology from the University of Ottawa, his Medical Degree from McMaster University and completed his postgraduate medical training in psychiatry and forensic psychiatry at the University of Toronto. His clinical appointment is with the Complex Illness and Recovery Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and he is an Associate Professor, in the Division of Forensic Psychiatry, at the University of Toronto. He is a consulting editor with the Journal of Threat Assessment and Management, published by the American Psychological Association, and a columnist with Blue Line Magazine.

He retired from the Canadian Armed Forces (Reserves), at the rank of Lieutenant-Commander, and served on 2 deployments in Southern Afghanistan.  In October 2012 he was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his contribution to the Canadian Forces. Peter is an advisor to the newly formed TPS-OPP Outreach Program for Homeless Military Veterans.

In 1997 Peter was elected a member of the International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship. In 2017 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Canadian Critical Incident Association. Peter is an authority on violent crime and has worked with, and instructed, numerous criminal justice agencies in North America, and 23 countries internationally, including the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Interpol, and Europol.