In a unanimous decision Jeff DeRuyter has been named Guelph’s acting chief of police. He will start the position on August 31 when current Chief Bryan Larkin leaves. DeRuyter is currently the deputy chief.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity,” DeRuyter said.
“Chief Larkin was a tremendous police leader and community leader and he leaves some very large shoes behind.”
DeRuyter has been with the Guelph police department since 1984.
The Guelph Police Services Board says there is not a definite timeline to permanently replace the police chief.
“We have a very strong leadership team here, and management team. We have a lot of processes in place already and acting Chief DeRuyter has been involved in all of these. We have excellent people at the inspector level, so we are not in a panic to move forward. We're feeling very solid and very sure of ourselves,” explained Judy Sorbara, chair of the board.
In Waterloo Region the acting Chief was not allowed to apply for the permanent position, but that isn’t the case in Guelph.
“Acting Chief DeRuyter would have the opportunity if he was interested in applying for that position,” said Sorbara.
