The city has seen the number of family physicians drop from a high of 345 in 2005 to 336 in 2008. The drop in doctors has even occurred when the city has enticed a total of 68 new physicians to settle in the area.

The problem says Ancaster councillor Lloyd Ferguson, is Hamilton’s physicians are getting older and are retiring faster than the city can replace them.

“(The numbers) have been very consistent over the years,” said Ferguson, chair of the physician recruitment subcommittee. “At the end of the day we are going backwards.”

It’s the fourth local police chief, out of 34 in the service’s entire history, to be hired from outside. Two came before 1915. The most recent was Robert Middaugh, who came to Hamilton from Halton where he was deputy chief. Middaugh was succeeded by Ken Robertson, who was followed by current chief Brian Mullan – both internal promotions and lifelong Hamilton cops who faced several controversial issues within the service during their terms.

Hamilton Police Service Board chair Bernie Morelli and De Caire were peppered with questions from some Hamilton reporters who wondered why an outside chief was hired over deputy chiefs Eric Girt and Ken Leendertse, and whether a long learning curve and internal discontent may pose problems for an outsider coming in.

“I’m tired of those arguments,” Sewell said. “Most organizations don’t just look at people within the organization. Why police have to be so insular beats me.”

James Sheptycki, a criminology professor at York University, said policing in general has a distinct hierarchy and individual discretion actually increases as you move down the ladder from chief to constable on the street. He suggested the appointment of a chief is more political than operational.

“Remember, the chief is primarily focused outwards at the community,” Sheptycki said. “It is the deputy chief who is more in charge of operations.”

Both Morelli and De Caire stressed the role deputies Girt and Leendertese will play within a new “team” based command.

“We will have a strong command team,” Morelli repeated several times at last week’s press conference. “We believe we have the best team in place.”

For his part, De Caire appeared to acknowledge his role at the top of the organization may be more community-based and political than the operational roles played by his deputies and other senior officers.

“It’s not like we’re going to start anew,” De Caire said, under repeated questioning from reporters wondering how long it will take him to get used to the community, and understand crime in Hamilton.

“I want to lead this organization, but I don’t want to lead it alone.”

He said frontline officers on the street are the “backbone” of the police service. De Caire said he plans on being visible in the

community, and will hold town hall meetings to get to know Hamilton. He said he wants to establish relationships with local institutions that provide services to the community, because not all issues are policing problems.

“We’re going to take time to identify areas that need improvement,” De Caire said. “It will be a transparent command.”

De Caire, 47, is a 29-year veteran of the Toronto Police Service. In Toronto, he manages the operation of nine police stations, oversees 2,000 officers and has a $205-million budget.

As Hamilton’s chief of police, De Caire will manage 787 officers, five police stations and a total budget of about $121-million.