Hagarty takes on new role with Kawartha Lakes Police Service

Sgt. Deb Hagarty is the new public face of Kawartha Lakes Police Service. She has taken over media relations and other duties from Sgt. Dave Murtha, who moves on to being a uniform patrol officer in charge of “A” platoon.

Hagarty is in her 15th year with the service. Her major responsibilities in her new role as administrative sergeant involve working with the media and the public through the Community Response Unit (CRU). It’s her job to share up-to-date information with the public in a timely manner, including on the police service’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds as well as its website.

As part of the CRU, Hagarty spends two days a week doing community outreach with a mental health nurse from Ross Memorial Hospital. The CRU follows up with people in the community who have encountered police for mental health-related incidents.

Hagarty says each week she is also out in the community, visiting people while accompanied by a counsellor from FourCAST, an agency that provides assistance for people struggling with addictions and homelessness.

During her time with KLPS Hagarty has served as a uniform patrol officer, an investigator with the Institutional Investigation Unit and Criminal Investigation Branch and was the domestic violence coordinator. She was promoted to sergeant in 2019.