Today’s Northumberland caught up with Cobourg Police Chief-Designate Chris Leather on Thursday, May 21, 2026.
The Cobourg Police Services Board announced that Leather was selected as the new Police Chief of the Municipality of Cobourg.
Leather has more than 36 years of police experience, including 21 years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and 15 years with York Regional Police.
Most recently, Chief-Designate Leather served as Chief Superintendent and Criminal Operations Officer for the RCMP’s Central Region (Ontario), where he provided executive leadership for major criminal investigations and federal policing operations relating to organized crime, national security, cybercrime, financial crime, sensitive and international investigations, and border integrity. In this role, he oversaw significant operational responsibilities while leading integrated policing partnerships across Ontario.
Standing at 6’8″ it was hard not to notice Leather standing alongside Cobourg Police Services Board Chair Adam Bureau shortly after 2 p.m. on the corner of Second Street and King Street.
Leather had spent a busy day in Cobourg meeting a number of people, but graciously took a few minutes to introduce himself to Today’s Northumberland and the community of Cobourg.
Leather said he is very familiar with Cobourg with having family in town and his sons going to camp when they were younger.
“We love Cobourg. We’re excited and looking forward to being back.”
After 36-years of policing, then retiring for approximately six weeks, he said being familiar with Cobourg and having the opportunity come up was a perfect fit.
“I just felt I wasn’t ready and then this opportunity came up – I described it to the Board members as being fortuitous because it is literally the only police service that I wanted to work for.”
Leather said he’s grateful for being selected and is, “really excited about coming” saying he and his wife will be moving to Cobourg.
“We have a house to sell of course. Our plan is to move into town. I want to be a part of the community here close to the citizens of Cobourg. Be involved in the activities that the service are involved in. It just makes sense for us to be in Cobourg.”
Leather said after taking a tour of the Cobourg Police Service building at the corner of King Street West and Hibernia Street, staff were very welcoming.
“One of the first things I’m going to be doing, as any incoming Chief should is meeting with various department heads and supervisors to learn about what the priorities and issues are currently for the police service.”
Meeting area Police Chiefs and government officials is also something Leather is looking forward too.
Without going into detail, Leather said he also has a list of things he’d like to accomplish.
Being with the RCMP for two decades and with York Regional Police for 15-years, in Ontario at least they are very different.
The RCMP (in Ontario) has a federal policing mandate and is involved in national security organized crime among other crimes, but given Leather has also the regional police experience he said, “it’s coming back to my roots of regional municipal policing.”
“To me municipal policing means engagement with the public, community, helping with the social services to deal with some of the issues this town is dealing with on the crime front. Frankly I look forward to that. I look forward to working with those agencies, and the partners in government to address some of those priority items.”
Raising the issue of illegal drugs, Leather stated, “Cobourg is not unique to that.”
“Other towns, small and medium services are dealing with this issue day in and day out. It is a complex problem. It’s a problem that’s larger than policing and that’s why those collaborations that I spoke of earlier will be so important.”
“I want to ensure those partnerships are strong and we come up with a sound strategy to deal with those issues.”
Leather has already heard through the Board and outgoing Chief that these are some of the issues citizens are concerned about.
“Rest assured these are the very items that I’ll be addressing with some priority in my early days.”
Chief-Designate Leather commences his new duties on June 1, 2026.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
