Thunder Bay Police are asking the province for more money to fight violent crime.
Acting Chief Sylvie Hauth gave City Council the highlights of the past year for police, which she says included 52 people arrested in connection with gangs, and all were from the western provinces or southern Ontario.
“Due to the lucrative nature of the drug trade in northern Ontario, gang members coming to Thunder Bay are replaced as fast as they are arrested and incarcerated,” she told Councillors.
They’re asking the Ministry of Corrections and Community Safety for funding to hire more officers to tackle the problem.
Hauth says they’re also increasing patrols along with other strategies to deal with gang activity.
“Guns and gangs do not respect borders,” she emphasizes. “Although we are far from the GTA, the impact is real and felt in our community.”
Hauth says despite gang-related concerns, many of the 50,000 calls for police services were not criminal matters.
She reported there were 7,387 criminal incidents last year.
She adds “complex” matters like missing persons reports took up much of their resources in 2017.
There were 891 missing persons calls for service in 2017, down just slightly from 895 in the previous year.
The Acting Chief pointed to addictions, mental health issues, and social issues as major “community challenges” facing Thunder Bay.