There was good news, both in frontline policing and on the financial front, at Wednesday’s meeting of the Bradford West Gwillimbury-Innisfil Police Services Board.
Deputy Police Chief John Van Dyke, in providing a summary of monthly operations, noted that there has been a decline or levelling off in most crime categories during January 2022 - “except for stolen vehicles… Stolen vehicles (were) up substantially,” he said.
Fraud was “up a little bit,” Impaired charges up year over year, but thefts from vehicles, break and enters, landlord disputes and assaults were all down.
January saw 117 reportable motor vehicle collisions, in all categories, “which is a pretty average month” despite the wintry weather, Van Dyke noted. Fortunately, there were no fatalities.
South Simcoe Police received nearly 1,900 calls for service in January, a majority of which came from Innisfil (51.79 percent, compared to 48.21 percent from Bradford West Gwillimbury.)
This January has also seen an increase in “proactive” policing, with more focus on crime prevention rather than simply response to crime, the PSB was told.
With lockdown conditions in place and an increase in staffing levels, proactive policing increased to 36.25 percent. During the pandemic, “we were as low as 20 percent,” said Deputy Chief Van Dyke.
As part of its proactive policing, South Simcoe Police introduced a Known Offender Registry, making information on outstanding warrants readily available to officers on patrol.
“Platoons have been proactive in doing some door knocks,” serving warrants rather than waiting for individuals to potentially re-offend, Van Dyke noted. An additional nine warrants were executed in January alone.
Training has also played a critical role. In 2021, South Simcoe Police engaged in eight ‘suspect apprehension’ pursuits – compared to 17 in the previous year. Seven of the eight were terminated by the responding officer or a supervisor, to ensure public safety.
In the ‘unterminated’ pursuit, the suspect reversed his vehicle into a cruiser before fleeing from police. At no time was the public at risk; the vehicle was subsequently located attempting to hide in a parking lot, and 12 charges were laid against the driver.
There was also good news on the budget front.
The 2022 South Simcoe Police Budget, approved by the PSB, included a total of $780,637 in capital projects, with the costs to be split 50/50 between Bradford West Gwillimbury and Innisfil, partners in the amalgamated service.
Indications are that there will be no impact to taxpayers. The annual audit of policing finances indicates a year-end surplus of $737,223 – money that will be returned to the two municipalities, to be placed in Capital reserves to help offset new capital costs.
As well, of the 17 capital projects approved in 2021, two have now been “closed” and an unspent allocation of $42,760 is to be returned to Reserves.
Combining the surplus and the “closed” project funding leaves a difference of less than $1,000.
“We basically cover the cost of the capital budget approved for 2022,” said Police Chief Andrew Fletcher – an announcement called “great news” by Police Services Board chair Chris Gariepy.
