From creating new patrol teams to the amount of drugs seized, the Timmins Police numbers are in for 2019.
At the May police services board meeting, chief John Gauthier walked members through the annual report.
One of the highlights of last year was the creation of the Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Team, as well as the Street Outreach Community Safety Team.
The crisis response initiative, which is a partnership between the police and Timmins and District Hospital, launched in September. For the program, two police officers are paired up with mental health staff to respond to calls.
“The mindset behind all of that was we were hearing the issues that were coming from some of the concerns made from the public for officers on the beat and the challenges that we were having also internally as it relates Mental Health Act calls. We probably average one or two a day and we saw an opportunity through the Northeast Local Health Integrated Network and the Timmins and District Hospital to partner,” said Gauthier.
According to the report, in 2019 there were 656 calls for service related to the Mental Health Act, which is an increase of 12 per cent (71 calls) over 2018 when there were 585 calls.
In 2019, there were 415 people who accessed police for Mental Health Act calls for service. This is a 10 per cent increase over 2018 when 377 people reached out.
There was a four per cent increase from 2018 to 2019 in the number of people who were repeat callers (two calls or more) for Mental Health Act issues. In 2019, there were 107 people, whereas there were 103 people in 2018.
In 2019, there were 348 calls for service linked to the repeat callers, compared to 311 incidents in 2018. It is a 12-per-cent year-over-year increase.
“Since we’ve partnered, not only has our staff learned a thing or two about mental health, but partnering with the two representatives from the hospital has really paid off. They’re on the ground, they’re boots on the ground with us, they’re going to these calls and I truly feel that it was a step in the right direction,” said Gauthier.
Two officers are dedicated to street outreach. Gauthier said they do foot patrols in various locations where there are concerns of break-ins, mischief or theft. The officers are also members of the situation table.
“It was established to address the constant and repetitive calls for service within the community,” he said.
Criminal Investigations Division
In the Criminal Investigations Division, the report notes there were three major cases, all of which led to attempted murder charges, and no homicide investigations in 2019.
“The police service has seen a rise in calls for service in relation to firearms being involved or used in the commission of an offence. Firearms were either used or observed during incidents of attempt murder, robbery, drug trafficking, prohibited possession, and the prohibited discharge of firearms,” he said.
Over the past three years, sexual assaults have increased.
In 2019 there were 131 cases reported to police, with charges being laid in 60 of those. In 2018, there were 113 reports to police and 52 cases had charges laid. The 2017 numbers had 86 cases reported to police, with 38 resulting in charges.
Drug Enforcement Unit
“In 2019, investigators noted that opioids continue to be a serious concern in our community, similar to the concerns of other communities provincially and nationally. Drug consumption and trafficking trends continue to develop, as evidenced by the seizure of heroin and carfentanyl in our community. Significant efforts have been made to conduct enforcement initiatives to arrest and charge those involved in these serious crimes,” reads the report.
Drugs seized in 2019 include:
• 13,946 methamphetamine tablets
• 2,126.4 grams of cocaine
• 130.3 grams of marijuana
• 516 perocet tablets
• 69.4 grams of carfentanyl
• 46 grams of purp
• 28 morphine
• 6.2 grams of crystal methamphetamine
• 2 fentanyl patches
• 1 Oxycodone
• .6 grams crack cocaine
Drug enforcement officers also seized $95,125 in cash and four weapons, made 44 arrests and laid 145 charges.
E-Crimes Unit
As the demand rises for criminal investigations involving digital technology, Gauthier expects the TPS unit to grow.
In 2019, the unit did 260 examinations on electronic devices, which is an increase of 51 per cent from 2018. More than 50 per cent of the incidents were related to child exploitation.
Traffic Unit
There was a slight year-over-year increase in the number of collisions investigated.
In 2019, police investigated 1,098 crashes, a 7.96 per cent increase from 2018 when there were 1,017 investigations. There were also two fatal crashes in 2019, compared to one the year prior.
“This increase was attributable to the months of January, February and March of 2019, which saw an incredible increase of 145 motor vehicle collisions compared to the same timelines in 2018,” reads the report.
The top intersection for crashes is the corner of Algonquin and Theriault, where there were 16 collisions.
The number of crashes resulting in injuries and those involving pedestrians and cyclists dropped in 2019 from the year before.
In 2019, 91 crashes resulted in personal injury, compared to 100 in 2018. There were 15 crashes involving pedestrians in 2019, with 17 in 2018. Collisions involving cyclists went from 11 in 2018 to five in 2019.
911 Communications
There was an increase in calls to the Timmins Police 911 Communications Centre in 2019.
The centre is the hub for emergency calls in the northeast, taking calls for police, ambulance and fire in Timmins and 29 surrounding townships.
In 2019 - it received 50,148 calls, which is an increase of 5.3 per cent over 2018. OF those, 27,743 were for police, 20,705 were ambulance and 1,700 for fire.
You can read the full 2019 report here.
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