TIMMINS - While reports to police were up, the number of charges laid went down in 2023, according to the annual report.
At the Sept. 12 Timmins Police Service board meeting, acting deputy chief Darren Dinel presented the 2023 annual report. It was released to the public on Sept. 18. The document is usually given in the spring but was delayed due to operational priorities. The 2022 report was also released this year at a meeting in February.
“It’s all good news so far in terms of a general trend. We just have to keep the momentum going,” said Chief Sydney Lecky.
The report summarizes what happened in each of the departments last year, including the staffing challenges the police service has faced.
“We continue to aggressively recruit,” said Dinel. “The officers that are working, it’s all hands on deck and they’re getting the job done.”
The push in recruitment for both officers and civilian staff is having a positive effect, said Timmins Police Service Board chair Kraymr Grenke.
“We’ve had a very good year of recruitment,” said Grenke. “We’re looking at not just the normal pathway into policing, but what are different pathways we haven’t explored before.”
In 2023, 11 new cadets and three experienced officers joined the Timmins Police Service.
Criminal Investigations Division
In 2023, the annual report does not say how many major case incidents there were in the city.
There were 94 incidents of sexual assault investigated in 2023, according to the report. That's down from 126 sexual assault investigations in 2022.
In 2023, 408 charges were laid in the unit — down from 771 in 2022, and 5,285 reports were completed, which was up from 4,052 in 2022.
Traffic
There was a rise in crashes in 2023 compared to the year prior.
In 2023, there were 1,044 crashes, up from 979 the year before.
Last year's collisions included 61 with personal injury, 15 involving pedestrians and 12 with cyclists. There were no reported fatal crashes in 2023.
The intersection of Algonquin Boulevard at Highway 655 had the most collisions. In 2023, there were 19 crashes at the intersection. That is over double the number of collisions in 2022 at Algonquin Boulevard and Mountjoy Street when it topped the list with eight collisions that year.
Mobile Crisis Response Team, and Outreach and Community Safety Team
The crisis response initiative is a partnership between the police and Timmins and District Hospital that launched in September 2019. It pairs police officers with mental health staff to respond to calls.
This was the third full year of the program, but there was a change in the numbers due to police not being included in EMT calls unless they were requested by the EMTs. Because of this, the mobile crisis rapid response team saw a drop in referrals, according to the report.
With 332 calls in 2023, the team handled just over a third of the calls they got in 2022 at 1044. As a result of the calls, there were 92 apprehensions, 84 hospital admissions, 49 people were diverted from hospital admission, 20 referrals to other agencies, 57 mental health services, and 30 addiction services.
Drug Enforcement Unit
Drugs seized in 2023 include:
- 12,410 methamphetamine tablets
- 220.4 grams of cocaine
- 521.6 grams of fentanyl
The total value of the drugs seized is $322,927. Officers also seized six guns. The total cash seized was not included in the 2023 report. There were 15 charges laid.
In 2022, 161 charges were laid.
911 Communications
The number of calls for service in 2023 went down for the second year in a row.
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 2023, there was a total of 47,347 calls for service. That's down from 2022 when 47,744 calls were received. In 2021, 48,362 were made.
For the 2023 calls — 27,138 were for police, 18,432 for ambulance and 1,777 for fire.
Read the full report here.
