Chief's Blog

Our Police Service is committed to making Hamilton the safest place possible to live in Canada. That said, our partnerships with our citizens and the community is what facilitates crime prevention and reductions in our community.

Each morning I am advised of what has happened across our city and each month I receive written reports on the status of crime on a more broader scale in our neighbourhoods. Divisional Commanders report on criminal activity and yesterday I received an overview on our total crime stats city wide for 2008.

I am pleased to report that we have once again seen a reduction in Break and Enters, Auto Theft and for the first time in many years we have seen a much needed reduction in Robberies. The one area where we are seeing an increase is in Theft from Auto.

Our success is the result of the involvement of our community and the hard work of our officers. Thanks to all involved.

We will be providing our Police Services Board with a detailed report on the crime statistics at our next Board meeting.

Theft from Auto has increased during the year.

It's Worth it

Yesterday I had the opportunity and honour to deliver a presentation at the McMaster University World Conference at our Convention Centre. This year's theme dealt with economic crime and my address related to innovative methods of dealing with crime.

During my presentation I highlighted our use of the Civil Remedies Act (CRA) to take the profit out of crime. The Act allows police services to apply to the Crown Attorney for the seizure and forfeiture of property (usually buildings) that are used in relation to serious crime situations. We have successfully used this Act in relation to the closure of the Sandbar in our downtown core which saw the ultimate forfeiture of $309,000. My key message was police services have to look at innovation in the way they deal with criminals in their communities. The use of the CRA is a tool for police that can't be ignored.

One of the delegates, a student I think, asked me if our Service conducted a cost-benefit analysis on the Sandbar seizure - that it probably cost our Service more than the $309,000 that was seized and how do we rationalize this.  What I replied is that in our analysis of the seizure, yes, it was costly, but our focus was on the dividends that it paid. 

As Police Chief, my priority is keeping this community safe. My officers responded to this address thousands of times.  Two murders had occurred there, as well as countless acts of violence and extensive drug trafficking.  Once the building was seized and boarded up, the impact was felt immediately.   The drug dealing was eliminated, and the quality of life for the area had exponentially improved.  These dividends?  Priceless.

Hamilton Police will continue, as a police service, to partner with agencies to come up with new ways of making our community a safer place. You can count on it.

Drug Court

Many of you may have noticed the media running with a story about the need for a Drug Court here in Hamilton. As some background, there are several Drug Treatment Courts across the country with the court in Toronto being the closest to us. The cost of the court in Toronto is approximately $750,000 per year including support mechanisms that are required to help an offender.

Program statistics illustrate that 40% of offenders graduate and out of those, 86% do not re-offend. Although some may feel those numbers aren't good they are actually great! Simply put, the program has helped reduce crime, the number of victims associated to potential crimes and as importantly, it has helped people break the cycle of addiction and resume a healthy and productive life.

Police Services across our country often respond to symptoms of a problem. In these instances, crime is a symptom of a problem, an addiction. Programs, like Drug Court, where the justice system, support agencies and the police come together to help communities in addressing addiction related crime are a good use of our resources.

If you have any thoughts on this yourself please contact me at chief@hamiltonpolice.on.ca .

Thank you Hamilton

Thank you, Hamilton. We have just compiled our statistics on impaired driving and it very much seems like the message is getting through.

Hamilton

Police officers pulled over 21,000 vehicles during our holiday RIDE campaign and only one person was charged with impaired driving.

In all of 2008, our officers stopped over 130,000 cars in RIDE lanes, conducted nearly 500 roadside tests and charged 17 people.

Operation Lookout, where citizens call 9-1-1 when they see what they believe is an impaired driver, has also been a phenomenal success. The program resulted in 113 alcohol related charges being laid, up from 68 in 2007.

Thank you for your commitment to road safety, to making our community safer. Please email me with any comments you have on road safety: chief@hamiltonpolice.on.ca