London police, LPS Board release joint statement to Trudeau asking for bail reform

(Source: London Police Service)

On Wednesday, London’s chief of police and the chair of the London Police Services Board issued a joint statement addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for legislative bail reform, citing an “increasing incidence of violent offenders released into our communities.”

According to a release from the London Police Service (LPS) Chief of Police Steve Williams and Ali Chahbar, chair of the London Police Services Board, issued a joint statement on behalf of London police and the police board to Trudeau in order to bring about “legislative reform to the Criminal Code of Canada.”

The joint statement echoes growing calls for legislative reform to the Criminal Code of Canada, and situates on revising existing bail processes in order to better deal with violent offenders and violent firearms crimes which are fuelling safety concerns in the community.

In the statement, Williams and Chahbar stipulate that London is the “fastest growing municipality in the Province of Ontario,” and like many other cities, are dealing with an increase in violent offenders being released into the community.

The statement goes on to address the frequency at which some of these violent offenders – who are charged with firearms crimes, intimate partner violence and hate-based crimes – go onto commit more violent offences while on a pre-trial release “for the exact crimes for which they were charged in the first instance.”

“While we are fully cognizant of the fact that we cannot completely eliminate these types of violent repeat offences from occurring, that does not mean that we, as a society, cannot take the requisite steps to mitigate them from happening,” the statement reads.

Williams and Charbar acknowledge the “fundamentally important Charter rights” a person has when charged with an offence and how those rights are at the core of the Canadian justice system, but stipulate that certain amendments to the Criminal Code to better protect the community can also be done, such as a higher threshold for bail being granted for people who are “chronic, violent offenders who possess convictions for previous violent crimes and firearm offences.”

“As chief of police for the London Police Service and chair of the London Police Services Board, we are jointly calling for timely legislative reform to amend the Criminal Code of Canada to help address these issues. We join the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police as well as a growing number of police boards and associations across the country calling for bail reform.”

“Protecting the safety of both the public and our frontline officers is of paramount importance. We are mourning the loss of fellow citizens and officers killed by violent repeat offenders who possessed previous convictions for firearms offences with increased regularity and frequency,” the statement added.

“These are preventable.”

The statement closes by Williams and Charbar acknowledging that it is their duty to do “whatever in our power” to prevent tragedies from occurring, and therefore bail reform is the crucial and timely step that is ultimately paramount in both protecting victims and the safety of the community.