Northern police agencies join OPP-led initiative to crack down on guns and gangs

2022:Police agencies to crack down on guns & gangs Northern Ontario police agencies join OPP-led initiative to crack down on guns and gangs throughout the province. Eric Taschner has more.

A number of northern Ontario law enforcement agencies are uniting with the Ontario Provincial Police to enhance their capacity to crack down on guns and gang violence.

A Guns and Gangs Joint-Forces Operation, led by the OPP, is expected to increase intelligence sharing and provide additional enforcement tools through $75 million in funding announced by the provincial government last fall.

Among the forces joining are police in North Bay, Timmins, Sudbury and Anishinabek police.

North Bay police Chief Scott Tod said until about five years ago, gang activity in northeastern Ontario wasn't prevalent.

"Now we are seeing an influx from Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Kingston and other communities that involves gang activity in our community," said Tod.

The enforcement strategy includes developing a joint analytical working group consisting of personnel from participating law enforcement agencies and the Criminal Intelligence Service Ontario, who will prioritize the gathering, analyzing and sharing of intelligence relating to gun and gang criminality and violence.

"The presence of gang activity has really caught us in a position that we had to partner with another organization," said Tod.

North Bay police officers seized 14 firearms related to criminal incidents in 2021 and 13 so far in 2022.

"This is one more step for the North Bay Police Service to be successful in our community when it comes to guns and gangs in our community," Tod said.