Use of force incidents declined in 2024, Sudbury police say

Use of force incidents in Greater Sudbury declined in 2024 according to a new report presented to the police services board on Tuesday.

Greater Sudbury police resorted to the use of force 71 times last year, according to a report headed to the police services board this week.

That’s a dip of 27 compared to 2023, a drop of 26 per cent.

Use of force definitions include cases where police draw their weapons in front of a member of the public, point a firearm at anyone, fire a stun gun, use physical force that results in an injury or use a police dog in an incident that results in an injury.

“The primary role of all police officers is preservation and protection of life, conflict resolution and de-escalation,” said GSPS use of force instructor Alain Gagnon, speaking with CTV News on Tuesday.

“It’s very much our focus every time they come into training, whether it’s electric component with the latest academic research, scenario based training, simulator training. We really focus to make sure that our members are de-escalating using the least amount of force as possible.”

Most of the incidents (60 per cent) took place at night, the report said, when most incidents of intimate partner violence were reported.

Overall, 35 per cent of the use of force incidents took place when police responded to a weapons call, 11 per cent were related to intimate partner violence, 10 per cent involved destruction of an animal, followed by violence crime and disturbance (seven per cent each), traffic (six per cent) and a person or family dispute in crisis (four per cent each).

Most cases when police used force involved white people (64 per cent), followed by Indigenous people (22 per cent) and black people (14 per cent).

Suspects from the GTA

While the Black community makes up just 2.5 per cent of people in Sudbury, the report noted that in one-quarter of the cases, the suspects involved were from outside the city, mainly the Greater Toronto Area.

Out of the total, 40 cases involved police drawing, pointing or discharging a weapon.

“Only one incident involved the discharge of a firearm towards a subject,” the report said.

“This was the first incident, which was investigated and cleared by the Special Investigations Unit. Every other time a firearm was discharged, it was for the humane dispatching of an injured animal.”

On 26 occasions, a stun gun was brandished by police, but it was discharged only 16 times.

“You’ll notice that the highest numbers of incidents relate to weapons complaints, which are very high risk,” said Gagnon.

“There’s also a high number of intimate partner violence. Our officers are doing the best they can. They’re called upon to resolve those high-risk situations, and they really do a good job. I think they need to be commended”

The police board meeting was held Tuesday at 10 a.m. in council chambers at Tom Davies Square.

GSPS Chief Sara Cunningham spoke with CTV News following the meeting and said officers were justified in their use of force in the situations reviewed.

“We’re unfortunately seeing, you know, more guns come into our community and, we’ve executed some, you know, serious, search warrants when it comes to guns and gangs,” said Cunningham.

“So ... sometimes our officers have to go in and use force in these situations.”

With files from CTVNorthernOntario.ca journalist Lyndsay Aelick