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Printed Dec 27, 2024 • 4 minute learn
Chief Scott Fraser speaks to his household, mates, and supporters after being sworn as chief of Kingston Police by Justice Graeme Mew on the Superior Court docket of Justice. Picture by Steph Crosier /The Whig-Normal
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The native police service is coping with an increase in legal exercise, however the chief of police says it’s not distinctive to Kingston – the proliferation of crime is plaguing cities throughout the nation.
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As 2024 involves an in depth, together with Police Chief Scott Fraser’s first official 12 months on the job, he says the police service has been stored busy coping with the native impacts of an total nationwide rise in crime.
Fraser mentioned it’s pure for crime charges to differ from 12 months to 12 months, and in the case of native statistics, he mentioned “some areas went up, some went down” once more in 2024.
In Kingston, a medium-sized metropolis with “its share of big city problems,” some areas had been noticeably on the rise – notably property crime and retail thefts, “which are exploding,” he mentioned.
“We have people who have never committed offences before committing offences,” the chief mentioned in an interview.
There are a selection of things which have led to this enhance, he mentioned. Points like psychological well being, addictions, and homelessness play a task within the rising charges, however mentioned inflation and the general price of dwelling are main some individuals to legal exercise for the primary time.
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Not solely that, however the charges of recidivism have additionally elevated since extra individuals are being launched in what he described as a “revolving door justice system.”
“Our repeat offenders were thriving,” he mentioned.
The affect of bail reform has led to individuals being launched from custody solely to right away commit different offences, he mentioned – one thing that by no means used to occur. This has contributed to the general enhance in crime and requires service for native police.
“Historically we never saw that because after a period of time, they would be obviously held in custody and taken before the courts to have their case tried,” he mentioned.
“Everyone is innocent until proven guilty and we believe that, but if … you’ve been released 42 times in the last 12 months on various crimes, at what time do we have to really look at it and say, ‘you know what, this person has been released 42 times, even though they haven’t been convicted of an offence yet, there’s a strong probability that they may reoffend.’”
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He believes there must be a change to the bail system, and that’s one of many most important frustrations they hear from the general public – the actual fact they’ll usually catch an alleged legal after an incident, however the justice system repeatedly releases them.
“If a person breaks into a garage five days in a row, they think the police aren’t doing anything,” he mentioned.
On prime of an increase in property and retail crime, the service has responded to a higher-than-usual variety of violent crimes, a pattern that has been mirrored in cities all through Canada.
“We’ve seen a lot more shift from where we’re seizing a lot of firearms, and we’re seeing a lot of crimes with knives and the violence has gone up across Canada, and we’re seeing that. It’s not all attributed to mental health and addictions, but a lot of it is.”
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He mentioned, nonetheless, jail will not be the place to assist most individuals in want. To get to the basis of the problem, there must be extra of a concentrate on rehabilitation and deterrence, he mentioned, and extra funding directed to these areas.
His philosophy is that if the justice system centered on behavior elimination, well being promotion, housing packages, it is going to give individuals hope.
“If we can do those four things .. you’re going to give people hope. Right now, people are hopeless. They don’t have any hope. The people who want to get out, they have nowhere to turn.”
“At the end of the day, jail probably isn’t the right answer because people have complex issues that need complex intervention, and we don’t have that complex intervention, and it perpetuates itself.”
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One other problem impacting the town and its police service is fraud – notably in opposition to the aged inhabitants. To fight the rise in scammers who goal the town’s most susceptible inhabitants, the police service has a devoted fraud unit which has had success at intercepting some frauds earlier than they occur.
“There’s a large group of criminals that are out there focusing on trying to take people’s money – the savings they’ve saved all their lives. And we see it over and over,” he mentioned.
“It’s just a real troubling time we’re living in right now.”
Total, he mentioned the town police pressure had a busy 12 months, one which offered challenges in an ever-changing justice panorama. However he and his officers are prepared for the brand new 12 months.
“We’re like anyone – we’re not perfect, but where we can improve, we will. That’s something we’re working on is bringing in a more customer service-based training for 2025,” he mentioned.
“We’re looking forward to 2025, we’re already starting to make changes internally and we’ll try to provide the service the community expects in ‘25.”
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