Multiple town councillors, Halton Police, and a few hundred Oakville residents met this week at a Ward 3 police information session, allowing members of the public to ask questions about the recent rise in southeast Oakville crime.
Rising crime, especially in Ward 3, has been an increasingly popular and worrying subject among residents. Wednesday's event at Maple Grove United Church drew an estimated audience between 200-300 people, including attendees both in-person and online.
The meetings agenda began with remarks from Ward 3 councillors Janet Haslett-Theall and David Gittings before turning it over to members of the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) to discuss locals' concerns of rising crime in southeast Oakville neighbourhoods.
The focus of the meeting was to answer seemingly simple questions: What is being done to prevent crime in the area? Does more need to be done - and if so, how?
Chair of the Halton Police Services Board and Ward 5 town and regional councillor Jeff Knoll addressed the audience in the meeting, explaining the problem isn't from a lack of effort from police.
"One of the most disappointing things you’re going to hear tonight is this; these guys [pointing to the police officers] do a fantastic job in getting the bad guy."
"The real problem that we face today," he continued, "is the fact that they can get the bad guy or girl, they can write terrific reports, gather all the evidence in the world, create the most narrative and successful crown briefs to go before the courts - and yet the courts are sending them [criminals] home the day after they’re arrested."
A slideshow presentation leading up to a Q&A (including some slides of Oakville News articles) referenced incidents in the community where police had success in apprehending suspected criminals.
Among those incidents included the recent arrest of a 51-year-old man who was alleged to be connected to multiple Oakville break-ins throughout January and police believe may belong to a larger organized crime group.
Read more here: 51-year-old man arrested in connection to southeast Oakville break-in spree
Additionally, a section in the presentation was dedicated to an almost year-long investigation that saw the apprehension of four residential break-and-enter suspects alleged to be linked to incidents across the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA).
Read more here: Halton Police identify four suspects connected to a series of residential break-ins across Ontario
When the session opened up for questions, one male speaker asked what happened to the suspects that had been arrested.
Detective Sergeant Ron Wright took the microphone and said: "I can say that all of the individuals in the cases that we’ve discussed have been released on bail. I will tell you that we have legislation that’s a few years old now that basically is directed towards releasing individuals on bail as being the priority."
"This legislation talks about keeping people in custody as ‘rare’," he continued, "and it should be exceptional circumstances if someone's kept in custody."
Wright explained that police make it clear when filing their reports that they don't want these individuals to have bail, they include the individuals criminal records, impact on the community, and "objective reasons why they may re-offend."
"It is frustrating for us," Wright said. "I talked about one of the cases that was almost 12 months in duration, so it takes this long to build enough evidence that we could reasonably arrest, charge, and present a prosecutable case."
"It’s frustrating days later to know that they’re back out," he continued. "However, that is something that is beyond our control. We do monitor these individuals to the best that we can to ensure that they are complying with any conditions of their bail that they may have but you know this is a reality that we certainly live in."
Knoll stated before this that, "As fast as they’re caught, they’re back on the street and they’re doing this again."
Members of the HRPS were very clear that their efforts lead to success in arresting suspects but once the case is in the hands of the court, it's far out of their control.
Halton Regional Police Superintendent Jeff Sandy addressed the crowd and said "Folks, we realize how scary it is, and how traumatic it can be."
Sandy explained some of the internal efforts promoting public safety including undercover patrol, the Community Mobilization Bureau (CMB), and the auxiliary unit, among other efforts, and emphasized that the service is doing all they can.
"I do meet with the crown attorneys as do, you know deputy Wilke, Deputy Hill, and the Chief, in terms of advocating, in terms of bail, compliance, and sentencing but you should know this; none of our people, none of your officers are deterred by the fact that that’s a problem area right now in the justice system, we are there to do our jobs and perform as highly as we possibly can."
Tyler Collins contributed additional reporting to this story.