Some of Canada’s largest police associations pledged Friday to work to end what they called an “unacceptable wave of violence” following the killings of five police officers in four months.
In a joint statement, the Canadian Police Association, the Police Association of Ontario, the Ontario Provincial Police Association and the Toronto Police Association said they will work to identify the root causes behind the deaths and call for change.
“We are saying today what we are sure most Canadians are feeling: Enough is enough. We cannot allow the deaths of five of our members to go unchallenged,” the groups wrote in the statement.
The associations, which represent about 60,000 sworn and civilian police personnel, said “everything will be on the table” in terms of what they’ll examine, including judicial frameworks and what they call a “growing and chronic” shortage of police officers.
Mark Baxter, president of the Police Association of Ontario, said his association estimates that there is a shortage of 2,000 to 2,500 officers in police organizations across the province.
“A big contributing factor to that is that as our communities have grown, we haven’t increased the complements of our police services at the same rate in which our population is growing,” he said in an interview.
“That obviously is going to have an impact.”
Mental health issues faced by officers are also contributing to the shortages, Baxter said.
“Police officers are exposed to trauma at a much greater rate than that of the general public and as a result of that trauma, they often experience PTSD, other operational stress injuries,” he said. “That is certainly a contributing factor to the shortage.”
In 2021, Ontario’s auditor general found that medical leave taken by provincial officers with post-traumatic stress disorder was significantly contributing to understaffing and affecting service levels at detachments across the province.
The push for more officer resources is at odds with critics’ calls to defund police in favour of redirecting money to community initiatives that aim to address root causes of violence.
Cities across Canada have proposed or approved increases to their policing budgets for this year, leading some advocates to argue that won’t lead to safer cities and call instead for funding boosts to supports such as mental health and housing.
Toronto’s police board is set to meet Monday to decide whether to approve a nearly $50-million funding increase for the city’s police force, which would see the addition of 200 officers.
In a written deputation to that meeting, the Black Legal Action Centre said it was “extremely concerned” by the proposal.
“The solution is not to provide the police with more money for new officers, body scanners or training. It is to de-task the police and to redirect funding into those services that will actually protect, serve and increase the public safety of Black people, and everyone,” the not-for-profit community legal clinic wrote.
The police associations that made their joint pledge Friday also said they’d review judicial and public policy frameworks, including bail and sentencing practices.
There have been recent calls for the federal government to reform its bail policy after OPP Const. Greg Pierzchala, 28, was shot while responding to a call for a vehicle in a ditch west of Hagersville, Ont., on Dec. 27.
Court documents show 25-year-old Randall McKenzie – one of two people accused in the attack on Pierzchala – had been denied bail in an unrelated case involving a number of assault and weapons charges months before the shooting, but was released after a review.
A warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to show up for a court date in August, the documents show.
Canadian Police Association president Tom Stamatakis said Friday there is a need for reforms to address the cases of violent offenders who engage in criminal activities repeatedly.
“There are a small number of prolific and violent offenders who continue to present a danger to society when released, and we need to find common-sense reforms that will address those cases,” he said.
Baxter said the details of Pierzchala’s killing have highlighted the need for change in the bail system.
“The status quo is not acceptable,” he said.
“The reality is every police officer in this country knows that when they arrest someone and they hold them for bail, often for violent offences, often for firearm offences, they’re being released. And I think what we’re hearing from society is that we need to do better.”
Some, however, disagree with the call for bail reform.
Shawn King, vice-president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, has said the root causes of an offender’s behaviour should be targeted.
“The underlying issue that really needs to be addressed here is not changing the bail policies, it’s trying to deal with the underlying conditions that cause these people to offend,” he previously told The Canadian Press.
Pierzchala was the fifth police officer killed in the line of duty in Canada since September.
In October, RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang was fatally stabbed in Burnaby, B.C. Days earlier, South Simcoe Police officers Devon Northrup and Morgan Russell were shot at an Innisfil, Ont., home and died in hospital.
Toronto police Const. Andrew Hong was shot dead in Mississauga, Ont., in mid-September.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 6, 2023.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s Environment Assessment Office has fined Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. $590,000 for “deficiencies” in the construction of its pipeline crossing the province.
The office says in a statement that 10 administrative penalties have been levied against the company for non-compliance with requirements of its environmental assessment certificate.
It says the fines come after problems with erosion and sediment control measures were identified by enforcement officers along the pipeline route across northern B.C. in April and May 2023.
The office says that the latest financial penalties reflect its escalation of enforcement due to repeated non-compliance of its requirements.
Four previous penalties have been issued for failing to control erosion and sediment valued at almost $800,000, while a fifth fine of $6,000 was handed out for providing false or misleading information.
The office says it prioritized its inspections along the 670-kilometre route by air and ground as a result of the continued concerns, leading to 59 warnings and 13 stop-work orders along the pipeline that has now been completed.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
