2010 Report From Police Offers Insight in to Crime in Thunder Bay

THUNDER BAY – The 2010 report from the Thunder Bay Police Service offers a fifty-seven page overview of what has been happening in Thunder Bay over the course of the year. The biggest problem in Thunder Bay, according to Police Services Board Chairman Joe Virdiramo is substance abuse. “Today we are all affected by negative impact of substance abuse. Much of the crime that occurs in Thunder Bay has drugs, alcohol or other addictive substances as the common thread. Organized crime profits from the misery and despair that afflicts so many. Desperate people turn to crimes such as robbery or break and entering to get through a day at a time. While enforcement is important, there can not be any real progress made until we break the cycle of crime and addiction,” states Virdiramo.

The 2010 report is also the last report filed by Chief Robert Herman. The former Chief retired in July, 2011 after a 35 year career with the Thunder Bay Police Service.

Herman states, in the report “As the Aboriginal population of Thunder Bay continues to grow, so does our need to reflect and understand their rich culture. In 2010 we began an ambitious project to reach out to remote northern communities to help assist youth in the transition to life in the city. The outcome will be an outreach video and presentations by Thunder Bay Police Service to First Nations communities in 2011”.

One area that has been raised as a concern are missing Aboriginal youth in our city who have gone missing and later turned up dead. The report states, “In 2010, there were a total of 1679 missing person reports filed with the Thunder Bay Police Service. Of those reports, 475 were youth reported missing from foster homes of local children services”.

The issue of substance abuse, including drugs, alcohol and other addictive substances has dominated much of the reports by the TBPS to the media. The robberies of taxi cab drivers, convienience stores, and break-ins that could be listed as related to issues with addiction as a ‘common thread’ are noted in the report.

In terms of drug arrests, in 2010 there were 53 arrests for cocaine, up from 46 in 2009. There were 88 arrests for ‘other drugs’ up eight from 2009. Cannibis arrests were up as well, there were 145 arrests for cannibis in 2010 compared to 114 in 2009.

Robberies were up in 2010 compared to 2009 and 2008, but were almost equal to 2007. In 2010, there were 179 robberies reported, that included six with a firearm, 63 with an offensive weapon and 110 other robberies. There were 155 robberies in 2009, the increase is in the ‘other robbery’ category where there was an increase of 24 robberies.

In terms of robberies by youth there was almost twice the number of robberies by young offenders. In 2010 there were 17 robberies compared to nine in 2009.

However, there was a surge as well in break and enter by youth. In 2009 there were 13 charges laid against youth for break and enter. In 2010 there were 26 charges laid.

There were 150 youth charged with bail offenses through last year. That is up from 2009, but down from 2008.

For residents concerned with crime in our community, the report is well worth the read.

2010 TBPS Annual Report

For the latest information on what is happening in our community, and in your neighbourhood, visit Crimemapping on NNL.

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