More Local Crime Prevention Coming to Ontario

Ontario | Latest News |

Published September 28, 2017 at 1:37 am

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It’s official – the province is injecting a few million dollars into crime prevention and community safety and well-being initiatives. That means police services and community partners will aim to team up for a safer Mississauga.

Crime is an all-too-often occurrence here in Mississauga that can’t be ignored. Now, the province is investing $2 million into a new grant to help 23 local police services prevent crime and carry out community safety and well-being initiatives.

“The grant money comes from assets that have been forfeited to the federal government as proceeds of crime, and is then turned over to the province following criminal prosecutions,” said the province in a statement.

There are a few projects in particular that are receiving funding through the province’s grant, which has been dubbed the Proceeds of Crime Front-Line Policing Grant.

Here’s what the province has detailed more specifically in terms of which projects will receive funding:

  • Collaborative approaches between police services and community service providers, such as police using a mobile application to communicate with local hospitals to share information when assisting a person experiencing a mental health crisis

  • Community safety and well-being planning, including engaging local residents in leadership training to develop and deliver long-term social and recreational initiatives

  • Initiatives that target human trafficking, mental health, at-risk youth, alcohol and drug abuse, and seniors’ safety, such as providing advanced-level training on human trafficking and complex trauma to police, justice and community partners.

This is all well and good, but 2017 isn’t this grant’s first rodeo. In fact, since 2010, Ontario has allocated more than $18.6 million through the Proceeds of Crime Front-Line Policing Grant through 210 community safety projects across the province for local crime prevention programs.

“These grants allow communities to focus on their priority needs in collaborative way,” said Marie-France Lalonde, minister of community safety and correctional services. “When police services and local agencies come together to tackle problems, it’s amazing to see how much progress can be made towards making our communities even safer.”

This year, police services were invited to apply for funding for projects to develop collaborative initiatives focused on addressing risk factors and that build on the skills and existing networks of community partners.

It remains to be seen how much crime will be reduced or prevented through this program.

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