Three Ontario police associations released a statement Wednesday calling on the federal government to implement stricter bail policies after Toronto police officers were caught in a gunfight between two groups in the city’s west end Monday night while conducting a bail compliance check.
The statement from the Toronto Police Association (TPA), Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) and Police Association of Ontario (PAO) asks the federal government to take “immediate action” by keeping repeat and violent offenders in jail while they wait for trial.
Close to 100 shots were fired outside a recording studio near Queen Street W. and Sudbury Street on Monday night, police have said. Officers arrested 23 people, including a young offender with three firearms prohibitions, and seized 16 firearms, the statement said.
No one was injured in Monday’s gunfight, which TPA president Clayton Campbell called “sheer luck.”
“Our members are increasingly frustrated and angered as they continue risking their lives to apprehend repeat violent offenders,” Campbell said in the statement. “How many more incidents must occur before the federal government recognizes and responds to the urgent reality on our streets?”
Close to 100 shots were fired outside a recording studio near Queen Street W. and Sudbury Street on Monday night, police said. (Arlyn Mcadorey)
PAO president Mark Baxter said the incident should be a “call to action” for the federal government to implement stricter bail policies for repeat and violent offenders.
In October, Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner released a public letter calling on the federal government to make several bail-related changes to the Criminal Code, including eliminating bail for certain offences and implementing a “three strike rule” for repeat offenders.
The letter was the latest in an ongoing push by provincial and territorial premiers for Ottawa to legislate stricter bail measures in the wake of several high-profile instances of crimes allegedly committed by offenders out on bail, including the fatal shooting of Ontario Provincial Police Const. Grzegorz Pierzchala in late 2022.
Questions remain, however, about how the province’s already over-crowded jail system would handle a further influx of inmates.
Meanwhile, data obtained by The Canadian Press via freedom-of-information laws showed the province’s inmate population surged in 2023, with a vast majority of correctional institutions at well over capacity.
The union representing correctional officers has repeatedly raised concerns about overcrowding, saying inmates are triple-bunking in some facilities. The Criminal Lawyers Association has also said accused individuals are taking longer to get to a bail hearing, contributing to the rise in jail populations.
