Policing is continuously evolving as does crime, and the Belleville Police Service continues to work to make Belleville the safest city in Ontario.
That was the main thrust in a wide ranging and at times humorous address to the Belleville Chamber of Commerce by Chief of Police Mike Callaghan, born and raised in the city.
Callaghan oversees a service comprised of 93 sworn officers, 15 special constables, and 56 civilians.
“We are currently ranked at 121 on Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (CSI), and that’s a good thing. You don’t want to be first on that ranking. However we still have work to do.”
The annual statistics are taken by census metropolitan area (CMA) and the Belleville CMA includes other parts of the Quinte region policed by the OPP.
The Chief spent a good deal of time discussing homelessness and mental health/addictions, a growing problem everywhere, not just in Belleville.
“No one wakes up one morning and says to themselves – hey I really want to become homeless.” There are all kinds of issues that lead people ending up in that situation, mostly involving mental health and addictions and we have to approach people suffering homelessness with empathy. These are very difficult calls. Our officers are doing a great job of calming potentially volatile situations, with people in crisis, by taking time with them and trying to understand them.”
Callaghan had high praise for the two-person IMPACT Team of mental health professionals that attend on calls with police officers.
“If I could get four members on that team I’d take them today. They are making a positive difference and reducing calls for service.”
Over 40% of the calls for service involve mental health/addictions issues.
On another topic – increasing drug and gun crimes – Callaghan says most of the serious crimes people see and hear in the local news originates with organized crime members coming to the city from the Greater Toronto Area.
“Most of the people involved and arrested are transient individuals who come in to Belleville to do business (drugs/firearms), not live here. Drugs are a terrible scourge on our community. In 2021 we lost 13 people due to drug overdoses and of 129 cases of drug overdoses, 61 involved fentanyl. Fentanyl is disastrous and cheap. We’re in sad shape when more than one person a month is dying in our community because of drugs.”
The Chief said Project Renewal, a team including Belleville and OPP officers, has been doing an excellent job making drug and weapons arrests but the problem continues. He also mentioned how important it is to have a top notch tactical squad and specially trained and armed officers who are called in to an increasing number of dangerous situations.
“Drug busts were different 10 years ago. You might find knives and occasionally a handgun, but now a drug bust almost always includes the seizure of at least one handgun and sometimes other high calibre weapons and often they are loaded. Our tactical squad has been trained by the very best from the Ottawa Police Service and I’d put our team up against any other in the country. They are good.”
On recent federal government gun legislation the Chief said he somewhat supports it but statistics show that 85% of illegal handguns and other weapons are coming across the border from the U.S. and there needs to be a concerted effort at the federal level to stop them from entering the country, saying the new legislation will have limited effect.
Belleville Police Service is getting busier and Callaghan, as he’s done before, told Chamber members more officers need to be hired as the city grows.
“So far this year we’ve had 1,807 more calls than we did in the same period last year. We will be asking city council, the business community and residents for more support. We do not want to lower our standards of service in any way, shape or form.”
The Chief also said the entire justice system needs a major overhaul. “We’ve got to get away from the ‘in by 8 and out by 11’ way of dealing with serious repeat offenders. He was referring to many cases where judges or Justices of the Peace let people back out on the streets very quickly after their first court appearance. “It’s demoralizing for officers to work to make an arrest of a hardened criminal with a record, do all of the paperwork, and see them back out walking around the very same day.”
Callaghan said he wasn’t necessarily in favour of more traditional jails but in many cases would prefer repeat offenders to be held in “humane custody” where they would have to learn a trade and/or skills in order to be released.
Chief Callaghan’s address to the Belleville Chamber of Commerce took place at Sans Souci in the Downtown District Wednesday morning.
As part of the presentation, the crowd enjoyed seeing and learning about the the police service’s K9 unit featuring four-year-old German Shepherd Bax and his handler Constable Jesse McInroy.
It was the business community and especially the Quinte Homebuilder’s Association that paid for the purchase and training of Bax and continues to support the unit.
Belleville’s K9 unit Constable Jesse McInroy and Bax. Bax was imported from Slovakia and comes from a long line of police dogs. (Photo: Quinte News)
