THUNDER BAY — A new tracking tool is being launched by the provincial government to track offenders out on bail for firearms-related offences to ensure better compliance on release.
Details on released individuals will be available in almost real-time, according to Acting Staff Sergeant Rob Simpson with the OPP corporate communication bureau.
"What this tool does is it provides officers with a map-based and with near real-time information that gives officers information related to individuals who are out on bail for firearms-related offences."
"This tool integrates data from police services across Ontario, so that helps us by essentially breaking down jurisdictional barriers and getting that information to any of the police services that have joined access to that information on a faster basis."
The provincial police will manage the dashboard tool. However, all municipal and First Nations police services will have the chance to opt-in to use the service.
A release from the province indicated that a phased roll-out has started with OPP and select police services in southern Ontario.
If a person released on bail moved from the GTA to Thunder Bay, for example, Simpson said the Thunder Bay Police Service could have access to that information, if the service was enrolled in the tool.
"(TBPS) would be able to monitor those individuals in their community, which I believe anything to do with frontline policing or policing in general, intelligence is crucial in keeping our community safe."
A TBPS spokesperson declined an interview on the subject saying "...it's a matter that is still to be decided" by the municipal service.
In 2022, there were 40 police-reported gun-related incidents in the Thunder Bay metropolitan area, for a rate of 32 for every 100,000 residents.
Thunder Bay was an increase of 287 per cent in police-reported firearms violence, according to a Statistics Canada report, in the ten year period between 2012 and 2022.
The OPP's bail compliance dashboard is one of a number of recent measures aimed at strengthen bail monitoring and enforcement of high-risk and repeat violent offenders.
With files from Gary Rinne.
