THUNDER BAY - With the rise in gang and drug activity in the city and the violent crime that comes with it, Thunder Bay Police say the general public is not in danger of becoming victims.
“The average person wouldn’t have the knowledge in the subculture that let’s say police do or people in the culture do,” said Det. Insp. John Fennell with the Criminal Investigation Branch of the Thunder Bay Police Service. “From the outside, absolutely, it is fearful. You hear of robberies, you don’t want to walk out at night.”
Gangs primarily from Southern Ontario have been coming to Thunder Bay in recent years to take advantage of a lucrative market, where illicit drugs can sell for a much higher price compared to the GTA.
“They know they can make the money,” said Sgt. Dan Irwin with the Thunder Bay Police Service Drug Unit. “The sheer volume, the sheer customer base. They know that’s here because of the addiction rate.”
With that, the city has seen a rise in violent crime, such as shootings and home takeovers. But overall crime in the city trending upward, Fennell said, and vulnerable members of the population, such as those battling addiction, are most at risk of becoming victims.
“In my 27 years of policing, it’s generally the people getting hurt are the people in this culture,” Fennell said. “It’s not stranger on stranger crime. However, there are some elements, for example break and enters, property crimes, people breaking into cars are a result of that subculture. So they are being victimized, but not to the violence, but the loss of their property or break and enter into their home.”
Vulnerable people are also finding themselves victims of home takeovers, which is another growing concern, and police say they want to help, but can’t do it alone.
“What we were trying to do with our message of home takeovers is to let not only the people know but their families know that if they see something going on with their families, their siblings, to let the police let know so we can assist,” Fennell said. “We do not want these people to imbed these themselves into people’s lives.”
Last month, the Crime Prevention Council ‘raised the alarm’ regarding the rise of home takeovers in the city of Thunder Bay. A home takeover is when an individual is coerced into allowing criminals, usually gang members from out of town, to use a home for criminal activity such as selling drugs, prostitution, or human trafficking.
“These guys are here and they are here to be predators,” Fennell said. “They are nice at the beginning and we don’t want people to become victims by going into debt with these individuals because that’s where they now want to take over your home. Worse, if you don’t pay that debt or don’t own a home it could be them trying to get you to do criminal activity for them.”
Those living in social housing can be especially vulnerable because according to Irwin, they have so much to lose.
“People in social housing, if they lose their house or lose their support from social housing, they are not going to have a place to live so they are fearful and fearful to come forward because they don’t want to get in trouble,” he said. “If they are afraid to speak to the police, please go to your social worker, your addiction counsellor. Let someone know to get the ball rolling to get the information back to the police department.”
Fennell said it is important for individuals to not fall into debt with gang members and there are places to turn for help.
“For vulnerable people, there are enough agencies, there’s enough people to reach out to for help,” he said. “Please seek out that help before you put yourself in a predicament and letting these people imbed themselves into your home.”
Fennell and Irwin added that transparency on the part of the police service regarding arrests being made, as well as drugs and gun seizures, also plays a role creating a perception of fear among the public.
But Fennell said the public needs to be aware that the police are doing everything they can to keep the people of Thunder Bay safe.
“I want to ensure the public that we are dealing with things as fast as we can,” he said. “Some of these investigations take some time so I would like the public to be patient with us to be able to do that.”
“We are arresting people constantly for this type of behaviour, we are putting them before the courts. I think we are making an impact. The difficulty is they are coming in almost as fast as we are able to arrest them and put them behind bars.”
