Drug trade fuelling increase in gun crime in Timmins, police say

Timmins police chief stress new for bail reform While providing updated crime stats to city council Timmins’ police chief repeated his desire for bail reforms for repeat offenders.

Police in Timmins say gun crime is increasing in the city because of the drug trade, especially involving opioids.

Deputy Chief Darren Dinel told city council at a special meeting Dec. 23 that while some forms of crime are decreasing, crimes involving weapons are rising.

Dinel was responding to a question from Coun. Lorne Feldman, who asked about drug-related crime.

"There is a lot of concern about drug trafficking, and how that is relating to increases in crime," Feldman said.

"You mentioned about gang-related crime and these shootings. Would it be fair to say these are related to increased drug offences?"

Dinel said what they are seeing is a significant increase in the prevalence of guns as drug traffickers fight to gain or keep territory.

"It's often that we're dealing with opioid trafficking, and with opioid trafficking a lot of times with that comes firearms, using that to protect their products," he said.

"That crime picture looks different than it did, say, 15 or 20 years ago, when we didn't see the prevalence of guns within the community ... Weapons and firearms offences are definitely on the increase. We see them on a much more regular basis than we have ever before."

Police seized seven handguns in March of this year alone, some that "never happened" in the past, Dinel added.

"When you're dealing with opioid trafficking, firearms come hand-in-hand with that."

In response to a question from Coun. John Curley, Dinel said thefts, including shoplifting, have also increased.

He said retail theft is rising across the country, "and it's no different here in Timmins."

"There's a significant increase in frauds, as well, contributing to the crime picture we have locally," Dinel said.

Curley said merchants have told him they often don't bother reporting retail theft.

"Not because they won't be able to get the police to attend, but (because) it happens so often... they say there are not going to call each and every one in."

Dinel said they have tried to make it less time-consuming for businesses to report thefts by giving them the option to report incidents online.

Feldman asked whether police are considering getting access to live-feed CCTV cameras so they can see crimes happening in real time. He said a city in the U.S. (Detroit) tried it and reported a dramatic drop in crime.

Chief Sydney Lecky said they are applying for funding to increase the number of CCTV cameras downtown.

"It is something we had planned on doing," said Lecky, who attended the meeting remotely.

However, he said privacy laws in Canada restrict the use of the footage to solving crimes, rather than real-time monitoring.

"For solving crimes after the fact, it is good to have a source we can go back and review specific areas, whether with judicial authorization or otherwise, to look to see if an offence has been committed," he said.

"What happens in the U.S. is very different from what happens in Canada."

Overall, he said property crime in Timmins in trending down in 2024.

"We had a spike in December," Lecky said.

But the spike was related to another problem, he said: the need for bail reform.

"We get an offender, put them behind bars and the problem goes away for a while, as was the case with one of the people we recently caught, who was known … for break-and-enters," Lecky said.

"It's more related to the bigger issue of the need for bail reform."

Police are good at catching offenders, he said.

"But keeping (them in jail) is the problem. Light sentences contribute to the bigger problem – it's almost a feeling of lawlessness when you're talking about property crime."