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Top 5 Public Safety Issues for 2024
December 28, 2024

Violent Crime Remains High

In December each year I identify the top Public Safety issues for the 12 months prior, based in part on the number of interviews I’ve conducted on various topics for Bell Media’s television and talk-radio stations, but additionally through my own analysis of what I see as the issues concerning Canadians in their day to day lives. Without fail, the matters I identify dovetail with the focus of Canada’s police services as they continue to all do their best to prevent crime and victimization in their communities.


So, here are the Top Five Public Safety Issues of 2024 from my perspective, in no specific order:


1.       Border Security. Successive Canadian governments have let both the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) down and in turn failed Canadians in terms of tightening up our border with the United States. The longest largely unprotected and thus porous border in the world permits a never-ending supply of firearms (mostly handguns) coming into this country, as well as tons of illegal drugs. Despite Canada’s police chiefs repeatedly raising concerns, the federal government has done somewhere between little and absolutely zero to change that. But when President in-Waiting Donald Trump announced that he will impose tariffs on Canadian goods if Canada didn’t take decisive action quickly around people and Fentanyl southbound into the USA, all hell broke loose. A harried flight by PM Trudeau to Mar-a-Lago inevitably resulted in an announcement to invest $1.3B over six years on December 17, which is at least a step forward, but it is far from enough to allow for the hiring of thousands of additional CBSA and RCMP personnel.

 

2.       Increase in Property Crime. The rise in auto thefts across Canada over the past several years has been quite apparent to Canadians. Well publicized and growing stats as well as videos of violent car jackings and expensive vehicles being quietly stolen from residence driveways, led to the federal and provincial governments investing in joint forces operations and technology to help stem the flow of these vehicles by truck to shipping containers in places like the Port of Montreal. There’s been huge success in recovering vehicles by police and CBSA since and currently the insurance industry and auto manufacturers are working with police to develop technological prevention and recovery solutions. Fingers crossed for even better days ahead, but the issue remains a huge concern.


At the same time, statistics showing the increase in other property crimes across the country are alarming. Residential and business break-ins, brazen smash and grab robberies and other thefts plague our communities day after day. Organized crime groups control both the auto theft and high-end retail theft markets and often use local youth as their foot soldiers, but the many other more common thefts are often linked to socio-economic issues beyond the control of police. Addiction, mental health issues and poverty, or combinations thereof, continue to be a factor in many of the more “minor” thefts, which still greatly concern victims every single day. 


3.       Increase in Violent Crime. What was known in Toronto several years ago as the “Year of the Gun” is common to many communities – large, small and rural. It’s become the Century of the Gun. The absolute proliferation of smuggled handguns transversing the above-mentioned porous border has led to an abundance of shootings, injuries and deaths – largely involving street gangs. Even more concerning than criminals trying to kill each other, is when innocent people are afraid to walk some streets at minimum, to innocent victims including children being caught in the crossfire.


It’s also frightening that young people are more often committing assorted acts of violence with regularity – from familial gun and knife attacks to bizarre group assaults on unknown sidewalk passersby and even pushing people onto subway tracks. As sociologists, criminologists and mental health experts work to understand the “why”, police continue to respond, investigate and prosecute as best they can.


4.       Protests. Public protests in varying forms have sadly become a way of life in Canada. But over the past several years, the frequency, duration and threat levels continue to escalate exponentially. The Israel/Palestine conflict alone has resulted in protracted and volatile protests almost 24/7 in Toronto and some other major cities, but some smaller communities have been affected as well.


Many police services are not adequately resourced to meet the staffing demands of evolving crime or the need for technology, among other challenges, let alone the number of officers required to address these difficult protest operations full time. It is resource draining work and significantly takes away from other police prevention, response and investigative activities that deserve officer’s focus, and there is no end in sight.

Police are in a no-win situation as they deal with most protests. The issues are often highly-charged and emotional for those that are supportive of or opposed to whatever underlying cause is at play. The significant resources required to arrest criminal violators are seldom present without significant planning and pre-deployment, so officers cannot do much more than monitor, record and investigate with the hope of laying charges sometime later. They have to act like hockey referees, waiting for the fight to drop to the ice. That is understandably frustrating to those negatively impacted, but it is the reality of what police can do.


5.       Failing Justice System. “Catch and release” and “revolving door justice” are but two of the ways the many public and police detractors describe our bail, parole and probation systems in Canada. Time and time again, violent criminals who are already out on bail are arrested and released again. Criminal law and the rules of engagement are dictated by the federal government and then applied by police, prosecutors and judges that are overseen by the provinces they are located in. It is unacceptable that criminals who are an obvious threat to officer and public safety continue to be released and continue to commit additional violent acts. It is clear to anyone with a modicum of common sense that something has to change. The current federal government, who created some of the current lax rules, has promised change – but what, when and how remains to be seen. Fingers crossed. 


I know I’ve made our world sound somewhat dark and gloomy again this year, and it undoubtedly all needs to be fixed post-haste, but in the meantime please know that Canada remains one of the safest countries in the world, and our crime stats – concerning as they may be, pale in comparison to most other nations. Regardless, we need to do better. I know that all police services will continue to try their best and will most often succeed, but they need to be supported by governments at all levels through the provision of adequate resources and a legislative framework that enables them to keep everyone safe. And as good community members, we have an onus ourselves to support them in any way we can.


Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a safe, healthy and prosperous 2025. I ask that you please thank an emergency responder when you can and pray for their safety every day of the coming year.

Leadership involves risk, especially in policing

By Chris Lewis • March 28, 2026
Leadership is inundated with risk, every hour of every day, in all sectors. In policing, legislative authorities and established policy are the ever-present guideposts, but occasionally policy just doesn’t apply. At times someone has to just make a decision to do something, or not, or they will fail the public they serve and the personnel it is their duty to lead. If it goes bad, time to own up, do damage control, learn from it and move forward. It always frightened me when I saw some at the senior executive level in policing think that supervisors and managers operate in a pristine little bubble where nothing should ever go wrong. Then when it did because some supervisor tried their best to make something work for all the right reasons, they wanted to pigeon-hole the person that took the risk. There were times during my own career when executives were not encouraged to take any risk either. In fact, taking risk was career risk in itself. Despite the best of intentions, if it went bad, the one ‘responsible’ be forever labelled as having failed. Even if the gamble went well, the jaundiced eyes from above would still forever look at them as being a potential liability. It became the “Oh, him. He’s the one that...” At times the daily decision making of high-level commanders would be second-guessed by those in the executive suites – some of whom had never really commanded anything. My buddy retired Chief Wayne Frechette used to describe these folks as: “They’ve never been out after dark on company time.” I know this same concept was alive in many other police services. Some at executive levels actually did serve in operational roles at some point but they never took a risk. Somehow, they were fortunate to skate through difficult situations through sheer luck as opposed to good decision-making and never developed any scar tissue along the way. They didn’t learn from failure – they survived by luck. They also were viewed by weak executives above them as being golden because there was never a milli-second of negativity around them. They were Teflon. But those that worked under their “command” (for lack of a better word) had no respect for them. They simply watched them walk around with coffee in hand, never leaving the office or making a decision. It wasn’t leadership, but it did pave the way to stardom from on high, for some. True leaders do take risks at times. Many I worked with and for did it all and did it well. They did so in the best interests of those they served and those they led, because it wasn’t about themselves, but was done in the service of those that placed their trust in them. Policy simply doesn’t fit every situation. It is most often a guide that anticipates most circumstances that employees will face, particularly the more common (high-frequency) ones. But it cannot predict every possible scenario. When that happens in policing, it can occur in very unlikely situations (low-frequency) that are incredibly high-risk. Supervisors cannot say “Sorry folks, the book doesn’t cover this one” and run away crying. They also don’t have time to tell bad guys, “Hey big fella, sit tight. We need to take a pause here and get the whiteboard out so we can have a group-think about how to stop your murderous rampage.” I think that many pseudo-leaders – far too many, are afraid to make risky decisions out of fear that an error will jeopardize their career. Instead, they risk their careers by not making decisions. Or as I like to say: “their fear of career-risk, risks their careers.” This can be fatal in the policing world. When a police supervisor shirks their responsibilities or quivers, sucks their thumb, and prays for the situation to go away, thankfully constables will come forward and do their best to get their teammates through it. Sometimes that ends well and when the supervisor emerges from their fear-induced coma, they will more often than not take credit for the success. But when the situation goes to hell-in-a-handbasket – despite best efforts, the pseudo-leader will document the risk-taking employee and add another bullet-point to their list of things they’ve done to “hold people accountable.” The panel at their next promotional interview will likely hear the false rendition proudly told. I hear examples of this practise from serving police officers across North America on a much too frequent basis. True leaders develop a culture of trust among those they lead that their suggestions and feedback are encouraged and valued. Their confidence that the leader wants their input encourages them to constantly analyze situations and give thought to what policy says and the options available when policy says nothing. That is good for the employee’s development and may save the leader’s hind-end and the continuity of the team on occasion when an employee steps forward in a crisis. Having said that, there will clearly be situations where there isn’t time for the whiteboard, and a decision needs to be made by the responsible “leader.” When it doesn’t work out, the real leader will step forward and be accountable. But when it does go well, the true leader will allow the light to shine on the team they have the honour to lead. In my view, we’re not seeing enough of that in North American policing. We need more genuine leaders at all levels of law enforcement organizations. Developing and promoting real leaders that can manage risk effectively is a must. Anything less fails everyone.

Why Joint Forces Operations Are No Longer Optional

By Chris Lewis • March 26, 2026
They used to be simply a "nice to have."

Police investigating police: Is there another option?

By Chris Lewis • March 18, 2026
The March 17 th announcement by the Toronto Police Service (TPS) regarding the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) investigation into allegations by an Ontario Justice that three TPS officers colluded and lied during a 2024 murder trial against a man that ran over and killed TPS Constable Jeffrey Northrup in 2021, has further inflamed the debate over who should investigate alleged police wrongdoing. This instance combined with the recent arrests and ongoing police investigation into several TPS officers for their alleged involvement with organized crime, has brought this discussion to a boiling point. I appreciate the public perceptions around this investigative model given that the average citizen doesn’t necessarily understand the professionalism and commitment of police investigative teams like the recent OPP Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) group. I have all the confidence the world in that team, but I also personally know the ability and integrity of the OPP Detective Inspector in-charge. So, if these investigations aren’t carried out by police, who will do them? They do not fall under the mandate of the Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which by the way is largely comprised of former police criminal investigators and forensic identification experts, many of whom investigated homicides in police services. For SIU to assume a larger role, they would have to grow exponentially and expand their team of ‘former cops’. These cases generally do not fall under the purview of Ontario’s Inspectorate of Policing either. They would loosely fall under the oversight role of Ontario’s Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA), who is responsible for receiving, managing and overseeing public complaints against police, but frankly they don’t have mandate or the horsepower to conduct complex criminal investigations. They oversee the “public complaints” that may lead to a criminal investigation, but the investigation would be the responsibility of a police service to conduct. An expansion of the LECA would require a tremendous amount of funding and human resources, most of whom would also be former police officers. Hiring and training civilians to conduct such investigations is an option, but largely an incomprehensible one. Police criminal investigators are trained officers that generally start out as uniformed officers responding to occurrences and investigating more routine and less serious crimes, i.e. minor assaults and property crimes. They build investigative expertise over time, including in interviewing and interrogation; gathering and securing physical evidence; legal processes like obtaining judicial authorizations; presenting evidence in court; and various investigative strategies. They learn how to work with special police units that provide specific investigative skills, and more. All of this doesn’t happen overnight, but over a period of years and with the tutelage of more experienced investigators along that journey. Trying to turn a group of young and well-educated civilians – no matter how intelligent and well-intended, into a team of elite investigators, would be a complete disaster and unfair to the public or to the officers being investigated. Over my many years as a member or as the Director of the OPP CIB, my colleagues and I investigated criminal allegations against cops from other agencies. Before the SIU was formed, we investigated officers from many Ontario police services – large and small, who had used deadly force. Many were cleared and a number were arrested and charged. We also investigated criminal allegations against police chiefs in Ontario. Again, several were appropriately cleared, and some were brought before the courts. Municipal, provincial and federal elected officials were similarly investigated and some charged. Our members also investigated police officers in other provinces, including high-ranking ones. I personally investigated two Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers that were involved in an arrest that result in the death of a suspect. They were properly exonerated, but I would have charged them in a heartbeat if they had wrongfully killed than man. I arrested an OPP Sergeant for sexual assault. A CIB colleague investigated and arrested two different OPP officers for criminal offences. Both of those officers had been personal friends of mine and years later committed suicide. There are tons of similar examples that I can refer to over my career. All of these involved the oversight and legal analysis of a Crown Attorney, sometimes from another province. The interesting thing, and what most of the anti-police folks will never believe, is that in every single one of those investigations, the dialogue that I was involved in with other officers that I worked with or supervised, involved doing what was right. In other words, “If the allegation is substantiated, we will put the case together, arrest them and put them before the courts.” Not even once, did we think about or do anything that would give an officer a pass when they committed a criminal offence. Never. I have every confidence in the world that the vast majority of municipal and RCMP colleagues across Canada would operate under the same guiding principle. Has the occasional officer worked in conflict with that approach? Undoubtedly. Were some investigators not as committed or capable as they should be and perhaps did a poor investigation accidentally or deliberately? Quite likely so. But I truly believe those cases are the exception, not the rule in criminal investigations. Where I more often believe poor investigations or deliberate attempts to inappropriately give a colleague a break continues to occur, is in Police Act investigations, where policy or employee harassment wrongdoings are suspected. I like to think that the focus on that continues to improve, but not fast enough in some cases. Sadly, I know now that unbeknownst to me at the time, it happened under my watch. A focus for my next article. The public and police deserve the very best of investigators to ensure that bad cops are effectively put out of business and good officers are cleared. If there’s another effective option that would appease the doubting public – aside from using current officers from other agencies or creating a new and costly entity that would be staffed by former police officers, I’d like to hear it.