The province has pledged $964,250 over three years to help Greater Sudbury police create a Bail Enforcement Team.
The funding was announced within the agenda for the Greater Sudbury Police Service Board’s Jan. 24 public meeting, which begins at 10 a.m. at police headquarters.
(Those interested in attending may also do so virtually through Zoom, by clicking here. The meeting ID is 874 5553 5165 and the passcode is 874 5553 5165.)
City police applied for the funding as part of a $112-million provincial boost aimed at helping “to immediately strengthen the province’s bail system and ensure that high-risk and repeat violent offenders comply with their bail conditions.”
Bail enforcement teams such as the one Greater Sudbury Police are creating will “assist prosecutors with gathering evidence and assessing public safety risk during the bail hearing stage,” according to a media release issued by the province.
According to the report on the police board’s agenda, the Bail Enforcement Team will consist of a civilian bail compliance co-ordinator and two dedicated officers from the Criminal Investigations Division whose sole responsibility will be conducting bail compliance checks and arresting people who have outstanding warrants.
New monitoring software will also be purchased.
Accompanying the team will be an enhanced bail package and dedicated Crown attorney to “provide improvements to the current process relative to violent and high-risk offenders.”
This follows a moratorium between the police service and the Crown’s office for Intensive Serious Violent Crime Bail Teams, announced by the Ministry of the Attorney General in November 2023.
In the moratorium, an enhanced bail package is described as “a concise, focused compilation of relevant materials provided to the court as the Crown’s evidentiary record for use on a bail hearing” aimed at “demonstrating the strength of the case against the accused person.”
Earlier this week, Elizabeth Fry Society of Sudbury executive director Cory Roslyn told Sudbury.com that keeping people incarcerated longer won’t resolve underlying issues.
“The argument has been made in Ontario that changing the law to ensure more people are held in jail while waiting for the resolution of their charges will meaningfully enhance public safety,” she said.
“Decades of evidence regarding the bail system and the impact of pre-trial detention demonstrates that this assumption is inaccurate – and if used as the basis for legal reform, has the potential to cause significant harm to individuals and the public.”
John Howard Society of Sudbury CEO Sara-Jane Berghammer noted that incarceration “does not equate to rehabilitation,” and that more needs to be done to support inmates while they’re behind bars if we expect them to do better upon release.
Greater Sudbury Police Service staff moonlighting
Also in the Jan. 24 agenda is a report on GSPS staff taking on other jobs and/or roles in the community.
Such roles need to be approved by Chief Paul Pedersen, “to ensure that outside activities do not interfere with the member’s duties or detract from public trust and community confidence in the Greater Sudbury Police Service.”
Last year, Pedersen received 18 new requests for secondary activities from 14 members, including a cross-section of sworn and police professionals, and he approved all of them.
Included in members’ moonlighting gigs includes the following classifications: personal support worker, Sudbury Wolves organist, Cambrian College instructor, PepsiCo product stocker, Theatre du Nouvel-Ontario volunteer, Aaron Taxi driver, auto detailing, security, Lewis Kay Casting cast member, teacher, First Aid/CPR instructor, Talk Suicide Canada telephone responder, Northern Ontario Hockey Association recertification instructor, Sounts Canada leader, volunteer firefighter and Canadian Armed Forces.
Authorized strength hits 435
GSPS’s authorized strength is now 293 sworn members and 142 civilian members, hitting a grand total of 435.
This follows 2024-25 budget deliberations in which the police board and city council both unanimously approved boosting the GSPS complement of staff by 26 members by the end of 2025.
(Prior to this boost taking effect when city council approved Greater Sudbury’s 2024-25 budget on Dec. 19, GSPS had an authorized strength of 423, including 283 sworn members and 140 civilian staff.)
As a cost-saving measure, hiring for certain positions has been delayed to mid-year, while the balance of hiring will take place in 2025.
The current actual strength at GSPS is 283 sworn members and 140 civilian members, and selection is currently underway for a March intake at the Ontario Police College.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com. With files from Jenny Lamothe.
