All posts by Jessica Chin

Cannabis charges down in most Ottawa city wards, data shows

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More than half of Ottawa’s city wards saw a decrease in cannabis-related charges between 2011 and 2012, according to information obtained from the city’s open data portal. The largest decreases were seen in Stittsville-Kanata West and in Rideau-Goulbourn, with cannabis charges falling by 40 and 46 per cent, respectively. Half of the wards that saw decreases had numbers fall by over 25 per cent, including Orleans, Kanata North, Cumberland, and College. Six other wards, including Osgoode, Knoxdale-Merivale, Kanata South, Innes, Gloucester-Southgate, Barrhaven, and Capital ward also saw decreases. The highest number of cannabis charges over the two years was laid in Rideau-Vanier ward. Police laid 200 charges in 2011 and 240 the following year, accounting for a 20 per cent jump. The lowest numbers were found in West Carleton-March and Gloucester-Southgate.

There are three types of charges police can lay in relation to marijuana, according to Ottawa police constable Marc Soucy. These include simple possession, possession for the purpose of trafficking, and cannabis production.    

Soucy said he couldn’t speculate as to the cause of the changes, since police have yet to analyze any trends in the data. Simply put, he said, “drugs are out there, and we try to stop it.” In 2010, Vern White, the city’s police chief at the time, said he supported marijuana decriminalization. “If this is about, ‘we don’t want people to have a criminal record for possession of marijuana,’ that message is a good message,” White told the Ottawa Citizen. Earlier this year, delegates at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police agreed that officers needed more options in dealing with people caught with less than 30 grams of marijuana. Ottawa police chief Charles Bordeleau told the Citizen that handing out tickets would give police an important third option for those caught with small amounts of marijuana, as opposed to laying criminal charges or not. Soucy said that in the current system, simple possession charges are rarely laid.   Below is a heat map showing the change in the number of cannabis charges in Ottawa between 2011 and 2012, expressed as a percentage

Breaking and entering up 40 per cent in several city wards

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Although a 40 per cent increase in break-ins may be alarming to some, an Ottawa police sergeant says that this is simply a case of serial crime.

The number of breaking and entering cases increased by over 40 per cent in six Ottawa city wards from 2011 to 2012, according to crime statistics from the city’s open data portal.

Break-ins significantly increased in Osgoode, Stittsville-Kanata West, Kanata North, and Kitchisippi wards. The highest increase was in Gloucester-South Nepean, where break-and-enters more than doubled from the year before.

Ottawa police sergeant Kal Ghadban, who is part of the street crime and break and enter unit, said the increases had to do with “one or two specific people” who were responsible for many crimes.

“I can’t think of a time where they’re charged with only one…they’re almost always charged with several,” Ghadban said.

“It could be one or two offenders that have started in that area— that’s not to say that one area is not as safe.”

Ghadban said between 2011 and 2012, there were eight wards that drew his attention- Wards 1, 4, 6, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22.

In Ward 1 (Orléans), there was a 13.7 per cent decrease in break-ins, because police arrested a man responsible for 14 break-ins.

In Ward 4 (Kanata North), there were 30 more break-ins in 2012 than the year before: a 61 per cent increase. Ghadban said two men were arrested for more than 40 break-ins— some in this area— following a joint investigation between Ottawa and Gatineau police.  There were also 30 commercial break-ins that year, and several were in this area.

In Ward 6 (Stittsville-Kanata West), there were 15 more break-ins in 2012 than the year before, representing a 50 per cent increase. Ghadban said police arrested one suspect in the Stittsville area who was also responsible for several vehicle thefts.

Ghadban said a man was found responsible for 24 break-ins across Wards 8, 15, 17 (College, Kitchissippi, and Capital), which were the break-ins police “were able to prove.” Three others were charged in those areas, who each committed 18, 19, and 24 break-ins.

In Ward 18 (Alta Vista), there were 84 more break-ins in 2012, representing a 59% increase. Ghadban said there was new home construction in the area, and instances where people were stealing materials for construction sites and selling them to someone else. One man was charged with 11 break-ins.

“Because there’s new home construction there, it comes down to the definition of a break-in vs. a theft,” Ghadban said.

“At what point during construction does it become a home?”

Finally, in Ward 22 (Gloucester-South Nepean), where the number of break-ins went from 38 to 78, Ghadban pointed to an issue in Manotick. He said there were kids addicted to the prescription drug Fentanyl, and some were committing break-ins to supplement their addiction.

“Once we were able to get a handle on it, all of a sudden, the number came down,” he said.

Ghadban said in-home alarm or security systems are a deterrent for people who commit break-ins.

“When you talk to a lot of these prolific offenders, they will tell you if there’s indicators showing that there’s an alarm in that house, they’ll skip it and move on to somewhere else,” he said.

“There’s so many houses that have [alarm systems] and so many that don’t, so for them it’s easier to go to one that doesn’t.”

Ghadban said that in one month, the number of break-ins can go through the roof, and the rates will go down drastically once the perpetrators are caught.

“If we have break-ins in October November, December, and we don’t catch them until January, the solves don’t go until 2013, they go to 2014, because it wasn’t until 2014 that they were solved,” he said.