Mississauga, Brampton cops join others across Ontario to fight gangs and guns
Published July 13, 2022 at 5:21 pm
Peel Regional Police have joined forces with cops across Ontario in a partnership they say will better equip them to fight the rising threat of gangs and get more guns off the streets in Mississauga and Brampton.
Led by the OPP, the new Guns and Gangs Joint Forces Operation (JFO) promises to increase intelligence sharing among law enforcement agencies across the province and provide additional enforcement tools through a $75-million injection of cash from the provincial government.
The undertaking, JFO officials say, will allow police to put in place a Guns and Gangs Enforcement Strategy across Ontario as gang-related crimes and use of guns are both on the rise across the board.
Essentially, police say, the fledgling partnership will allow cops to better collaborate “to enhance public safety and effectively disrupt gang networks and their associated criminal activities.”
Peel police Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said there is strength in numbers and collaboration when battling such criminals. The new initiative, he added, will reap benefits almost immediately.
“It will help ensure that the people involved in these crimes are held accountable regardless of the jurisdiction. Jurisdictional borders are irrelevant to criminality and need to be treated the same in developing effective police responses,” said Milinovich.
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The JFO consists of numerous police agencies from across Ontario (and one in Quebec) including police forces in Peel, Hamilton, Halton, Niagara, Toronto, Waterloo, York, London, Kingston, Windsor and the RCMP, among others.
The police agencies say that collecting and sharing information is vital to address public safety risks posed by guns and gangs in Ontario.
Peel police say that criminal activities of gangs, and the ensuing violence and victimization, continue to impact Mississauga, Brampton and smaller communities across Ontario.
“Illicit drugs continue to be the primary commodity through which gangs generate profit by dominating street-level sales in communities across the province,” police said in a news release. “Gang-related crimes are on the rise as is the presence and use of illegal firearms to commit serious offences causing injury and death to participants and innocent bystanders.”
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