WARMINGTON: Current, former cops say it's time to get serious about fighting crime
As a cop, Ron Chhinzer was known for stopping crimes before they happened.
This is why he decided to run for politics. He started his career in intelligence, which offered an opportunity to intercept a plan before it happened and to try to protect his community.
He was good at it and won awards, including Toronto Police officer of the month in 2014.
From guns and gangs to community policing, Chhinzer did an amazing job for two decades with the Peel Region and Toronto services before also going into private business. Born as Randeep but known by everybody as Ron, he has continually said that his goal is to make Canada safe again.
WARMINGTON: Man fatally shot by cops for pointing a gun had done this before
WARMINGTON: Exclusive video shows Toronto cops had to shoot 16-year-old who was shooting at them
Chhinzer, who is the Conservative candidate for Oakville East, said one of the biggest problems during this campaign was no one was talking about crime as the mayhem was raging all around.
Of course, he is right about that.
'If you're a Canadian who's been a victim of a crime and can't figure out why dangerous repeat offenders keep walking free,' he said, 'know that in the English Liberal leadership debate they never even mentioned crime.'
Head-in-the-sand approaches don't stop crime.
'In places like Oakville and all over, regular people — families, workers — are getting victimized by organized crime, auto theft, carjackings and home break-ins so violent you're staring down a gun,' Chhinzer said in an online forum on violent crime, adding 'victims matter' and the public deserves better.
Now is the chance to make things better. Now that the votes are in, the time is here to get serious about mental health, drugs and guns in the street. No more excuses. No more sugar-coating it. It's a national emergency and it needs a national solution.
Cities and towns are losing this war. And people are dying.
With the election out of the way, there should be no delaying people rolling up their sleeves and getting to work on this. Don't wait for any more mass slayings or foiled ones, whether it be death by car, stray bullets or overdoses.
'When will we see change?' said Toronto Police Association president Clayton Campbell, who has been ringing the bell on this issue for the last year.
The change has to come immediately. Canada deserves better than the country to slip into looking like a zombie apocalypse. The public is counting on the next prime minister and cabinet to make public safety and family affordability priorities of this new government.
And it must be done before anything else is accomplished.
If there is any lesson to be learned from the car attack in Vancouver that left at least 11 people dead and dozens injured, it is that police and health professionals had more than 100 interactions with the accused, Kai-ji Adam Lo, before he was charged with eight counts of murders and more expected to come.
The question is: How was this guy released into the public with such an extensive history of mental illness calls involving authorities? Why are violent people so easily released? And why do politicians dump all of this onto constables policing the streets?
Officers are asking this question, too.
'Like everyone impacted by this tragedy, they, too, will be changed forever by what they saw and experienced that day,' said Campbell. 'It is incredibly frustrating to see so many lives affected.'
But there has to be lessons learned.
'Mental health does not equal violence,' said Campbell. 'And yet innocent lives are lost and police are left to pick up the pieces.'
Peel Regional Police Association president Adrian Woolley agreed.
'I have to call out the (previous) Liberal government's continued failure to take crime and mental-health issues seriously,' said Woolley. 'Saturday's tragic events in Vancouver and a shooting at Pearson Terminal 1 only six days ago are stark reminders of what happens when leaders prioritize politics over public safety.
'Communities across Canada are being left vulnerable, while frontline officers face growing threats every day.'
Both police association leaders, who went into those roles for the same reasons Chhinzer did, have had to endure the trauma of each having two officers fire their weapon at an assailant who pulled a gun on them last week.
Things are not safe in Canada for officers or the public. In both cases, the young men who pulled a gun on officers were shot and killed.
In North York, Toronto Police officers fired on what turned out to be a 16-year-old boy, who video shows produced a gun and fired it.
At Pearson airport, Peel cops were faced with a 30-year-old man, Daniel Dolan, who sources said was being dropped off at the airport by his sister and her boyfriend to travel to Yukon to stay with a friend when a disagreement ensued. Despite de-escalation tactics used by security and police, he allegedly produced a gun and was shot.
Whatever the reason, it's tragic, unacceptable and needs to be addressed immediately with the newly elected government.
'The next government will take the bold steps necessary to protect public safety, protect those with mental-health issues and protect those who protect others,' said Campbell. 'The incident in Vancouver is just devastating and our thoughts go out to the victims and their families. We also want to send our support to the police members and other first responders.'
Woolley added that 'it's time for real action and change, not empty promises.'
They say that time is now. Will the newly elected members of Parliament listen?
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