600 cops needed now to handle ‘crisis’ in Mississauga, Brampton: police chief

Some 600 new front-line cops are needed right away in Mississauga and Brampton to deal with a “public safety crisis” that’s putting the region’s 1.4 million residents at risk, Peel’s police chief warns.

While 300 of those badly needed officers are expected to hit the streets of Peel’s two cities by next year thanks to a Peel Regional Police budget request that’s likely to soon be approved, that still falls significantly short of what’s required to meet the needs of the community, police brass and municipal leaders say.

“There’s a crisis occurring and on the horizon. Not even on the horizon, (but) right now,” Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah told the region’s two mayors, Mississauga’s Carolyn Parrish and Brampton’s Patrick Brown, at a recent Peel Police Service Board meeting.

The police board is a civilian agency that oversees Peel police operations and gives final approval to all budget requests forwarded to the Region of Peel.

Duraiappah explained that while 600 new front-line troops are needed immediately to bolster Peel’s ranks in order to deal with all of the high-priority calls for service, it’s not realistic to expect that number to be brought on board all at once. Beyond budget constraints, there isn’t enough room at the Ontario Police College to produce the number of recruits needed to beef up the ranks in such short order.

Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah speaks to the police service board about pressures facing his force and its officers.

In the meantime, he added, his under-resourced police force is prioritizing calls for service and responding as quickly as possible to situations where people are most likely in danger.

“The reality is it’s a juggling act … we’re going to pick and choose our priorities right now (in terms of what calls are prioritized). We don’t have the luxury of meeting all the (community’s) needs,” the police chief said.

Officers will continue to try ensure that top-priority calls are addressed quickly, said Duraiappah, but it’s the “lower-priority calls, like minor property crimes or neighbour disputes, that may still face delays.

“We’re not at the spot where we need to be,” he concluded. “The community deserves better.”

Brown said the shortage of front-line police officers in Peel is troubling, particularly as it relates to the growing impact of organized crime in the region and response times to high-priority calls such as those involving intimate partner violence.

Brampton’s mayor noted the number of domestic violence incidents in Peel has skyrocketed since he took the reins of office six years ago — from around 9,000 a year to nearly 18,000 annual calls today.

“I’ve heard feedback from front-line officers who tell me there are not officers able to respond to intimate partner violence calls, not once in a blue moon, but on a daily basis,” Brown told the police chief and members of the board. “If someone is pleading for help, we have to have an officer able to respond.”

He added people in such distress cannot be waiting a day for a police response “when their life can be in danger.”

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown is particularly concerned about police response time to intimate partner violence incidents.

Duraiappah assured Brown, Parrish and members of the board that intimate partner violence/domestic violence calls are considered high priority by Peel police and they’ll continue to respond to such calls as quickly as possible.

The police chief also noted that a “significant rise” in the number of non-criminal calls, such as those related to mental health crises and homelessness-related incidents, is stretching his officers’ time and availability to the limit.

Such calls for service “consume substantial time and resources, impacting responses to quality-of-life issues,” Duraiappah said.

Parrish also acknowledged the immediate need to beef up Peel police front-line ranks.

She asked Duraiappah if the Malton area of Mississauga could get a smaller police sub-station that would be staffed by 30 to 40 officers ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice to where they’re needed in the community.

Peel police Deputy Chief Marc Andrews told the Mississauga mayor they’re looking into such a facility to address the underserved Malton area.