Number of guns seized from Peel streets declining amid steady rise in shooting victims

The jump in gun violence in recent years is combined with a growing number of workload pressures for Peel police. The redirecting of resources put toward the most heinous types of crime is happening as officers are being used for other problems such as responding to mental health crises impacting more of the population.

These incidents represent one of the largest citizen-initiated call categories for Peel officers. The number of people apprehended by PRP under the Mental Health Act has increased 50 percent over the last six years, from 4,000 in 2014 to about 6,000 in 2019.

Gang violence continues to spread across parts of Brampton and Mississauga in 2020, while Peel Regional Police have been unable to get as many guns off the streets in recent years. The numbers dropped while officers were forced to take up other responsibilities.

The solution: balance the expensive costs of frontline investigations with funding initiatives that deal with the root causes of crime and other crises police are increasingly dealing with.

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Published in The Pointer Brampton and The Pointer Mississauga on October 19, 2020