From my blog, Simon Says. Category: Police and Law News.
From the CBC: Toronto police raids snare 71 gang suspects
Project Corral was a Toronto Police investigation involving a number of other services, which focused on two gangs, the Falstaff Crips and the Five Points Generals, as well as the Shower Posse, a Jamaican organized crime syndicate who was supplying both gangs with guns and drugs.
Chief Blair is very proud of himself for the success of this project, as well he should be considering that, in addition to 71 arrests, police seized 10 firearms, $30,000 in cash, $10,500 in casino cheques, cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana, hashish oil and vehicles. This is no small feat and no doubt many lives have been saved.
Most of these gang members lived and operated within the communities of Toronto Community Housing and in the aftermath of Project Corral there will either be a deadly resurgence of these gangs, as they try to reestablish themselves in these communities, or there will be a power struggle to fill the void. Either way this is not good for the officers of Toronto Community Housing!
TCH is comprised of some of the worst government subsidized housing projects in Toronto and is patrolled by unarmed special constables, provincial offences officers and parking enforcement officers! These officers operate as first responders in these communities, assisted by Toronto Police when necessary.
The problem is, Toronto Community Housing officers are significantly under equipped to deal with the situations they are put in. They are often first on scene to calls involving guns, gangs, drugs, assaults, domestic violence, suicides, and shootings. They respond to the same calls that Toronto Police officers do, but they don’t carry a firearm? Mr. Blair, give your head a shake and wake up before one of these officers doesn’t get to go home to his wife and children at the end of the day!
My friend who works for TCH once encountered a drug dealer on a call in an apartment complex. The drug dealer sicked his pit bull on the officers and, in order to save his own life, my friend was forced to kill it with baton strikes to the head. But apparently he doesn’t need to be armed.
Another officer I know in TCH responded to a call that was an hour old for suspicious activity in an apartment complex laundry room, where he had little to no radio reception. When he entered the laundry room he observed two males with marijuana and scales in plain view. He moved in to make an arrest and the males fled. He caught one of them and while patting him down he felt the butt of a pistol sticking out of the back of the his waistband. As soon as he touched it the fight for his life was on. He was eventually able to wrestle the gun away from him and call for help but the male escaped. The pistol was a 9mm semi auto with a do-rag wrapped around the ejection port to catch the spent casings. I guess this officer didn’t need to be armed either.
I can pretty much guarantee that every crazy thing you’ve heard about Toronto has been dealt with by a Toronto Community Housing officer at one point or another. They have a very difficult job to do I sincerely hope, for the sake of these officers and their families, that Mr. Blair and the Toronto Police get a reality check soon and arm them!
Do you or have you ever lived in TCH?
I have and frankly I take offense to the bias that TCH is nothing more than a gang turf war. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I believe security should be unarmed.
I think they should be well trained and work in pairs.
Of course a gun is much cheaper, right?
I find it interesting that this officer you know in TCH arrived an hour later as a first responder. Then upon realizing he was entering an area with “little to no radio reception” he still entered and attempted to arrest two males for drug trafficking? Although, I do have a hard time believing this story as you would need to be pretty daft to scale your marijuana in a public laundry room.
I feel rather than set precedent to arm our security officers, it would be far more beneficial to hire MORE security officers.
I never said that TCH is “nothing more than a gang turf war”, but you’d be ignoring the facts if you suggested that gangs aren’t active in TCH communities.
With respect to your comments about the officer who responded to the suspicious activity call, you have revealed your ignorance of just what law enforcement officers do. I don’t say this in a derogatory manner, I just mean that you seem to have misapprehended what their role is. First of all, he was an hour late because he was dealing with other calls in TCH (of which there are plenty). Second, he entered the laundry area to make an arrest once he had observed the crime in progress because that is his job. He doesn’t get to turn around because he’s outnumbered or because his radio isn’t working perfectly. If I was writing an article about an officer who saw two drug dealers with drugs in plain view and then left, I’m sure you’d be up in arms about it as a TCH resident.
Also, if you find it unbelievable that criminals would be “daft enough to scale their marijuana in a public laundry room” you appear to be ignorant of criminals as well as law enforcement.
I would suggest you request a ride along with a TCH officer for a night. I think you would be surprised…
I know a 70 year old woman with dementia that lives at 20 West Lodge Avenue and has a Certified Guard Dog for her protection. An officer at 14 Division informed me drug dealers have free open access to this TCHC facility and it’s location is in the most dangerous and highest ranked Toronto area for drug dealers.
The TCHC has threatened to have this woman’s tenancy terminated if she doesn’t get rid of the dog and also threatened to contact Animal Control to have them remove Hannah, the Guard Dog, who is also receiving training to be a Certified Therapy Pet. BTW, Hannah hasn’t bitten, attacked or done anything to warrant such action.
According to the Tenant Service Coordinator’s for 20 West Lodge the dog is barking day and night, which I find highly unlikely considering the extensive training Hannah has received. Yes, Hannah does bark, as the majority of dogs do, regardless of size, when someone knocks on the door or if she hears unusual sounds during the night, but due to her training when she is told to stop she does – immediately. Regrettably, the small dog who lives next door keeps yapping even when the owner is yelling at the dog to stop!
I’d like to point out that the breed or size of a dog has nothing to do with their behaviour. When lap dogs growl, bark, and/or jump up, people think it’s cute. “Oh, isn’t Fluffy adorable, she wants to give you kisses.” Yeah right, what she wants to do is bite you. When any dog growls, barks, or jumps up on you, they are displaying signs of aggression. Yet, it’s socially acceptable for small dogs. Dogs are not a fashion accessories, it doesn’t matter the size of a dog, all dogs think the same! Rewarding any dog for this type of behaviour, is simply demonstrating this action is perfectly acceptable – it’s not. Regardless of size, every dog bite can be fatal and it’s the owner’s actions that dictate how a dog responds not the size!
TCHC also implied this woman couldn’t control Hannah due to her size, which isn’t the case. They’ve never seen the two of them together to make a legitimate, unbiased, judgment call. But, they did based solely on their personal opinion without a solid foundation or just cause. Nevertheless, they used this excuse as one of their reasons this woman had to get rid of her guard dog.
One of the superintendents informed this woman he didn’t like the dog. Okay, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but why should this woman have to get rid of her dog because he doesn’t like her? If the information I’ve heard is accurate, he shouldn’t even be allowed access to elderly and disabled people. I’m positive if you were aware of this information, you would be as horrified as I am at what supposedly transpired regarding his actions towards tenants. You definitely wouldn’t want him to have contact with someone you loved.
I have addressed this issue with TCHC, but to-date they’ve refused to supply an answer. Could it be that this information is correct and they’ve provided him access to prey on the elderly and disabled?
Could Hannah’s barking be related to the drug dealers, who according to 14 Division, have free open access to 20 West Lodge?
Why do drug dealers have free open access to a facility for the elderly and disabled? To gain entrance to this building you require a scannable pass card. How are drug dealers obtaining these pass cards? Do they also have access to keys for these units or perhaps a master key?
Why isn’t the security personnel, which I was informed are available 24/7, doing anything about this severe situation?
In view of the above, if this woman was someone you loved, you’d want to do everything within your power to ensure her safety, wouldn’t you?
IMHO, the TCHC should be focusing on the drug dealers having free open access and addressing that problem, instead of harassing a 70 year old woman and her dog.
One last comment, one of the Tenant Services Coordinator’s informed me that every person in the facility has issued a complaint regarding Hannah barking, but another one told the woman’s daughter on Friday they’ve received 40 complaints. From my understanding there are approximately 300 units in this building. There is a vast difference between 40 and 300, which make me wonder if any of these so called complaints are legitimate.
From a logical standpoint, the only possible way 300 people living in a complex the size of 20 West Lodge, could file a complaint is if the staff went from door to door soliciting them, which after my experience with them I wouldn’t be surprised if they did.
Personally, I think some employees of TCHC require a reality check and need to get their priorities straight. Instead their wasting their time harassing a 70 year old woman and her guard dog. One would believe it would be beneficial to have a Certified Guard Dog on the premises with the drug dealers having open access. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, which tends to leave me with the impression there is a serious problem that they are attempting to either cover up or are involved in. It wouldn’t be the first time something along this nature happened and I doubt it will be the last.
TCHC MISSION STATEMENT:
TO PROVIDE AFFORDABLE HOUSING, CONNECT TENANTS TO SERVICES AND OPPORTUNITIES, AND WORK TOGETHER TO BUILD HEALTHY COMMUNITIES.
http://www.torontohousing.ca/our-mission
how do i get on this lawsuit considering my son was shot on TCHC property
This article must not of been researched at all, the only thing true in it is the crime and drugs in TCHC buildings!
A few years ago TCHC stopped having on site security which TCHC states this was done to save money but the truth is TCHC removed the security out of all the TCHC buildings so TCHC head office staff can profit more easily off these drug deals, TCHC security guards are drug dealers which should not be armed, putting a drug dealer in a uniform does not make it ok for any drug dealer to have a gun.
Our Mayor needs to look deeper into this problem as this is more that our taxes being used for TCHC to deal drugs out of there buildings, these buildings are where our young children are growing up, TCHC has no morals when it comes to child safety as every TCHC building is a parents worst nightmare, the chances of a child getting shot in front of a TCHC building is much higher that having a child getting shot in the middle of a shooting range. Around every TCHC building there is used needles, used condoms, used crack pipes, broken glass, the worst everything a child could ever have in there hands to play with and TCHC does not care one bit about this problem or any child safety period.
I have a TCHC crack house right down the hall from me, at the end of every month TCHC staff are knocking on the door to collect the “fees†for the drugs that are dealt in that apartment for that month, this is the problem some of the staff make 200,000.00 a year and then scam every other tax dollar they can possibly get on top of the 200,000.00 a year then profit off the drug deals as well, tax payers are paying for this and I am raising my child in this TCHC building, if my drug dealing landlord was to have guns you think this would help who?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XPM7PbKZr8