The Treaty Three Police Service is among 21 organizations receiving new crime prevention funding.
Associate Minister of Children and Women’s Issues Jill Dunlop says $6-million will be doled out to police agencies over the next three years to implement crime prevention and community safety initiatives.
“This grant funding is from assets seized from criminal prosecutions, and it’s going back into the community and back to victims and survivors to help them heal,” explains Dunlop.
Treaty Three Police are using $300,000 for their Spirit of Hope Project to reduce domestic violence and human trafficking.
Premier Doug Ford welcomes initiatives like that.
“Too many of our young people are being recruited and preyed on by these gangs. Too many of our young women and girls are preyed on by human traffickers. It’s disgusting, and we’re going to work with our police partners to intervene earlier and stop these heinous crimes,” says Ford.
Other initiatives to receive funding include:
- Providing training for frontline officers to help them better recognize gang activity and gather intelligence on crime;
- Adding community patrol officers to neighbourhoods experiencing a surge in gang-related violence or activity to strengthen relationships with community members and deter at-risk youth from entering gangs;
- Developing and implementing a diversion program to help at-risk youth exit gangs;
- Supporting covert operations run by police, supported by victim advocates, to identify potential victims of human trafficking and hold offenders accountable;
- Providing enhanced trauma-informed training and interview techniques for frontline officers to interact with victims in a compassionate and thoughtful way;
- Bringing together municipal, First Nations and provincial police to improve community responses to human trafficking to help survivors access the supports they need to safely move forward with their lives; and
- Launching comprehensive education campaigns targeting groups that are more susceptible to becoming victims of human trafficking, such as women in low-income groups, Indigenous and immigrant women, and at-risk youth.
