The Thunder Bay Police Service Board held their final meeting of 2021.
Police Chief Sylvie Hauth carried out a presentation, discussing the current landscape of policing and challenges officers are facing.
One of the key takeaways focused on drug trafficking in the city, with many arrested being from outside Thunder Bay. This year, nearly 62 per cent of drug arrests are in people that do not live in the city.
It is currently estimated that anywhere between 50 and 75 drug houses are operating in Thunder Bay. The presentation stated that these houses can bring in $2,800 a day. This equates to $46,000,000 a year collectively between all operating houses.
There are currently a significant amount of mental health calls as well, often directly related to substance abuse, occurring within the city of Thunder Bay. This is connected to a lucrative drug trade in the city, where a dealer can make considerably more selling a substance here than they would in Toronto for example.
The discussion then turned towards sudden deaths in the city, with 321 being investigated by Thunder Bay Police between January and Dec. 12 of this year.
“It includes overdoses, it includes natural causes, it includes pretty much any circumstances of anybody passing,” Chief Hauth explained about sudden deaths. “For us, just for the board and the community’s information, when a call comes in, every single call is treated as a homicide and we work our way down. It could be somebody elderly passing in their home, we still approach it as a homicide and work our way down from that level to prove or disprove based on the circumstances, the evidence, and everything that’s on hand.”
The presentation also cited an underfunded service based on the population they serve, amongst other issues:
