Nearly half the people arrested by Ontario’s Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force were out on bail at the time of their arrest, a number that skyrockets to almost three-quarters for minors.
Between Sept. 2023 and Mar. 2024, the task force made 124 arrests, laid 749 criminal charges, seized eight firearms, and recovered 177 stolen vehicles — valued at over $10 million.
The task force was co-led by the Toronto Police Service and Ontario Provincial Police, along with various other local police services from Ontario.
Toronto Police Deputy Chief Robert Johnson emphasized that law enforcement is just one branch of the system.
“It’s really concerning that 44% of those arrested were out on bail at the time of their arrest, and 61% were subsequently released on bail yet again,” he said during the Toronto Police Service’s press conference.
Criminal defence lawyer Ari Goldkind said that only those unfamiliar with the bail system think it doesn’t require reform.
“It focuses on all the wrong questions. It is obsessed with third rail issues that leave not only the victims of crimes helpless and hopeless but leaves victims in the same communities as the offenders at risk and at the will of those very offenders,” he said in an interview with True North.
The police refrained from offering solutions to Canada’s catch-and-release system, noting that this falls within the court’s domain. Goldkind, however, was more direct.
“We need to focus on a dangerousness concept of why people should or should not get bail, rather than irrelevant, unrelated, woke notions of justice, which quite simply are failing Canadians coast to coast,” said Goldkind.
The police also provided details on Project Titanium, an investigation into a criminal network engaged in violent auto thefts, home invasions, and other non-violent auto theft incidents. The project was initiated based on intelligence from the Ontario Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force.
Project Titanium successfully dismantled a criminal network while solving 21 home invasion investigations, making eight arrests, recovering 23 vehicles, and laying 103 criminal charges.
Among the 124 arrests made by the Ontario Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force, 36 were minors, 47% of whom were re-offenders. Twenty-six out of the 36 young offenders, 72%, were released on bail.
“The Youth Criminal Justice Act, in the eyes of many, has become a joke,” said Goldkind. “While it has many noble reasons to exist, for those that do juvenile or youthful hijinks, the change in the last 10 to 20 years of criminality for murder, carjacking, home invasions, and serious crimes of violence by those that know they will not even get a slap on the wrist, or who are being manipulated by those over 18, so as to avoid punishment, is something that should be the top order for our Parliament.”
Johnson said that all police can do is bring offenders before the court, and then the court system takes over.
“Thankfully, in this country, people are given a second chance. But, when it’s multiple times, it is frustrating, for sure,” said Johnson.
Johnson said that auto thefts in 2024 are down 28% in Toronto. However, he added that these crimes have contributed to an increase in home invasions, violent robberies, and gun violence.
“The time for change should be now. The time for historical or kumbaya thinking should be over. The law-abiding and taxpaying citizens of this country deserve no less,” said Goldkind.