The Ontario government is helping combat crime and keep communities in southwestern Ontario safe by investing an additional $23.2 million in local police services. Funds will go towards road safety investments, mental health supports, community outreach, and other critical programs and services. There are 90 police service boards in Ontario receiving funding through the Community Safety and Policing Grant program for 147 public safety initiatives focusing on local and provincial priorities such as gun and gang violence, sexual violence and harassment, human trafficking, mental health and addictions and hate-motivated crime. Strathroy-Caradoc Police will receive just over $635,000. The full blanket of provincial funding will be allocated over a three-year period and Police services across Ontario will be required to report twice a year on the financial activities and outcomes of their initiatives.
This investment builds on the approximately $112 million the province has invested to combat gun and gang violence since 2018 with the help of the federal government through the Ontario Guns, Gangs and Violence Reduction Strategy. It also builds on the province’s Anti-human Trafficking Strategy initiatives.
Funding Amounts and Programs
Aylmer Police Services Board
School and Peers Liaison Officers
Mental health crisis team
Support for domestic violence survivors and victims
$403,929
Chatham-Kent Police Services Board
Supporting mental health and addition in the community, and grassroots social issues
$2,613,570
Elgin Group Police Services Board
Mental health and community engagement officers
Traffic safety and enforcement
$379,410
Essex Police Services Board
Mobile crisis response team
Mental health response unit
Youth crisis response team
$1,250,648
LaSalle Police Services Board
Community outreach and support team
Traffic enforcement
$674,388
London Police Services Board
Community foot patrol unit in the downtown core
$8,672,843
St. Thomas Police Services Board
Improving support for domestic violence survivors and victims
Foot patrol team and mobile outreach teams for early intervention and de-escalation for people in crisis
$1,785,766
Strathroy-Caradoc Police Services Board
Road safety
Mental health supports
Human trafficking education
$637,566
Windsor Police Services Board
Community opioid and substance use reduction
Community outreach and support team
Mobile crisis rapid response team
$6,814,980