East Gwillimbury 1 of the safest communities in region, says YRP

Yorkregion.com
Dec. 6, 2017
By Simon Martin

East Gwillimbury is one of the safest communities in York Region. That was the message coming from the York Regional Police at a presentation to East Gwillimbury council Dec. 5.

Superintendent of 1 District Michael Slack told council that violent crime in the area is hard to find. The YRP numbers back that up. YRP crime analyst Della Rankin said the most frequent 911 calls in East Gwillimbury were for emotional disturbed persons, check welfare, silent 911s and impaired driving. Rankin said she doesn't see organized crime trend East Gwillimbury like some other municipalities in York. "I'm not seeing violent offences," she said. "It's one of the safest communities that I look at."

Slack noted the police use all the data they receive to make evidence-based decisions. That's why it is so important for residents to report benign incidents like car-break ins because the police can use that information as a piece in a larger puzzle.

Currently East Gwillimbury only is allotted two patrol cars by the YRP while King and Aurora have three and Newmarket has eight. When Coun. Tara Roy-DiClemente asked if they were considering adding a patrol to East Gwillimbury with population growth, Slack said they will look into it but will only act when their information said it is warranted.

"One additional patrol is a $1 million," he said. That being said the police don't want to have a lengthy response time to incidents Slack said and they are always monitoring things like that.

Currently 1 District is based out of the Newmarket Police Station on Prospect but Slack said a new station is coming to Newmarket on Harry Walker Parkway in 2020. There is no room left at the prospect station, he said.

The YRP opened a $30.4-million training facility on Bales Drive in East Gwillimbury earlier this year. The 89,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility that features 10 classrooms, a simulation training room, practical skills training room, 50-metre firing range, police vehicle operations driving simulator, fitness rooms, lockers and a lunch room. The facility acts as a one-stop-training-shop for 2,200 sworn and civilian members.