THUNDER BAY — City police have been attending more calls than usual, and more officers are being assaulted while on the job.
Officers saw an increase in calls of over 30 per cent on the weekend of Aug. 9 to 12, compared to the weekend of July 5 to 8.
Thunder Bay Police responded to 472 calls last weekend, 150 more calls for service than the same weekend in July.
With an increase in calls, officers are also seeing an increase in suspects assaulting attending officers.
When comparing incidents over the past few years to provincial rates, Thunder Bay is notably higher, consistently by almost triple, in assaults on officers.
In 2021 the provincial average for assaults on officers was 22.11 per 100,000 people. In Thunder Bay, it was 60.29 per 100,000 people.
For 2022, the provincial rate was 22.62, compared to a dip in Thunder Bay of 52.43. While Ontario's numbers slightly increased in 2023 to 23.21 per 100,000 people, Thunder Bay reported a large jump from the year before to 62.28.
Thunder Bay Police report that 52 charges have been laid this year for assaults against a peace officer, including assaults with a weapon, assaults with intent to resist arrest and assaults causing bodily harm.
In 2023, city police laid a total of 76 charges.
There have been two cases recently noted by police where an officer was assaulted during a call for service — with one instance on Aug. 6 and another on Aug. 8.
Police Chief Darcy Fleury noted in a release that "being assaulted is not part of the job." The release also said there were a number of incidents where officers didn't lay charges against an assailant.
In an interview on Friday, Fleury said officers might choose not to proceed with charges based on the circumstances of the incident.
"In any altercation, you try to de-escalate as much as you can. There's always that chance there will be some physical components to the arrest."
Officers who are assaulted have support available through the service: peer-to-peer support, frequent de-escalation training, and other therapeutic avenues.
With such a large disparity that Thunder Bay has compared with data from across the province, Dougall Media asked Fleury if additional funding support for more social workers on the front lines will be added to the police budget when meeting with council during budget talks.
"We're going to be doing a resource review," he said, in regards to what officers are seeing and experiencing during calls.
"[This data] will come into play as to where we are, which will help us formulate and go to the city for further resources."
In regards to the increased calls from July to August, Fleury wished he knew what contributing factors are so that police could try and be more proactive to prevent incidents before they happen.
"We don't really know why – we can't really narrow it down. If we could, then we'd be way more proactive in trying to prevent those things. But really, what happens is it's just the nature of policing. Sometimes you get a really high spike in things, and sometimes you don't."
