New Funding to Keep Northumberland Safe

Pete Fisher
6 years ago
• Categories: News

Province Helping Cobourg Police Service Combat Crime

Ontario is providing new funding for police services across the province to support programs tailored to the unique needs of each local community.

This grant program uses forfeited money generated from criminal activity to assist victims and prevent other crimes. This year, $1.7 million will be invested back into key safety priorities and victim supports in communities across Ontario.

Cobourg Police Service will receive $41,215.50 to fund the Northumberland County Human Trafficking Strategy Coordinator. This grant will provide one full time staff to work alongside key stakeholders in the community to provide training, facilitate partnerships, and establish a strategy to work toward identifying and supporting victims and preventing potential victims of human trafficking.

Strengthening community safety is part of our government’s plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. This plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.

QUOTES

“Civil forfeiture is an important tool to take the profit out of illegal activity and prevent further victimization. By awarding grants to police services, we are investing in initiatives which will have a tremendous impact on communities across the province.”

— Yasir Naqvi, Attorney General

“I am so pleased that our government recognizes the importance of partnering with local police and investing in those local priorities.  By providing these grants, this will assist in making Northumberland a safer community which in turn will create a safer Ontario”

— Lou Rinaldi Member of Provincial Parliament, Northumberland – Quinte West

“Human trafficking can only thrive in a community where there is a lack of awareness and understanding. The Cobourg Police Service is grateful for this financial support to collaborate with our policing and community partners to build a safer community. We look forward to enhancing our collective capacity to combat the issue of human trafficking in Northumberland County in an innovative way through education and training initiative and ensuring adequate support for our victims.”

— Kai Liu, Chief of Police, Cobourg Police Service

 

QUICK FACTS

• The Civil Remedies Act, 2001 allows the Attorney General to ask the civil court for an order to freeze, take possession of, and forfeit to the Crown, property that is determined to be proceeds or an instrument of unlawful activity.
• In November 2017, under the Civil Remedies Grant Program, 21 law enforcement agencies were awarded grants.
• Since November 2003, $56.7 million in property has been forfeited under the Civil Remedies Act.  $17.3 million in assets is currently frozen. The province has distributed $22.5 million, resulting from forfeitures, to direct victims of unlawful activities.
• The Attorney General has awarded approximately $12.9 million in grants under the Act, to law enforcement agencies, to assist victims and prevent unlawful activity that leads to victimization.
• The grant program, created under the Civil Remedies Act, allows forfeited funds to be used to assist victims and prevent unlawful activity.