You likely won’t spot them working, but due to their efforts the Northumberland OPP Community Street Crime Unit has seized over one million dollars in the drugs in the last year.
Today’s Northumberland sat down with Northumberland OPP Detachment Commander Inspector Brian O’Halloran, Community Street Crime Unit Detective Staff Sgt. Scott MacPhail and Lead Investigator for the Northumberland OPP Community Street Crime Unit, Detective Sgt Rick Dupuis at the Northumberland OPP Detachment in Cobourg on Monday, May 13, 2019.
MacPhail is Operations Manager for the CSCU that started throughout the OPP in April 2017 when a number of units were amalgamated.
The mandate of the unit is to investigation street level drug and property crime.
“From my perspective it’s what we’ve envisioned for a long time and the way it should have been as far as tackling street level drug and property crime,” said MacPhail.
From May 2018 – May 2019 the Northumberland OPP CSCU:
Occurrences Investigated: 252
Warrants Drafted: 61
Warrant Service Entries completed: 14
Persons Charged: 197
Total Charges: 959, of those 288 were illegal drug charges
Drug Seizures – the primary drugs seized include Fentanyl and Cocaine (including crack cocaine). In the past year, almost $1 million worth of drugs has been seized by Northumberland OPP CSCU ($931,513).
Gun Seizures – 30 firearms have been seized by Northumberland OPP CSCU in the past year. This would include restricted firearms, prohibited firearms / devices, rifles, shotguns and all other guns.
Seized Property:
Vehicles: 19
Cash: $60,000
Opioid overdoses are the main focus of members of the unit when they are investigating drug offences.
“They want to ensure they are catching the people responsible for the drug overdoses in the area,” said MacPhail
“On the property side, we’re looking for suspects that are committing serial break and enters, responsible for commercial crime, break and enters into businesses or home invasions.”
In his experience, MacPhail said when people are arrested for property crimes, “it’s typically to support a drug habit.”
“That’s why the Community Street Crime Unit is engaged both in illegal drug activity and property crime because there is that link.”
Purple heroin or Fentynal has caused a lot of the overdoses. For one gram of cocaine it costs approximately $100.00, for purple heroin/Fentanyl it costs $50.00 a “point” which is equivalent to .1 of a gram. (one ounce is 28.35 grams, but MacPhail is referring .1 of a gram)
Having the Community Street Crime Unit is “definitely” making a difference said MacPhail, but opioid overdoses are getting worse.
MacPhail gives praise of the program in the area to Det. Sgt. Rick Dupuis who is in charge of the unit for Peterborough and Northumberland County OPP.
There are four members from Northumberland County and four from Peterborough County.
In Central Region there are seven teams of the Community Street Crime Unit and there are seven Sergeants who run the teams.
Dupuis’ background is in the Drug Enforcement Unit, Organized Crime Unit, Biker Enforcement Unit and more.
“Basically he’s at the high end of what our investigative expertise would be for the program.”
“He sees what needs to be done in the area and how to attack it with investigative techniques.” “That’s why we’re seeing great success in these areas.”
Although the CSCU has been very successful in the area since its inception, Dupuis still says there has been an increase of drug activity in Northumberland.
“The main reason for that is because of the 401 corridor.”
Dupuis said Northumberland County and Peterborough County is “ripe for the picking.”
Drug trafficking is like any other business except for one thing – it’s illegal.
“They go out and maximize their profits.”
The Toronto area is saturated with drugs and drug traffickers, and that brings down the profit margins.
Dupuis said the profit margins around the GTA are “average to slim.”
But coming out of the city in towns and areas of Northumberland County, traffickers can maximize their profits in “virgin territory.”
“What you sell for $60 to $80 of cocaine in the city would sell for $20 to $30 a gram more because there are fewer dealers.”
“It’s supply and demand and maximizing your profits.”
Last year the CSCU arrested a person from downtown Toronto who was supplying Peterborough County and the city of Peterborough.
The suspect would drive to the Peterborough area twice a day simply because of profit.
“He would double his profit making $5,600 for every ounce of cocaine that was broken up and sold.”
“For the hour-and-a-half drive from Toronto to Peterborough it made sense to him. There is no other reason for it. It’s not like they love our communities or it’s picturesque – it’s the drugs and profit.”
In Cobourg last year one person was arrested by the CSCU with a loaded weapon and faced several drug charges. He was recently sentenced to 12-years in prison.
The problem police are facing now in Northumberland County is street gangs who come to peddle their drugs.
“We’re encountering a large number of street gangs that have immigrated outside the GTA and into the OPP jurisdictions.”
A dealer from the city can insert themselves in a residents in the area for a number of hours, or days to sell their drugs.
“Basically like a gypsy until you move to another area.”
That makes it very difficult for police to get a handle on things. And the bad guys know it.
“They can be here as little as few hours or two to three days at a time, sometimes weeks, but typically hours to days.”
When Dupuis started in 2001 traffickers used to sell product from their own homes.
“It’s not that easy anymore for police.”
And with most of the traffickers being repeat offenders it frustrates police as much as it does the public when the courts release them.
“It’s absolutely frustrating.”
“Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason, but we do the best we can. We don’t do it to lose.”
Traditionally the more the offender is involved in the court system, the more they get educated with the system.
“When they’ve been arrested several times, I can assure you it’s going to require my team to go that extra mile and take a couple of extra weeks or extra months to catch them because they get privy and savvy to our investigative techniques.”
Marijuana takes a back seat to the Unit in most cases even though there are still offences in the Federal Cannabis Act.
“Frankly we have more pressing and more important things to investigate.”
Heroin, Fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and crack cocaine.
“Those are our drugs of choice in terms of priorities.”
The level of danger for the drugs that are being distributed on the streets is much greater than just a few years ago.
With any overdose, fatal or not, it takes up a lot of resources in terms of investigations for police.
The CSCU is mandated to become engaged in those investigations.
“Not only do we get involved in the drug trafficking, and break and enters, but if somebody has supplied someone with a product or a substance and a person overdoses, the OPP Crime Unit gets engaged and so does the Street Crime Unit.”
With more overdoses taking place it takes up more time and resources.
With any drug investigation police need to get to the supplier.
“If we can get to the top of the food chain/supplier and arrest them for trafficking or negligence than obviously that will eliminate any overdose by that person.”
Investigating property crimes, Dupuis said if people want something bad enough and are willing to steal it, they are usually successful.
“But it’s incumbent upon us and the public to minimize that risk. Don’t leave your keys in your car, don’t leave your car running in the winter, don’t leave belongings in the vehicle. Do everything you can to prevent it.”
The general public won’t see members of the Unit as 75 to 80% of the work is behind the scenes. They tend to blend in while they observe suspicious activities. If the public does see them, Dupuis freely admits, the members aren’t doing their jobs properly.
Members of the public can help stop crime when they see something suspicious, call police, call Crimestoppers.
“In my line of work, confidentiality is absolute.”
“Anybody who wishes to speak to the police and has any information or any intelligence regarding property crime or drugs and wishes to remain anonymous and has no direct correlation to the crime we will guarantee confidentiality.”
Even call a detachment and ask to speak to a Community Street Crime Unit investigator.
“I can assure you any of my members will speak to anyone.”
With crime having no borders, Dupuis adds, neither do police.
“You may have noticed that we’ve done a bit of work in Cobourg. The reason for that, and it’s not to undermine the police service within Cobourg and it’s not to indicate we are better than anyone else. But I will say to you, we are well trained, well funded and we have the resources available.”
“I don’t need an invite or authorization to go anywhere to execute a warrant. If my investigation directs me into Cobourg, that’s where we’ll end up.”
As a professional courtesy Dupuis adds they will notify police agency, “but we will enforce our investigations anywhere.”
The CSCU has worked had Cobourg Police Service join them on recent investigations and that invitation is always there to work collaboratively together.
Inspector Brian O”Halloran adds, “our main goal is public safety. We will go above and beyond to make sure all the citizens in Northumberland are looked after as best we can.”
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
