Torontoist » Crime

Bill Blair’s Message to Toronto About the G20

The full text of Chief William Blair's statement regarding OIPRD's G20 report.

On Wednesday the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), a provincial agency charged with investigating complaints against police, released its long-awaited report on law-enforcement activity during Toronto’s G20 summit. A few minutes ago Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair released a statement in response to that report. The text of that statement in full: [...]

Historicist: How (Not) to Marry a Millionaire

That time Toronto police shut down professional matchmaker Nelle Brooke Stull.

In January of 1936, Mrs. Nelle Brooke Stull came to Toronto with a rich Texan businessman, in the apparent hopes of finding him a bride. A week later, she found herself in police custody, awaiting trial for conspiracy to commit fraud. Nelle Brooke Stull’s professional career began in Elyria, Ohio, some time in the early [...]

Arson Charge Laid in Burning of the High Park Castle Playground

Beloved turrets set on fire last weekend.

Christian Kupiecki, age 19, faces charges of arson and obstruction of justice in connection with last weekend’s fire at the Jamie Bell Adventure Playground in High Park. Officials were called to the scene at about 3 a.m. on March 17 after reports that the wooden castle was up in flames. The playground was built in [...]

Police Officer Charged with Murder

For the first time in the history of the Toronto police force, an officer is facing a murder charge for actions taken while on duty. Constable David Cavanagh has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Eric Osawe, age 26, who was shot in 2010 in the midst of an apartment search. Cavanagh [...]

Our Bad Habit When It Comes to Pot Laws

Included in the Tory crime bill now before the Senate: harsher penalties for marijuana possession which won't reduce interest in pot but could saddle even casual smokers with permanent legal records.

They have a statue on Parliament Hill for the person who turned pot smokers into criminals. It’s not far from the monument to Sir John A. Macdonald and the equestrian statue of the Queen. Emily Murphy was one of the Famous Five—the group of women who argued before the Supreme Court in 1927 that women [...]

Man Stabbed with Scissors in City Hall Library, Suspect in Custody

CP24 is reporting that a man was stabbed in the City Hall branch of the Toronto Public Library this afternoon. The wounds were apparently to his neck and chest, inflicted with a pair of scissors. EMS told reporters that the victim was alert when he was taken to hospital, though the severity of his injuries [...]

Queen’s Park Watch: Premier Dad Says, “No Thanks” to Big Brother Steve

Stephen Harper wants to put more people in jail, but Dalton McGuinty doesn't want to pay for it. Who's going to win?

Dalton McGuinty yesterday joined Quebec Premier Jean Charest in warning the federal Conservative government that he won’t pony up for the huge new anti-crime bill that the government has introduced. The omnibus crime bill that’s united our two solitudes deals not just with offences committed on omnibuses but looks to fix a panoply of crime [...]

Scene: Suspicious Packages at Amazing Party and Costume

WHERE: Amazing Party and Costume, just west of Islington at the Gardiner Expressway WHEN: Tuesday, approximately 2 p.m. WHAT: Amazing Party and Costume bills itself as “Canada’s largest party store,” and its owner is speculating that this success may have garnered the store the wrong kind of attention this Halloween weekend. A total of six [...]

TTC Driver Charged in Fatal Bus Crash

At the end of August a TTC bus was involved in a fatal crash, in which one woman, Jadranka Petrova, died, and approximately a dozen more were injured. Today, police charged 51-year-old driver William Ainsworth with criminal negligence causing death, as well as marijuana possession. Ainsworth has been suspended from duty by the TTC, and [...]

Tim Hudak’s PCs Press “Chain Gang” Initiative

No mention of whether this will actually involve chains.

Penal labour certainly isn’t uncommon, though framing it as a “chain gang” certainly is. And yet, a recent missive from the Ontario PC Party—titled: “Hudak Government Will Make Prisoners Work,” and an attachment labelled “Chain Gang Backgrounder”—calls for mandatory manual labour, stating that “an Ontario PC government will not make prisoners do anything more than [...]

Historicist: A Perfect Crime, Forgotten

"We're completely in the dark," a Trans-Canada Air Lines official admitted after thieves took gold bullion from Malton Airport in 1952 in a seemingly perfect and still-unsolved caper.

On the evening of September 24, 1952, $215,000 worth of gold bullion was stolen at Malton Airport. The heist—which, at the time, was the largest gold robbery in Canadian history—involved no threat of violence and no gun play. In fact, no one had even seen stick-up/hold-up men. Of 10 boxes of gold removed from a [...]

Conrad Black Returning to Jail

CRIME In a Chicago courtroom a few minutes ago, Judge Amy St. Eves reappraised Conrad Black's sentences on a variety of crimes. Originally convicted on three counts of fraud and one for obstruction of justice and sentenced to 78 months, Black subsequently saw two of the fraud charges reversed and was released from prison for a time. The new verdict: a total sentence of 42 months, of which he has already served 29. Black will therefore return to prison for just over a year. Wife Barbara Amiel reportedly collapsed when the verdict was read out.