Tag: Crime

Shooting Victim at Hospital

John Draper

At around 10:45 Tuesday morning (24 March), a car delivered an “adult male” suffering from a gun-shot wound to the Northumberland Hills Hospital Emergency department.  Police were called and are investigating.  Their statement says that “this incident is being investigated by members of the Criminal Investigations Bureau, assisted by members of Uniform Patrol, Forensic Identification Services and Special Constables.  The investigation is in the early stages and investigators believe that this was not a random incident.”  The victim is reported to have “serious but non-life-threatening injuries”  And “the location of the shooting is unknown at this time.”  A photo is being circulated of the car that it’s believed dropped off the man – see below. Because of the crime, the… Read complete articleShooting Victim at Hospital

Update from Cobourg News Blog

John Draper

The news scene in Cobourg has been dominated lately by the Covid-19 Virus epidemic and simultaneously Cobourg News Blog is experiencing technical problems so comments are mostly not possible. The Covid-19 page is being updated several times per day as things happen – but some people wait for the news email so this post provides a summary for them. With many of the businesses on King Street now closed (primarily Restaurants and bars), and others heeding the call to stay home, parking is easy and it’s easy to achieve the recommended social distance.  Lineups (e.g. at a bank) are short.  Last Thursday and Friday, supermarkets (and their parking lots) were crowded with people buying toilet rolls and hand sterilizer so they are… Read complete articleUpdate from Cobourg News Blog

Coffee with the Police Chief

John Draper

On February 19 Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf issued an invitation to have coffee with him at the Dutch Oven on Wednesday evening, March 4.  Then on February 20, he issued a statement that “Members of the Cobourg Police Service including Officers, Auxiliary Officers, Special Constables and Volunteers will be present throughout the Downtown core on foot for extra visibility.” (See link below). The Dutch Oven event turned out to be mostly a public Q & A session where Paul (he prefers to be called Paul) explained his view of what’s happening in our Town.  His focus was on Downtown (King, Covert, Albert) and the area near Transition House but other concerns were also addressed.  The session was scheduled for 5… Read complete articleCoffee with the Police Chief

Police Budget – 2020

John Draper

The good news is that the Police budget request is $6.27M for an increase of 1.09%.  The bad news is that the Town is legally only allowed to take it or leave it with no line by line veto allowed.  That also means that the submitted budget will stand unlike the other departments whose budgets will be scrutinized closely and chopped to get the overall total down to the 1.9% target.  But there’s more good news: the Business Services department is doing well and is not only self-sustaining but contributes to reserves used for Police Capital purchases, $2.9M expected in 2020.  Chief Paul Vandegraaf also spoke about his “pivot” to evidence based policing: that is, measuring results and directing effort… Read complete articlePolice Budget – 2020

Neighbours Unhappy with Transition House Usage

John Draper

Alyson King and Grace Lovekin made an emotional plea to Cobourg Council on Monday 25 November to do something about the problems that have happened Downtown and around the Transition House location at 10 Chapel Street since it reopened.  Instead of being a true transition house for people temporarily without a place to stay, when it re-opened in October 2018 it became a “low-barrier emergency shelter”. Alyson said that “since it has reopened, the neighbourhood has experienced increased and recurring problems with public drug use, people sleeping outdoors, verbal abuse and intimidation, disruptions day and night including physical altercations, theft, and break-ins. While Transition House may not be the “cause” of these problems, it is clearly associated with them as… Read complete articleNeighbours Unhappy with Transition House Usage

Update on Police Activity

John Draper

Over the past few weeks, Cobourg Police seem to be arresting more bad guys – or maybe they are just reporting more despite having recently lost their communications person.  There’s talk that since Peterborough ejected the “tent city” people, some have come to Cobourg but if that’s true, it doesn’t explain most of those arrested.  Police are transparent about what they do and issue Press Releases regularly so I’ve summarized 19 of their emails to get an overall picture.  One of these is a “weekly summary” from a week ago which lists calls received and more details of a few of them. As of August 23, the Cobourg Police Service had 35 sworn officers, 20 Special Constables and 14 Volunteer… Read complete articleUpdate on Police Activity

New Police Officer and Weekly Report

John Draper

Last week was eventful for Cobourg’s Police Service.  They now officially have a new Chief (Paul VandeGraaf) and on 19 August Abigail Amos was sworn in as a regular Constable; she had been a Special Constable since 2017. Her swearing in took place at the Ontario Court of Justice – see photo below.  Chief VandeGraaf said “We pride ourselves on hiring the right people for the right job and it was clear that Constable Amos was perfect for the job and we’re proud to have her as a member of our complement.”  On August 1st, Abigail completed a grueling 13-week program at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer along with 444 others.  On a side note, you may be interested… Read complete articleNew Police Officer and Weekly Report

Police Join Forces to Nab Vehicle Offenders

John Draper

On July 29, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Cobourg Police teamed up with the Ministry of Transportation, the Ministry of Environment and the OPP to do a blitz in accordance with the July S.T.E.P program.  For the month of July,  S.T.E.P. (Selective Traffic Enforcement Program) focused on unsafe loads, commercial motor vehicles, unsafe motor vehicles, modified motor vehicles and loud mufflers (unnecessary noise violations).  The blitz resulted in 22 charges for violations – details are below.  A temporary inspection site was set up in the parking lot of the Fellowship Baptist Church on Elgin near the corner of William/Burnham. Below are some photos of the event (supplied by the Police) plus I have added some highlights of Cobourg Police… Read complete articlePolice Join Forces to Nab Vehicle Offenders