On Tuesday morning at the DBIA Board meeting, Deputy Chief Paul VandeGraaf addressed some concerns about a rash of break-ins in the Downtown Area.  Since the beginning of August, 12 of 14 break and enter incidents in the Town of Cobourg  occurred downtown.  This can be seen graphically in their crime-plot web page  – see link below.  And on Monday at the Council Meeting, Police Chief Kai Liu presented his Plan for the next three years.  Although described as a Business Plan, there is no financial report but it does include some limited statistics and a lot of detail on the direction and focus.  Also included are the results of a survey of residents indicating what we thought of the… Read complete articlePolice Report – October 2018

Every week, Police issue a Press Release giving a count of what they have responded to in the week and some examples of what they have done.  Typically, there’s not much happening – no murders, armed holdups, drug raids etc but I suppose we should be pleased to live in a Town where the crime rate is low, at least for major crimes.  This week saw a training exercise where Police simulated a situation at the Hospital, apparently imagining a deranged person with a gun.  Pete Fisher reported on the exercise – see link below.  The weekly report by S/Sgt Brent Allison did not mention that but said that between the 13th and 19th of August, Cobourg police responded to… Read complete articleCobourg Police Weekly report

Today Cobourg Police issued a Press Release stating that Cobourg Constable Amy Matthijsse has been charged with 19 counts of Discreditable Conduct contrary to the Police Services Act of the Schedule “Code of Conduct” – that is “willfully or negligently makes any false complaint or statement against any member of a police force”.  The statement by Acting Inspector Jeff Sheils of Cobourg Police said that “after a lengthy investigation, conducted by an independent external law firm, and reviewed by the Durham Regional Police Service’s Professional Standards Section, a Constable with twelve years of experience has been charged under the Police Services Act.” The Release also said that: This first appearance was held today (July 20, 2018) at the Best Western… Read complete articleCobourg Police Officer charged

Cobourg police report that on Monday, May 14th, 2018, at approximately 4:40 am, Police responded to a call for an armed robbery at the Shell Gas Station, located at 1154 Division Street in Cobourg.  It was reported that two males entered the store and demanded cash and cigarettes.  Both suspects were armed with handguns.  The suspects obtained an unknown amount of cash and cigarettes and fled on foot eastbound on Densmore Road. Cobourg Police are asking for the assistance of the public to identify the two suspects. Both suspects are described as male white, 16-25 years – one was wearing grey baggy sweat pants, black jacket, blue hoodie underneath and a black string style back pack.  The other was wearing… Read complete articleArmed Robbery at Shell Gas Station

In April, the Cobourg Police Service, in collaboration with the Ontario Provincial Police, provided a gun amnesty program.  As a result, 19 firearms and a quantity of ammunition were turned in (see photo below).  The idea was to allow people who illegally have guns to get rid of them before they get caught and charged.  An exception is made to the amnesty if the guns  “were used in the commission of a crime” and ”no anonymous submissions were accepted.”  Specifically: “The Gun Amnesty applied to any documented or undocumented firearms, and other weapons and accessories” as well as ammunition.  If there are fewer guns out there, there are fewer that can be used to commit a crime. In their Press… Read complete articleGun Amnesty Results

A post on March 26 by Pete Fisher on his web site Today’s Northumberland said that “despite an overwhelming trail of evidence, Cobourg police had still made no arrests for a break-in”.   Today, S/Sgt Brent Allison told me that they know who the suspect is and are in the process of issuing a warrant.  The man is known to police but has no fixed address so it may take a while to put him in custody.  Although Brent conceded that a “scene of crime officer should have perhaps been sent to the break-in”, the rest of the story is also more nuanced.  The original story by Pete was quite negative about Police performance but most people have not experienced the… Read complete articleWarrant Now Being Issued for Suspect in October Break-in

In January the Police focused on pedestrian safety – I would like to report that they reduced the number of pedestrians crossing on a red light or jaywalking but given the extra-cold January I did very little walking in the month and certainly saw no foot patrolling police or anyone warned.  Perhaps they can repeat this program in mid-summer.  But in February their “Selective Traffic Enforcement Project (S.T.E.P.) for the month of February will focus on distracted driving in Cobourg.”  They quote scary figures by the CAA on how “Drivers engaged in visual-manual interactions with cell phones (e.g., texting) are up to eight times as likely to be involved in a crash” and “Drivers conversing on mobile devices, either hands-free… Read complete articlePolice Focus on Distracted Driving