Expanded Downtown Policing Unit a visible presence in the city centre

Four new members of the Downtown Policing Unit have been on the beat since the beginning of the year and are committed to making their presence known, seen and felt by both business owners and negative users in the city centre. 

With the additional officers, DPU now includes six Constables and a Sergeant.

 The Downtown Policing Unit provides a first response to incidents downtown and officers engage in various proactive initiatives to target both criminal activity and social disorder.

 “The addition of the new DPU positions will not only increase police presence and visibility downtown, but enhance the team’s capacity to conduct more proactive enforcement of open drug use and other issues,” said Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh.

 Building on the success of targeted enforcement projects throughout 2024 that resulted in more than 300 arrests for open drug use, nearly 450 arrest warrants executed, over 200 criminal charges and 2,000 doses of methamphetamine and fentanyl being seized, DPU and partner LPS units will continue the initiative in 2025.

 The enhanced DPU, along with members of the Crime Suppression Team, Property Crimes Unit, Community Peace Officers and Patrols will conduct similar enforcement projects throughout 2025 that will target high frequency offenders and downtown locations with higher volumes of crime.

 In addition, other DPU-led projects will focus on combating open drug use and social disorder issues that impact that downtown core.

 The DPU is committed to a zero-tolerance approach to open drug use and will conduct ongoing enforcement, seizing all illicit substances, whenever violations are observed. When the weather permits, this commitment will also include rolling bike patrols to seek out and stop open drug use.