The COVID-19 pandemic has not scared away the gang element in the city.
Detective Sgt. Dan Irwin of the Thunder Bay Police Service says his intelligence unit continues to see the same amount of gang activity
“Individuals from (the) Toronto area, Ottawa area continue to come to Thunder Bay…to take advantage of our addiction rates. As far as COVID-19, I don’t see this slowing this down at all.” says Irwin.
The Detective Sgt. says his officers are staying on top of the guns and gangs situation as they also try to avoid getting the coronavirus.
Meantime, there has been no marked increase in domestic violence calls to city police six weeks into the pandemic.
Detective Sgt. Jeremy Pearson indicates the number of such assaults have continued to remain steady.
He says “I’ve not been made aware of any notable uptick in either the severity of incidents or the number of incidents as a result of the social distancing and the isolation requirement of people to remain in their homes.”
