Chatham-Kent police are out with their 2024 annual report from the Operational Support Branch and it showed the Critical lncident Response Team (CIRT) had fewer critical incidents to handle last year.
The report showed the 14 officer tactical team was used 249 times last year, a 5.3 per cent decrease from the 263 incidents in 2023.
CK police said CIRT executed 14 high-risk warrants in Chatham-Kent in 2024 (24 in 2023) in collaboration with the lntelligence Unit and Criminal lnvestigations Division and was paged for a full team response on six occasions, including two missing person reports, two mental health crisis incidents, and two weapons-related incidents.
The report also showed the team was called for fewer missing persons reports and weapons incidents last year compared to the previous year. CIRT officers responded to 30 reports of missing persons last year compared to 47 the year before and 106 weapons calls compared to 122 in 2023. However, calls for mental health crisis were way up from the 35 in 2023 to 52 last year.
"With the growing demand for emergency response teams in policing driven by the rise in weapons-related incidents, assaults, active threat situations, natural disasters, and mental health crises, police units often lack the specialized training and rapid deployment capabilities needed to manage these high-risk scenarios effectively," wrote CK police lnspector Greg Cranston in his report. "Emergency response teams like CIRT play a critical role in delivering immediate, coordinated action that protects lives, reduces harm, and restores order in unpredictable situations."
The 2024 report also showed there were 30 public complaint investigations (33 in 2023) and 50 chief's complaint investigations in 2024.
However, many of those complaints were resolved through either formal or informal resolutions, internal discipline, policy changes, and remedial training, police said. They added that some allegations were unsubstantiated, unfounded, or frivolous in nature.
CK police noted 10 complaints were refused by the provincial agency that oversees police complaints from the public, four were unsubstantiated, two were withdrawn by the complainant, and four investigations continue.
Of the 50 chief's complaint investigations, six were for discreditable conduct, two were investigations by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) that either ended with no charges or were terminated by the SIU, and two were for neglect of duty allegations, while the rest were mainly cruiser crash investigations.
None were for excessive force.
Police said the chief's complaints investigations led to 10 disciplinary actions, two criminal charges, nine counsels or admonishments, and plenty of extra training or policy changes, while three investigations continue.
ln 2024, CK police also reported 147 incidents where force was used on the public, a minor increase from the 145 the year prior, adding 11 were for firearms drawn (10 in 2023), 66 for firearms either drawn or pointed during an arrest (51 in 2023), and 41 for using tasers (56 in 2023).
"This [increase] is largely due to new ministry reporting requirements which direct police to report incidents where a Conducted Energy Weapon (taser) is drawn or displayed for the purpose of achieving compliance and pointing at a subject," said CK police.