The Sarnia area has a problem with the percentage of former prisoners who are rearrested for a similar offense, according to the city's police chief.
Norm Hansen said while the community does have issues with recidivism, he's not sure just how bad the problem is numbers wise.
During December's Sarnia Police Services Board meeting, Chief Hansen told board members that he had asked the service's record manager sergeant to start compiling some stats on recidivism. Hansen said he might soon have a better idea of the numbers he can present to the board.
"Say you wanted to know how many people we arrest who are already out on some form of release -- that's what we'll probably develop for [the board]," said Hansen.
The conversation was prompted by a letter the board received from the Town of Penetanguishene, in Simcoe County, indicating their concerns with recidivism statistics. The letter, included at the bottom of this story, was sent to all municipalities across Ontario.
Board Co-Chair Paul Wiersma said he would certainly support raising awareness on the issue. However, Wiersma said the letter did go on to make a few statements that he didn't feel too comfortable supporting.
"For example, it says 'that a high number of offenders were often being released by the courts and therefore given the opportunity to re-offend' -- I don't know if that's true or not and I would be reluctant to stand behind such a claim," said Wiersma. "Or to say, for example, 'that no lesson is being learnt by most offenders when they are provided with multiple chances' -- once again, that's a claim that I don't feel comfortable supporting."
Wiersma told his fellow board members that they could certainly receive the letter for reformation -- the motion was seconded by Commissioner Kelly Ash.
"I appreciate that this is a concern," said Wiersma. "And I think that raising awareness of these statistics is an important thing to do, and I think the way that COVID has exasperated these things is worth noting as well."
Wiersma added that the judicial system needs to run independently, and that he wouldn't want the police services board in any way to be interfering with that operation.
