PUBLICATION:
The
Toronto Sun
DATE:
2003.09.27
EDITION: Final
SECTION:
News
PAGE:
7
ILLUSTRATION:
photo by Jonathan
Jenkins - POLICE Chief Julian Fantino inspects seized weapons yesterday.
BYLINE:
JONATHAN JENKINS, TORONTO SUN
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GUNS
TARGET OF TASK FORCE
MORE
OFFICERS ASSIGNED TO MOST-WANTED LIST
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A
hit list of Toronto's 400 most violent and prolific criminals is now in the
hands of a new street violence task force and cops will be working through it
one name at a time, Police Chief Julian Fantino said yesterday.
"There
will be no get out of jail cards and there'll be no winking and blinking at
these criminals," Fantino said. "We can't let them any longer think
they can run this city."
The
new task force hit the streets Sept. 15 and has already arrested 41 people,
seized three guns and laid 115 charges. It will work alongside the existing guns
and gangs task force, which Fantino said has had some success but not enough.
The
chief said he didn't want to get into details about the number of officers or
money he's throwing at the list, made up of what he called the most dangerous
and prolific gangsters in town.
But
he vowed the new street violence task force will have zero tolerance for the gun
violence Toronto sees almost every weekend.
"There
is a relatively small group of people in our city who actually believe they can
live outside the law. They believe violence is the only way to satisfy their
desperate greed and despicable need for power and control," Fantino said.
"We have compiled a list of some 400 criminals we are targeting. The task
force will put these people out of business, one criminal at a time."
The
task force will rely heavily on intelligence from tipsters, informants and other
sources.
And
while he acknowledged crime stats have been drifting lower for several years
now, Fantino said gun crime is a problem that just won't go away.
Just
under 50%, or 17 of the 40 murders so far this year, have involved guns, and
guns are involved in fully half of all armed robberies. Cops have seized more
than 1,500 guns in 2003, averaging 42 a week.
The
federal gun registry, criticized for costing too much, has been of precious
little help, he said.
Fantino
repeated his wish for mandatory 10-year sentences for gun-related crimes,
tougher and more consistent bail and release conditions and an agreement with
hospitals for automatic reporting of gunshot injuries.
"It's
always been fascinating to me that an automobile repair shop must report a
bullet hole in a car to police, but when a hospital treats a person with a
bullet wound they don't have to report it," he said.
SAD
FACTS
-
Gunfire has injured 2,900 people in Toronto since 1998.
-
Of the 328 murders in the city since 1998, 135 involved guns.
-
In 1998, 13 out of 56 homicides were gun crimes; last year 28 out of 61 murders
involved guns.
-
Of the 550 arrests so far this year for gun-related crimes, 30% had a criminal
record.