For Immediate Release: April 16, 2009

(Toronto, ON) – The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) kicked off its inaugural provincial Crime Prevention Campaign designed to provide Ontarians with tips on preventing crimes before they happen.

“Police leaders and front-line officers hear from many ordinary citizens that they believe that crime increases during an economic downturn,” said OACP Interim President Chief Dan Parkinson, Chief of Police of the Cornwall Community Police Service. “Whether or not there’s a correlation between increased crime and economic bad times is open to debate. But if citizens feel more vulnerable during such times, it’s our job as law enforcement officers to help people practice simple but effective ways to lessen the possibility that they will be a crime victim.”

The Campaign was officially kicked off at Toronto Police Service Headquarters by Deputy Chief Kim Derry (Toronto Police Service), Chair of the OACP Crime Prevention Committee. Deputy Chief Derry was joined by Chief Parkinson and a number of corporate and community partners to launch OACP’s new 2009 crime prevention booklet. The booklet contains a variety of crime prevention tips focusing on auto theft and insurance fraud, two of the most common types of crimes facing Ontarians.

“Crime Prevention is a major priority for all police services across the Province.” said Deputy Chief Derry. “By focusing on auto thefts and insurance frauds – two types of crime that can be prevented if citizens take precautions – we hope to raise public awareness and foster partnerships between police and all members of the community to help prevent crimes. We’d rather prevent a crime than have to deal with the consequences of crime.”

OACP’s crime prevention booklets are being made available to all police services in Ontario by the OACP to support local crime prevention initiatives.

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Members of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police serve their communities as
the senior police leaders in municipal, regional, provincial, national, and First Nations
police services across Ontario