February 2024
Re: “Canada keeps shampoo off jets but not stolen SUVs off ships” (Joe Warmington, 9 February):
One of the things that Justin Trudeau needs to do is to immediately re-form the Ports Canada Police Service, a specialized federal police service that was disbanded in July 1997. Formed as the law enforcement arm of the National Harbours Board, which became Ports Canada in 1983, the port police date back to 1837, with the formation of a river police force to guard the port facilities in Quebec City and Montreal.
Ports Canada Police, previously known as the National Harbours Board Police (NHBP) from 1968-1983, was a private police service, responsible for the safety and protection of Ports Canada facilities in St. John’s, NFLD, Saint John, N.B., Halifax, N.S., Quebec City, Que., Montreal, Que., Churchill, MB and Vancouver, B.C.
Ports in Hamilton and Toronto used to have their own harbour police forces, but those too have been disbanded in favour of local police protection.
As a private agency, funding for Ports Canada Police came from port fees charged to businesses and shippers using the harbour facilities, rather than government coffers. While Ports Canada Corporation, as a tax-paying private entity, obviously has financial reasons for preferring public-sector policing instead of funding their own police service, the security of our ports and the ability to effectively combat the stolen vehicle problem is too important an issue to leave it to the bean-counters.
A dedicated ports police, whether publicly or privately funded, could focus on the ports better than the RCMP, Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), or local police services, which despite being good agencies, have different mandates that don’t always include the protection of ports. This is besides the fact that local police services have their own issues to deal with, and can’t always dedicate officers to deal with the ports. The City of Vancouver, for example, has a serious drug problem on their city streets, so while they do patrol the ports, it’s not their primary focus.
In 1981, then-Director General of Police and Security for Canada’s National Harbours Board, Donald N. Cassidy, stated to a hearing on security in the Port of New York / New Jersey, “…that as long as the protection of cargo remained with private security agencies the high standards required in cargo protection would not be reached.”
This is in contrast to the officers with Ports Canada Police, and previously NHBP officers, did more than guard port facilities. They walked the terminals and container sheds and visited every incoming ship, speaking to the captain, examining crew manifests, checking people and the containers being transported. The port police ensured a physical presence within the port, with its officers understanding the environment better than officers dispatched from outside agencies.
Additionally, as pointed out by Director General Donald N. Cassidy, “The municipal force, he explained, does not have the resources to delve into complex organized-crime investigations.”
It’s unknown how exactly how much of an impact a dedicated ports police service could have on current problems, such as auto thefts, drugs and weapons smuggling, but we must concede that the current method isn’t working.
**********************************************************************************************************************
The original column that inspired my column:
WARMINGTON: Canada keeps shampoo off planes but not stolen SUVs off ships
How do 4,000-pound stolen cars, luxury SUVs and pickups get shipped across the ocean without detection?
Published Feb 08, 2024
You can’t get a bottle of shampoo larger than 100 ml past security on a commercial flight, so how is it that 4,000-pound stolen cars, luxury SUVs or pickup trucks can be shipped across the ocean without detection?
Is it okay for media to ask Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that question? Or should we just blame Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre for daring to do so?
We’re not talking about a tube of toothpaste here or there sneaking by.
Canada has between 90,000 and 105,000 vehicles stolen each year – many of which now on roads in Europe or Africa through the stolen vehicle cartels. None of it has ever added up.
But now, finally, government called together the stakeholders to Ottawa on Thursday for the National Auto Theft Car Summit.
Better late than never.
“Vehicle theft is an epidemic in this country,” Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw told them.
Halton Regional Police Chief Steve Tanner, Peel Regional Police Chief Nish Duraiappah and OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique have said the same.
But government has not been listening – until now.
“Toronto has experienced a dramatic spike in auto thefts over the last several years – more, by far, than any other city in Canada,” Demkiw said. “In 2023, there were more than 12,000 vehicles stolen in Toronto alone.”
He explained that amounts to 34 vehicles stolen every day, or one every 40 minutes.
Sources: https://www.delta-optimist.com/local-news/dpd-chief-appeals-to-canadas-police-chiefs-in-call-for-port-police-7837421, https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/b-c-solicitor-general-says-port-police-should-be-reinstated, https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/revive-port-police-to-fight-organized-crime-on-the-waterfront-delta-chief-says/article_3b5392f6-7aef-5f76-bb8d-732daadc84f4.html, NATIONAL HARBOURS BOARD POLICE NOW ONE OF WORLD’S MOST INNOVATIVE FORCES – CANADA | Office of Justice Programs (ojp.gov), Is there a legitimate role for dedicated ports policing in Canada (primetimecrime.com), Policing Our Ports_document design (delta.ca), publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2014/bcp-pco/CP32-37-1981-2-1-1-eng.pdf.
