Anyone in rural areas near Thunder Bay wanting to gain some insight into the workings of their local police force, and how it deals with crime, may want to take a look at the organization’s latest operational review document.
The Ontario Provincial Police last week released its annual report for 2024 which, amongst a myriad of crime statistics, marks the 50th year that women officers have appeared in OPP uniform. Of the OPP’s approximately 6,400 uniformed officers in 2024, nearly 980 were women, according to the report.
The report “highlights the many ways OPP members proudly served our province by protecting its citizens, upholding the law and preserving public safety across Ontario,” OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique said in a news release.
With the exception of Oliver Paipoonge, which is policed by Thunder Bay’s municipal force, all municipalities within a short or long drive from the city are policed by the OPP.
OPP officers across the province last year responded to more than 2.4 million calls for service, including 966,000 calls that came through 911.
On average, the OPP received a mental-health related call every 17 minutes, the reports says. The average time between vehicle crashes within the force’s jurisdiction was seven minutes last year.
Across the province, OPP officers logged about 127 million kilometres on provincial roadways. Not surprisingly, most of the charges they laid last year — nearly 334,000 — fell under the Highway Traffic Act, primarily for speeding and seatbelt violations.
Overall, the number of seatbelt charges rose by 32 per cent compared to the previous year, the report says.
In terms of issues that may impact Northerners, the annual report notes that the number of people who died last year in all-terrain vehicle crashes investigated by the OPP spiked to 34, compared to 24 in 2023.
On the positive side, the report said snowmobile-related fatalities fell to eight from 14 over the same period.
In Northwestern Ontario specifically, overall charges laid by OPP officers declined to 14,249 from 15,244 between 2022-2024. But, perhaps disconcertingly, the number of impaired-driving charges in the region rose to 1,352 from 1,116 over the same period.
By contrast, the number of distracted-driving incidents dropped significantly to 135 from 443 across the Northwest, between 2022-2024, according to the annual report.
Overall, OPP officers in 2024 investigated 124 “major crimes,” including 30 homicides.
The full annual report can be found online at opp.ca.
