Latest news with #Canada-wide
CTV News
6 hours ago
- CTV News
Wanted prisoner caught in Montreal
A prisoner wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, known to frequent the South Bruce area, has been caught in Montreal. On July 6, OPP alerted the public of the incident where a prisoner escaped a Quebec correctional institution. He was identified as 69-year-old Lory Bill Germa. Germa was convicted in a 1992 murder. OPP said the alert was sent to Bruce County and Hanover 'out of an abundance of caution'. The alert is now cancelled as police caught the man.
Hamilton Spectator
2 days ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Deceased St. Catharines firefighter's stolen SUV found in Mississauga
Larry Pearce's stolen grey Honda CR-V has been found in Mississauga by police who were responding to reports of a vehicle on fire. Peel Regional Police responded to the area of 1875 North Sheridan Way in Mississauga at 8:50 p.m. Thursday. Niagara Regional Police detectives believe Davy Rocchetti was driving the Honda. Rocchetti is wanted in the death of Pearce, 82, a father of two with several grandchildren and a former St. Catharines firefighter. Pearce died after a confrontation at Charles Daley Park in Lincoln on July 17 during which his vehicle was stolen. Niagara police homicide detectives travelled to Mississauga to confirm the vehicle belonged to Pearce. A media release from the NRP said further investigation showed the vehicle entered the green space off Springbank Road at about 8:20 p.m., before being intentionally set on fire. A lone individual was seen walking away from the area shortly thereafter. Rocchetti's whereabouts remain unknown, and efforts are ongoing to locate him under the authority of a Canada-wide warrant. He is wanted for second-degree murder. Rocchetti also has outstanding warrants in an unrelated matter, including mischief under $5,000, theft under $5,000, three counts of operation while prohibited, and failure to comply with probation. In an earlier release, police said Rocchetti had a dog with him, a pitbull-style breed with white fur and black and brown markings, including a dark spot over the dog's left eye. NRP detectives continue to appeal to anyone who was at Charles Daley Park on the morning of Thursday, July 17, between 7 and 10 a.m., to contact investigators. Pearce was alone visiting the park. As he was preparing to leave at about 9:40 a.m., he was stopped by a man. Police said Pearce got out of his vehicle, at which point the man got in the driver's seat. Pearce stood in front of his vehicle to prevent the man from leaving and he fell to the ground during the confrontation, police said. He died the next day in hospital. Pearce retired from the St. Catharines fire department in 1999, following a 32-year career with the service. In recent years, he could often be found relaxing at Charles Daley Park or watching the sunset in Port Dalhousie while in the company of old friends. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
What Canada can learn from Australia on adequately protecting citizens at live events
In April 2025, a man drove an SUV through a crowd of people attending a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more. In response, the British Columbia government immediately commissioned an inquiry to examine the systemic causes of the incident and whether any lessons could be learned from the tragedy. Read more: The commission came up with six recommendations based on gaps in the current municipal application and approval system for public events across the province. One key recommendation was that all public events should be required to complete a risk assessment. This isn't currently happening across the province. The absence of such analysis poses a risk for public safety. Another recommendation was the creation of local knowledge capacity to support event organizers, particularly for small and rural events, where the expertise to conduct a basic security risk assessment is lacking. Forseeable tragedy As I argued in August 2022, the live events industry lacks the same level of professionalism as other occupations. Many of these small event organizers are amateurs who lack the resources to properly deal with the security risks involved in holding their events. Read more: These factors, combined with emerging security risks, meant that the tragedy at the Lapu Lapu festival could be considered a foreseeable event given the risk realities associated with modern mass gatherings. The inquiry report highlighted how B.C. is lagging behind other international jurisdictions in terms of legislative pro-activeness in securing public events. This policy deficiency is actually a Canada-wide problem; the country is woefully behind other western nations when it comes to securing public events. My doctoral thesis examined this very issue when I compared the regulation and application process to host public events in Canada and Australia's largest cities. Australia vs. Canada Firstly, it's important to note that Canada is a less safe country in terms of security than Australia, all things considered equal. Canada's porous border with the United States means more illegal firearms are entering the country, resulting in more gun violence than in Australia, where there are more restrictive gun ownership laws. The Lapu Lapu attack was not investigated as an act of terrorism, but in a related concern, Canada's intelligence-gathering and national security laws place it at a counter-terrorism disadvantage compared to Australia. Relatively speaking, research suggests Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms hinders its security services from being able to detect and investigate terrorism-related offences given the greater importance placed on individual rights compared to Australia, where there is no such Charter equivalent. Australia also has pro-active foreign intelligence collection capabilities to aid in its counter-terrorism efforts, while Canada's CSIS agency only has domestic capabilities. That essentially requires it to import intelligence from its allies. Given these facts, it would seem plausible that Canada would be at greater risk for security threats at public events — including terrorist attacks, active shooters, etc. — than Australia. When I compared the data between both countries in my research, it suggested Australia has more public event regulation than Canada. It was quantitatively shown that Australian officials require risk assessments and other proactive measures from event organizers, including for risk mitigation, while Canadian officials are mostly concerned with reactive security response plans — in other words, determining how organizers would respond to attacks after they occurred. An analysis of event application documents in both countries reveal that Australian municipalities disproportionately emphasize 'risk management' in approving events compared to Canadian municipalities. Three ways the B.C. report falls short The B.C. report missed out on examining several important elements. Firstly, it did not take a holistic, deep dive into just how vulnerable public events are to myriad security threats — like active shooters, crowd crushing and terrorist attacks — but instead focused solely on the hostile vehicle threat. It also failed to consider the urgency of governments to adopt policy changes in the face of emerging threats on public spaces, like drone attacks. Secondly, the report made no mention of the need for law enforcement to develop stronger ties to share intelligence with event organizers as a proactive measure to protect mass gathering events from violence. The Hamas attacks at a music festival in Israel in October 2023 highlight the worst outcome of such failures. Read more: Lastly, there was no call for action or recommendation for the federal government to play a greater role in providing guidance to the industry and lower levels of government. National security is a federal issue as well as the regulation of airspace for drones. In countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, the national government provides guidance on protecting public spaces. There is no such policy leadership in Canada. The B.C. findings show Canadian authorities have a lot of work to do to make public events safer for Canadians. With the FIFA World Cup coming to Canada next year, Canadian governments still have time to implement corrective actions to ensure soccer fans stay safe. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organisation bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Sean Spence, Royal Military College of Canada Read more: Calls to designate the Bishnoi gang a terrorist group shine a spotlight on Canada's security laws B.C.'s mental health law is on trial — and so is our commitment to human rights Vancouver SUV attack exposes crowd management falldowns and casts a pall on Canada's election Sean Spence provides security consulting services within the hospitality industry.
Global News
5 days ago
- Global News
Shoplifting on the rise in B.C., but one group says stores have given up reporting
A citizen group advocating for the reduction of street disorder in B.C. says federal crime statistics do not paint the whole picture of what is happening in the province. The agency attributed much of the overall decline in the crime severity index in 2024 to a six-per cent drop in non-violent crime, which includes such crimes as property and drug offences. Story continues below advertisement Save Our Streets in B.C. told Global News that stats show a decrease in certain crimes but that is because many people and businesses have given up reporting to authorities. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'It's driving some companies out of business, losing jobs in certain communities as a result,' Jess Ketchum, co-founder of Save Our Streets, said. It appears, however, that shoplifting is up, with a 66-per cent increase Canada-wide in incidents of shoplifting under $5,000. In B.C., Statistics Canada reports that in the last four years, shoplifting violations have increased nearly 80 per cent. 'We've had particular reports from the Kootenays that would indicate that people have just given up on reporting these crimes because they know the police just don't have the resources to do everything we're asking them to do,' Ketchum added. 2:14 City of Vancouver launches shoplifting and retail theft task force The head of London Drugs says shoplifting often leads to violence against staff. Story continues below advertisement 'Physical assault, death threats are routine, the production of needles, pipes, hammers, weapons that could cause permanent and life-altering harm to employees are routine,' Clint Mahlman, president and COO of London Drugs, said. Mahlman says that increased security measures for his downtown Vancouver stores have been making a difference, along with an extra police presence. B.C. stats show 20,486 incidents in 2020, and 36,851 incidents in 2024, which is an increase of 79.8 per cent, according to Statistics Canada. Last year only 4,040 people were charged and it is not known how many charges led to convictions.
Hamilton Spectator
6 days ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Suspect in Charles Daley Park hit and run now faces second-degree murder charge
The suspect in last week's hit and run at Charles Daley Park that killed an 82-year-old St. Catharines man now faces a second-degree murder charge. And Niagara Regional Police believe the man is still in possession of the grey 2012 Honda CRV he's alleged to have stolen from the victim. At around 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 17, retired firefighter Larry Pearce arrived at the Lincoln park. Niagara Regional Police said he was driving out of the park when he stopped at the front entrance and interacted with the suspect. Police said Pearce got out of his vehicle, at which point the suspect got in the driver's seat. Pearce stood in front of the vehicle to prevent him from leaving and he fell to the ground during this confrontation, said police. The vehicle was last seen getting onto the QEW Niagara-bound from Seventh Street at about 9:44 a.m. Pearce died from his injuries Friday. Early Sunday, police put out an update with a description of the man they would like to speak to in relation to the incident, saying he had a pitbull-type dog on a green leash. Later Sunday, police said assistance from the public enabled them to identify him as Davy Rocchetti, 50, of no fixed address. He has outstanding warrants for an unrelated matter, including mischief under $5,000, theft under $5,000, three counts of operation while prohibited and fail to comply with probation. Late Wednesday, police said Rocchetti is now wanted for second degree murder, and detectives are in the process of obtaining a Canada-wide warrant for him. Police said Rocchetti was still driving the vehicle as recently as around 10 a.m. Tuesday. At the time, Rocchetti was in the area of 1900 block Dundas St. West in Mississauga, police said. Police said they also confirmed he still has his dog, described as being white with black and brown markings that include a dark spot over its left eye. Police said the vehicle no longer had a front licence plate displayed, and the rear plate, which originally Ontario Marker '24FS30,' may also have been changed. Police said the vehicle is distinct in that there is duct tape on the driver's side front bumper and duct tape covering the entirety of the rear back window. Investigators are urging anyone with information regarding Rocchetti's whereabouts to contact police immediately. If he is seen, do not approach him and instead call 911, police said. Anyone with information is asked by police to call 905-688-4111 , option 3, ext. 1009450. Information can be submitted anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or going to . Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
