‘Our communities feel abandoned by the very institutions meant to protect them.’ – St. Thomas Police Chief Marc Roskamp

“In communities plagued by chronic criminality, safety seems to have become a privilege instead of a fundamental right.”
A compelling observation from St. Thomas Police Chief Marc Roskamp.
It was not spoken at city hall during a council meeting; instead, it was delivered Thursday afternoon via video conferencing to the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights at their meeting in the Wellington Building in Ottawa.
Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP Andrew Lawton sits on the committee, as does Brantford-Brant Conservative MP Larry Brock, who visited St. Thomas in July for a roundtable discussion to examine the evolving challenges impacting public safety in St. Thomas and Aylmer.

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A spike in St. Thomas arson incidents sparks calls for action on the catch and release of ‘destructive and violent criminals’

St. Thomas was rocked this week by a pair of arson-related fires, which, thankfully, did not result in any injuries.
A blaze early Sunday morning destroyed part of the Acacia Block on Talbot Street, which dates back to 1881.
A couple of young entrepreneurs were close to completing renovations on the building adjacent to the Railway City Transit terminal that would have housed commercial operations on the ground floor and apartments on the second level.
Earlier this year, the ground floor was the campaign headquarters for Elgin-St. Thomas-London South MP Andrew Lawton.
Joseph Penfound was quickly apprehended on Sunday morning, and the accused, “a prolific offender,” according to St. Thomas Police,  has been charged with arson along with a couple of other offences.

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