Battle brewing over police spending in Niagara

Earlier this month, in a span of just two days, officers from the Niagara Regional Police’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit arrested two men for luring underage girls online.

On July 15, ICE investigators announced the arrest of 68-year-old Paul Derose who was allegedly attempting to connect with underage girls over the Internet for sex. 

The next day, 50-year-old Marco Iasci arranged to meet and have sex with a girl he believed to be under the age of 16. In reality, over the course of a five-month investigation, Iasci was conversing with an undercover ICE detective. 

The charges against the two men have not been tested in court.  

“This arrest showcases the dedication of our members in ensuring some of the most vulnerable members of our community are protected, sending a strong message that the predatory behaviours associated with using the Internet to lure children for a sexual purpose will not be tolerated in Niagara,” a July 16 press release from the NRPS reads.

The arrests followed a disturbing flurry of apprehensions over the course of four days in May when the NRPS announced the culmination of three separate investigations into sex crimes against children involving three different men charged with a variety of offenses.

And while cases like these are on the rise in the region, Niagara residents recently learned that this vital police work is at risk due to an outdated and flawed granting system managed by the Ontario government.

The Province offers a long list of grants to police agencies across Ontario. While these represent less than 5 percent of the NRPS budget, these additional dollars support critical work to keep some of Niagara’s most vulnerable residents safe. Grant funding is invested into combatting human trafficking; responding to mental health and addictions calls; community outreach and education; supporting victims and vulnerable persons, combatting impaired and dangerous driving; and, of course, investigating the proliferaton of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online and the apprehension of child predators.

“The current model presents several challenges,” Pat Chiocchio, Chair of the NRPS Board wrote in a June 26 letter to Michael Kerzner, the Solicitor General for Ontario. 

The budget for the Niagara Regional Police increased by 7.1 percent in 2024 and a further 13.2 percent this year.

(NRPS)

“These include inconsistent application timelines, administratively complex processes, a lack of multi-year commitments, and notably, funding maximums that often fall short of what is required to fully implement and sustain the approved initiatives…This underfunding results in the need to either scale down implementation or divert resources from other public safety priorities, undermining the effectiveness of both the initiative and broader service delivery goals.”

Grants account for only 4.7 percent of the Niagara Police operating budget, but the letter is a clear indication of how even the smallest alterations can impact frontline efforts to keep Niagara residents safe. 

So it’s no surprise that a move by Niagara Region council to restrict budget increases for regional departments and outside agencies, including Niagara Police, to just 3.5 percent for the coming year is drawing significant criticism. The direction was given, following a lengthy debate at regional council on May 22. 

“This year, as people are financially struggling, we need to work collectively as a united governing body and reduce the property tax burden on Niagara residents and businesses,” Regional Councillor Bob Gale, who introduced the successful motion, said during the meeting. 

This would require a significant budget reduction for the Niagara Police. Early projections from the force place the needed increase for 2026 at 13.4 percent—just slightly higher than the 13.2 percent approved for this year. 

“Let me be very clear, at a time when the province of Ontario and the government of Canada are actively investing in public safety, a 3.5 percent guidance essentially amounts to a defunding of the police,” Chief Bill Fordy said during the June 26 police services board meeting. “We want to ensure there is no misunderstanding by council or the public, 3.5 guidance is not an increase. It’s not sustainable, and it does not reflect the realities of a growing and increasingly complex policing environment.”

The concern was echoed by Board members who had just received the Niagara Police Annual Report for 2024 which detailed a startling 8.3 percent rise in Crimes Against Persons—which follows a 12.3 percent jump between 2023 and 2024. Year over year, the Niagara Police have seen more homicides, sexual assaults and assaults with a weapon. 

The Niagara Police also identified 48 victims of human trafficking in 2024, a 700 percent increase from the year before, arrested 29 alleged traffickers (a 190 percent increase) and laid 107 charges against them (a 75.4 percent increase).

Niagara Police Chief Bill Fordy says directions from regional council to limit the budget increase for 2026 to just 3.5 “amounts to a defunding of the police”.

(Niagara Regional Police Services Board)

“As calls for service continue to rise and the demands on policing become more complex it is clear that sustainable community safety can not be achieved by the police alone,” Fordy said. “Many of the challenges that we respond to, inclusive of mental health crises, addiction, housing instability, they require coordinated, multiagency solutions.”

Police budgets have been a divisive topic in Niagara, and across Ontario, in recent years. But this year could see the most vicious battle yet as Laura Ip, a police board member and regional councillor, says it is virtually impossible to achieve the 3.5 percent pushed by her fellow councillors. She voted against the motion in May. 

“Trying to hit this number means loss of service, loss of programs, loss of staff. There is no other way to achieve this number,” she said on June 26.  “When people have been asking how we’re going to do it, I’ve been telling them it’s impossible, we will not be able to do this.”

The same was said by Board Member Kevin Gibson. 

“I just don’t know how we are going to do this, to try and keep it that low,” he said. “It’s not realistic.”

The NRPS sought a 7.1 percent increase to its 2024 budget, which at the time was the largest jump in recent memory, topping a six percent increase approved in 2019. It was then dwarfed by the 13.2 percent increase approved for this year.

The Region’s budgeting process will begin in September with the final outcome for the NRPS expected by the end of December.

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