Some crime statistics you just can’t sugarcoat.
Shootings in Peel Region are up 80% in 2024. The number of illegal firearms seized is up 87%. Home invasions are up 306%.
Carjackings are up 51%. Robberies are up 20%, assaults are up 10%. Intimate partner violence is up 6%. Response times to serious crimes have risen from an average of 12 minutes in 2020 to 18 minutes.
Peel Regional Police are asking for a 21.3% budget increase next year, so the force can deal with a rising crime wave which has fallen on a region with two big cities, Brampton and Mississauga, as well as the country’s largest airport, a struggling economy, and which receives the highest number of newcomers in Canada.
Peel Police say they need more to keep up next year — $131.8-million more than the force received in 2024.
“As chief, my sole responsibility is the safety of the public,” explained Chief Nish Duraiappah, who wants to see his budget rise to $749.5-million from this year’s $617.7-million.
He says the service needs to respond to spiking crime.
“Unequivocally, not adequately resourcing policing will compromise the safety of our community,” he told The Toronto Sun. “Unprecedented population growth, crime, global unrest, combined with historic understaffing is a convergence of problems which we have never seen.”
Not so fast, says Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, however, stresses the need to hurry up and provide needed funding before crime spins out of control.
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Some worry Peel is becoming a dangerous hellish pit: Murder, rape, drugs, carjackings, home invasions, human trafficking, domestic abuse, and violent protests. You name it, and not only does Peel Region have it, the lawlessness is increasing.
And with thousands of migrants coming from around the world, including many planning to come to escape President-elect Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation, the stage is set for mayhem.
Yet when Duraiappah brought his 21.3% budget increase to members of Peel’s police services board, he got a thumbs up from Brown and a thumbs down from Parrish.
In fact, Parrish, last week, resigned her position on board.
“In light of the required compliance with Peel Police Services Board decisions, including supporting a budget increase of 21.3% this year, I have chosen to resign my seat” on the board to “concentrate fully on the needs of the people of our fine city.”
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She told the Sun that by resigning, she is in a better position to vote on the budget as a member of council than locked in on the board. Her message is this increase may be too rich for Mississauga taxpayers’ blood.
“We are in very difficult times with housing costs escalating, an unprecedented food insecurity crisis that sees one in 13 of our residents forced to use food banks, seniors struggling to stay in their homes as property taxes rise and encampments for those who can’t find space in our shelters,” she wrote in her resignation letter. “My responsibility as mayor is to all of the citizens of Mississauga, including preparing budgets at both the city and regional levels and being constantly aware of the impact those budgets will have on the taxes paid by all our residents.”
But how much is too much to stop the spilling of blood?
Mississauga council has a motion to talk about the budget Thursday, in the middle of a crime wave. Just this week, a man was shooting at commuters on Hwy. 401 at Mississauga Rd. Peel officers also charged a 22-year-old international student from India with three violent sexual assaults, and there was a violent home invasion in which a caregiver and child were held at gunpoint.
Few forget the Brampton fights outside Sikh and Hindu places of worship, where swords were spotted. There’s also a strangulation every day in Peel.
The chief is forecasting what he’ll need next year. Peel’s municipal politicians ultimately make the decisions on how taxpayer’s money is allocated. It’s a great debate.
While Parrish weighs cost savings, Brown says Peel needs to face reality.
“I am very concerned that Peel approved new housing without any funding for new police between 2008 and 2018. We didn’t even keep up with attrition,” said Brown. “We are failing residents on the legislative requirement for adequate and effective policing. We are 600 officers behind Toronto on a per capita basis.”
As part of his 2025 budget request, the chief wants to hire 300 additional officers — something Brown says is only half of what is needed.
“It should alarm every resident that we don’t have enough officers to send to every 911 emergency call,” said Brampton’s mayor. “It’s hypocritical of Peel Region to declare a gender-based violence an epidemic and not have enough officers to send to gender-based violence 911 calls.”
Brown said he wants to make sure the region has enough cops.
Peel Regional Police Association President Adrian Woolley called Parrish’s “motivations to cut the budget come from a self-serving need to be elected when priority should be the needs of the citizens of the Region of Peel.” He added those supporting her are “placing their own constituents and their property in danger.”
The less policing you invest in, said Brown, the more crime you get.
“Organized crime doesn’t care about municipal borders. They will go where it is easier to operate without police responses,” said Brown. “I don’t want them to rightly feel it is easier to operate here with impunity.”
Right now crime is rampant in Peel and the police chief wants to stop it.
“In addition to the innovative work Peel has done in the last five years, I must ensure that our women and men are supported as they work tirelessly to serve our community,” said Duraiappah. “Simply stated, this is a public safety need. Without that, a community cannot thrive.”
But the statistics raise the question: Do Peel taxpayers want to pay to fight crime, or have crime pay for the criminals?
She told the Sun that by resigning, she is in a better position to vote on the budget as a member of council than locked in on the board. Her message is this increase may be too rich for Mississauga taxpayers’ blood.
“We are in very difficult times with housing costs escalating, an unprecedented food insecurity crisis that sees one in 13 of our residents forced to use food banks, seniors struggling to stay in their homes as property taxes rise and encampments for those who can’t find space in our shelters,” she wrote in her resignation letter. “My responsibility as mayor is to all of the citizens of Mississauga, including preparing budgets at both the city and regional levels and being constantly aware of the impact those budgets will have on the taxes paid by all our residents.”
But how much is too much to stop the spilling of blood?
Mississauga council has a motion to talk about the budget Thursday, in the middle of a crime wave. Just this week, a man was shooting at commuters on Hwy. 401 at Mississauga Rd. Peel officers also charged a 22-year-old international student from India with three violent sexual assaults, and there was a violent home invasion in which a caregiver and child were held at gunpoint.
Few forget the Brampton fights outside Sikh and Hindu places of worship, where swords were spotted. There’s also a strangulation every day in Peel.
The chief is forecasting what he’ll need next year. Peel’s municipal politicians ultimately make the decisions on how taxpayer’s money is allocated. It’s a great debate.
While Parrish weighs cost savings, Brown says Peel needs to face reality.
“I am very concerned that Peel approved new housing without any funding for new police between 2008 and 2018. We didn’t even keep up with attrition,” said Brown. “We are failing residents on the legislative requirement for adequate and effective policing. We are 600 officers behind Toronto on a per capita basis.”
As part of his 2025 budget request, the chief wants to hire 300 additional officers — something Brown says is only half of what is needed.
“It should alarm every resident that we don’t have enough officers to send to every 911 emergency call,” said Brampton’s mayor. “It’s hypocritical of Peel Region to declare a gender-based violence an epidemic and not have enough officers to send to gender-based violence 911 calls.”
Brown said he wants to make sure the region has enough cops.
Peel Regional Police Association President Adrian Woolley called Parrish’s “motivations to cut the budget come from a self-serving need to be elected when priority should be the needs of the citizens of the Region of Peel.” He added those supporting her are “placing their own constituents and their property in danger.”
The less policing you invest in, said Brown, the more crime you get.
“Organized crime doesn’t care about municipal borders. They will go where it is easier to operate without police responses,” said Brown. “I don’t want them to rightly feel it is easier to operate here with impunity.”
Right now crime is rampant in Peel and the police chief wants to stop it.
“In addition to the innovative work Peel has done in the last five years, I must ensure that our women and men are supported as they work tirelessly to serve our community,” said Duraiappah. “Simply stated, this is a public safety need. Without that, a community cannot thrive.”
But the statistics raise the question: Do Peel taxpayers want to pay to fight crime, or have crime pay for the criminals?
Mississauga council has a motion to talk about the budget Thursday, in the middle of a crime wave. Just this week, a man was shooting at commuters on Hwy. 401 at Mississauga Rd. Peel officers also charged a 22-year-old international student from India with three violent sexual assaults, and there was a violent home invasion in which a caregiver and child were held at gunpoint.
Few forget the Brampton fights outside Sikh and Hindu places of worship, where swords were spotted. There’s also a strangulation every day in Peel.
The chief is forecasting what he’ll need next year. Peel’s municipal politicians ultimately make the decisions on how taxpayer’s money is allocated. It’s a great debate.
While Parrish weighs cost savings, Brown says Peel needs to face reality.
“I am very concerned that Peel approved new housing without any funding for new police between 2008 and 2018. We didn’t even keep up with attrition,” said Brown. “We are failing residents on the legislative requirement for adequate and effective policing. We are 600 officers behind Toronto on a per capita basis.”
As part of his 2025 budget request, the chief wants to hire 300 additional officers — something Brown says is only half of what is needed.
“It should alarm every resident that we don’t have enough officers to send to every 911 emergency call,” said Brampton’s mayor. “It’s hypocritical of Peel Region to declare a gender-based violence an epidemic and not have enough officers to send to gender-based violence 911 calls.”
Brown said he wants to make sure the region has enough cops.
Peel Regional Police Association President Adrian Woolley called Parrish’s “motivations to cut the budget come from a self-serving need to be elected when priority should be the needs of the citizens of the Region of Peel.” He added those supporting her are “placing their own constituents and their property in danger.”
The less policing you invest in, said Brown, the more crime you get.
“Organized crime doesn’t care about municipal borders. They will go where it is easier to operate without police responses,” said Brown. “I don’t want them to rightly feel it is easier to operate here with impunity.”
Right now crime is rampant in Peel and the police chief wants to stop it.
“In addition to the innovative work Peel has done in the last five years, I must ensure that our women and men are supported as they work tirelessly to serve our community,” said Duraiappah. “Simply stated, this is a public safety need. Without that, a community cannot thrive.”
But the statistics raise the question: Do Peel taxpayers want to pay to fight crime, or have crime pay for the criminals?
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