The Windsor and LaSalle Police Services are teaming up to keep track of high-risk individuals who are out on bail.
The newly formed Offender Management Unit is a specialized team that is responsible for monitoring individuals placed under house arrest, curfew, or electronic monitoring - and ensuring that those who breach their judicial release orders are held accountable.
Windsor Police Inspector David DeLuca, who oversees the unit, told a news conference Thursday that the unit currently has a list of 50 individuals they're monitoring based on information provided by the courts.
DeLuca says it was long overdue to have a formalized program like this in place.
"There's absolutely a necessity to monitor, especially these individuals that form the subjects of our bail compliance unit. Absolutely, these are all the worst offenders," he says.
The unit is staffed by three full-time officers, one part-time officer, and a civilian crime analyst.
DeLuca says officers do receive information on a regular basis on individuals out on bail.
"They may have proactively been looking for individuals, or the may have committed another offense and were arrested, and as a result were charged of breach of their bail condition," he says. "That's really the point of the bail compliance unit, is to prevent the recidivist offender from reoffending, from going back out and committing more crimes."
Since being launched on March 11, the team has completed over 14 compliance checks, leading to the arrest of eight offenders and arrest warrants issued for three other non-compliant individuals.
The offenders arrested for breaching their conditions had originally been charged with or convicted of serious violent crimes including murder, attempted murder, robbery, firearms offences, and sexual assault.
LaSalle Police Deputy Chief Jason Woods says they have an excellent working relationship with Windsor..
"Criminals don't abide by borders. Just because they reside in Windsor does not mean they won't travel to LaSalle and Amherstburg. Just partnering together like this, it ensures we can blanket the area and utilize each others strengths," he says.
The Offender Management Unit is supported through a $2,276,437 grant from the Government of Ontario.
The Windsor and LaSalle Police Services received $769,460 this year and will receive an additional $752,160 in 2025, and $754,817 in 2026.
The funding is part of the provincial government's $112 million investment to strengthen Ontario's bail system and ensure high-risk and repeat violent offenders comply with their bail conditions.