Shelburne Police educating public during Ontario’s Crime Prevention Week

 This week is Ontario`s annual Crime Prevention Week, as promoted by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police.

This year Shelburne Police is a taking an approach on educating some public groups to help prevent crime.

Over the past two weeks officers from Shelburne Police conducted 9 presentations at Centre Dufferin District High School to students.  Two important and current topics in relation to youth were covered: Sexting and the New Cannabis Laws.  Further Shelburne Police attended all Shelburne financial institutions and had discussions about fraud prevention with their staff.

The sexting presentation warned students of the dangers of taking intimate photos of themselves and sending them to friends or boyfriends / girlfriends.  With modern technology taking and distributing photos on a smart phone is easier than ever.  This modern practice has significant problems attached to it.  First of all, these digital photos sent through the internet, whether directly or through social media sites, can come back and haunt the subject in the future.  Once a photo is sent – the sender no longer has control of that photo and it can quickly be distributed beyond the intended recipients, and can resurface years later.  Further, anyone in possession of an intimate photo of a person under the age of 18 could be considered in possession of child pornography – a very serious criminal offence.  Also, anyone who distributes an intimate photo of a person under the age of 18 could be considered as distributing child pornography – an even more serious criminal offence.  The goal of this presentation was to make our youth think more carefully before they take and share intimate photos of themselves, and prevent any issues for them or the people they share the photos with.

The New Cannabis Laws presentation focused on how the legalization of marijuana effects youth.  The presentation provided a background of the new legislation and why the rules for youth differ for those 19 years and older.  The officers explained that although marijuana is now legal in certain circumstances, the penalties for breaking the laws in regards to cannabis have increased; especially for youth.  Essentially anyone under the age of 19 cannot cultivate, harvest, possess, consume, be under the influence of, purchase, attempt to purchase, or distribute any form of cannabis; not anywhere or at any time.

Finally, a Shelburne Police officer attended each financial institution in town and discussed current fraud types that police services in the area have recently investigated, and that at some level involved a financial institution.  A two way dialogue was used to discuss how indicators of some of these crimes may be noticed at the banking level, and how the institutions and the Shelburne Police Service can better communicate any suspicious information to help prevent these frauds from being carried through, and potentially be more easily solved through earlier intervention.

“Crime prevention is a key responsibility of police services in Ontario.  Educating our community members, being engaged with our community, together with an obvious police presence at our institutions, residential areas, commercial areas and public areas are some of the most effective ways police can prevent or divert crimes from happening in the first place.  At Shelburne Police we pride ourselves in making community engagement and involvement a priority in our everyday approach to policing”, states Sgt Paul Neumann. 

Man arrested for 

stealing poppy donations

Orangeville Police Service has arrested an Orangeville man in connection with an ongoing illicit drug investigation in the community.

On Monday, October 28, 2019, at approximately 9:35 p.m. a male attended the Tim Hortons restaurant at 92 First Street. When staff members were out of sight he removed the donation container from the Royal Canadian Legion poppy donation box that was located on the counter. At approximately 1:00 a.m. on October 29th, the same male attended the Circle K Convenience Store located at 75 First Street and attempted to remove the donation container from another poppy box on the stores checkout counter. A store employee observed the male attempting to steal the container causing the male to flee the store with only a piece of cardboard from the display. At approximately 3:30 p.m. the same afternoon (October 29th), the male attempted to steal approximately $70.00 worth of items from Zehrs Markets at 50 Fourth Avenue. The male was arrested by Zehrs loss prevention officers but escaped their custody while being escorted back into the store. In all incidents the suspect was captured on security video cameras and the footage was turned over to police.

On Thursday, October 31st, Orangeville Police officers observed the suspect walking on Bythia Street. The suspect was arrested and taken into custody.

Andre Baluse, 21, of Orangeville, was charged with three counts of Theft Under $5000, Escape Lawful Custody and Possession of Cocaine. The accused man was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in court in Orangeville on December 3rd, 2019, to answer to the allegations.