Guelph police note ‘disturbing’ spike in gun crimes

Police in Guelph are ringing alarm bells over the rising number of guns involved in street crimes–an issue which has been echoed across the province and in the Region of Waterloo.

“This is something that we are experiencing more of and something that we, as a police service, are concerned about,” said Scott Tracey, media relations coordinator with the Guelph Police Service.

Police are pointing, in particular, to a trio of recent local drug investigations in which guns were also recovered.

On May 25, Guelph police executed search warrants on several residences, seizing more than $500,000 worth of cocaine, fentanyl, and other drugs. They also recovered two loaded handguns and a “large quantity of ammunition.”

On June 1, a search warrant was executed on an alleged warehouse meth lab in which Guelph police, at the time, said they had recovered almost $300,000 worth of drugs along with two rifles and “several real and replica firearms.”

On July 5, police said a man from Niagara Region was arrested on drug charges and, during a subsequent search, police also recovered a handgun loaded with hollow-point bullets which are designed to expand on impact, increasing the likelihood of death.

“It’s certainly not something unique to Guelph,” said Tracey. “We’re hearing from our colleagues all across the province that they’re experiencing more of these types of charges [and] more firearms showing up in their investigations.”

That said, while the city may not be immune to big city crime, police say some of its residents may be lulled but its small town feel.

“For a lot of people, especially people who have been in Guelph for a long time, there’s still kind of a small town mentality,” Tracey said. “You know, these serious crimes, these firearms and so on, are things that happen elsewhere and not here–and it’s important to let the community know that’s not the case.”

“We are a very safe community, no question about it, but it’s also important that we let the community know what’s going on and some of the things that our members are dealing with on a day-to-day basis.”

Meantime, Tracey said the words of warning are not meant to spark panic but they are meant to raise awareness of an issue he said should be taken seriously.

“Obviously these recent incidents have shown we will investigate and we will take these things off the street and hold people accountable, but we do need the public’s assistance as well,” he said. “There are 140,000 sets of eyes and ears in the community that can help us do our job better so, certainly, if people have any information, if they would pass that along to police or Crime Stoppers we certainly would appreciate [it].”