Windsor police spokesman Sgt. Matthew D’Asti said on Monday that investigators waited for the results of a post-mortem examination before upgrading the charge.
“We’ve learned that the reason the victim died is directly related to the gunshot wound,” D’Asti said.
D’Asti said Poblete was re-arrested on the new charge last Friday morning. However, D’Asti wasn’t sure if Poblete was in or out of custody at the time.
Windsor police officers examine the fourplex house at 818 Langlois Ave. in this Dec. 2013 file photo. (Dan Janisse / The Windsor Star)
The violent incident took place on the night of Dec. 9, 2013. Police allege that Poblete and an accomplice knocked on the door of 818 Langlois Ave., then forced their way into the house when the door was opened.
The victim fought back. Investigators allege that Poblete was carrying a gun and he fired it at the victim.
Investigators also believe Poblete’s accomplice was armed with a club, baseball bat, or other blunt weapon. Along with the gunshot wound, the victim suffered lacerations on his head.
The accomplice hasn’t been found. “He’s still part of the investigation,” D’Asti said.
He is described as five-foot-seven to five-foot-nine in height, possibly Hispanic by heritage.
At the time of the crime, he was wearing a grey hooded sweater and a black baseball cap.
According to police, the home invasion was targeted, and drug-related. “We maintain that this was not a random act,” D’Asti emphasized on Monday. “We still believe this was a targeted incident.”
An unidentified woman clears broken glass from the front door of 818 Langlois Ave. in this April 2013 file photo. (Dax Melmer / The Windsor Star)
It wasn’t the first violence to happen at the address that year. Police investigated the same location after several shots were fired at the front door during the early morning hours of April 13, 2013. No one was hurt that time.
The address is also only two blocks south from where a shooting took place near the 7-Eleven on Saturday night.
Despite all these incidents, D’Asti would not describe that part of Langlois Avenue as a “bad” neighbourhood. Instead, he implored the public to be vigilant. “If you are witnessing crime, if you’re seeing problems, we want you to call us. We want hear from you, so that we know what’s going on.”
Anyone with more information about the 2013 home invasion and those involved is encouraged to call detectives at 519-255-6700 ext. 4830.
Anonymous tips can be submitted via 519-258-8477 or Crime Stoppers at www.catchcrooks.com.
Investigators believe the dispute was between two pairs of males who are apparently familiar with each other.
Police said the two males who were shot are offering varying levels of co-operation, with differing accounts of what happened.
One of the victims was grazed by a bullet while the other suffered injuries that are considered serious but not life-threatening.
Meanwhile, police continue to search for a white male with a full beard in his 40s and a white male with no facial hair in his mid-20s.
Police were called to the 7-Eleven at 971 Wyandotte St. E., around 11:10 p.m. Saturday. Officers arrived to find the two injured males.
According to witnesses, the two victims were walking through the municipally owned parking lot just east of Langlois Avenue and south of Wyandotte Street East — across the street from the 7-Eleven — when a dark-coloured vehicle drove in front of them.
Two males got out of the vehicle and an argument ensued. After shots were fired, the two victims made their way to the 7-Eleven to seek help.
Investigators are still trying to determine what the dispute was about.
Anyone with more information about these men or this incident is encouraged to call detectives at 519-255-6700 ext. 4830.
Anonymous tips can be submitted via Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477 or www.catchcrooks.com.
A 42-year-old Windsor man is facing fraud charges for allegedly posing as an electrician.
Police received a complaint from a member of the public on Jan. 12. The woman said that in April 2013, her mother responded to an ad on Kijiji.ca by a man offering his services as a certified electrician.
The victim hired the man to do some electrical work. She later learned that most of it wasn’t completed.
Working with the Electrical Safety Authority, investigators with the fraud unit determined that the man who placed the ad didn’t have credentials as an electrician.
The investigation found three other situations similar to the original complainant.
Roberto Spada has been charged with three counts of fraud under $5,000 and one count of fraud over $5,000.
Anyone who has more information about these crimes or a similar complaint is encouraged to call the financial crimes unit at 519-255-6700 ext. 4330.
Anonymous tips can be submitted via Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477 or www.catchcrooks.com.
Scott Douglas Quick in a 2011 Facebook image.While Scott Douglas Quick walked free for nine years after allegedly murdering his wife, he spent his time playing guitar, entertaining neighbours and hanging out with his new girlfriend.
Scott Douglas Quick in a 2012 Facebook image.
While Scott Douglas Quick walked free for nine years after allegedly murdering his wife, he spent his time playing guitar, entertaining neighbours and hanging out with his new girlfriend.
He was known as the kind-hearted neighbour in Brighton, Ont. — where he relocated after allegedly running down his estranged wife with a stolen minivan – who doted on his children, his girlfriend and her kids.
Waleed Harb, a neighbour, boss and close friend of Quick for the last seven or eight years, said he had no idea his pal was allegedly hiding such a dark secret.
“This story shocked the hell out of everybody,” Harb said Friday while standing in Quick’s Brighton driveway. “We’re still numb. I don’t know what else to say. He was a good friend to us, to a lot of people. Anybody who had a celebration, a birthday, whatever, he grabbed his guitar and go there and sing for everybody. His house was always open for friends to come by to sit down and have a drink. I’m telling you, he was a good neighbour. You could rely on him.”
Essex County OPP made the stunning announcement Thursday they arrested Quick on a first-degree murder charge for the 2006 hit-and-run murder of his estranged wife, 40-year-old Nancy Galbraith-Quick.
The teaching assistant, known as Miss Nancy, was run down in front of a group of young children outside St. William Elementary School in Emeryville.
Scott and Nancy had split about six months before she was killed. They were in the midst of determining who had custody of their two children. After Galbraith-Quick died, he got custody. Their son Evan is now 20. Daughter Julia is 17.
In a 2010 interview, Nancy’s older brother said Quick had cut ties with Nancy’s family, and her parents had not seen or spoken to their grandchildren since the move to Brighton.
From the beginning, Quick was a person of interest in the murder, but the case stalled for more than nine years. Then police suddenly arrested him Wednesday at an unnamed business in Belleville, about 30 minutes from Brighton.
Waleed Harb, a neighbour of Scott Quick in Brighton, ON. is shown near Quick’s home on Friday, March 13, 2015. He said Quick was a good friend and is shocked to learn about the first degree murder charge he is facing in the death of Nancy Quick. (DAN JANISSE/ The Windsor Star)
“I know his kids are going through hell with this thing,” said Harb. “I hope this matter will be settled soon so they can put their life back on track. The girl, really, he has an awesome girl. I feel sorry for her because she can now not finish here in Brighton. She still had a couple more months to finish her Grade 12 here. Then she’s going back to university in Windsor. We love the girl. She’s a super girl, she’s amazing.”
Quick abandoned his life in Windsor and his job at Chrysler in 2008, moving 500 kilometres away to open a music store and fill his “rock n’ roll heart with a reggae-swingin’ beat.”
“I find myself most comfortable, or more truly uncomfortable, with playing the blues, cause man, I’ve had ‘em,” Quick wrote in an online music bio.
“I love performing with a band as well as solo, I have even ventured into country music since the influence is so strong in these here parts … It’s been a musical journey and sometimes a wild ride.”
Brighton is a town of about 11,000 people. Upon moving there with the children, Scott opened a small retail business under the name Third Stone Music.
He sold instruments and musical accessories, and also offered lessons. According to Quick, his passion for playing began with the drums at the age of 10. He switched to guitar as a teenager “after finding it difficult to write love songs on the drums.”
Quick soon established himself with the Brighton community, performing with locals at numerous festivals and events.
“I’ve met and jammed with some pretty cool cats, some famous, some infamous, some soon to be famous,” Quick wrote.
Quick was interviewed by a Northumberland County news outlet in 2012 about an unusual ukelele-style instrument that was acquired for him by “his father-in-law.”
Harb said Quick had lived with a girlfriend for a while.
Quick told the Northumberland News that owning a music store had been long-time dream. “Any retail store in a small town can be a tough go, but we are hanging in,” he said at the time.
Neighbouring businesses said Third Stone Music’s physical location closed its doors within the last two years, but Quick remained in Brighton and continued to do business out of his residence.
It seems he also kept himself tightly-woven in the small community’s social fabric. He moved his children t0 a large, rustic-looking two-storey house at the dead end of a rural gravel road on the outskirts of Brighton.
Scott Quick’s rural home in Brighton, ON. is shown on Friday, March 13, 2015. (DAN JANISSE/ The Windsor Star)
One of his closest friends was Harb, who also hired Quick for a time doing construction with his contracting business. Harb said Quick had a girlfriend who also lived with him for a while, but she later moved out.
“He is a very good neighour,” he said. “You could rely on him if you need any help. I have a long driveway, he’d come and help and snowplough. If you ask him for anything, right away he’s here for you. He’s very shy, very quiet. Really that’s a shock, to the majority of people who know him, what happened.”
Harb said Quick also doted on his children and his girlfriend’s children.
“He has his kids, amazing kids, they are attached to him,” said Harb. “His girlfriend’s kids too. He treated them like they are his own kids.”
“I’m telling you he poured a lot of love into these kids.”
Harb said Evan had more recently moved to live with his grandparents in Windsor and go to university. Since Quick’s arrest, he said, Julia has also returned to Windsor.
“She’s out of her mind with this thing, like everybody else,” said Harb.
“I still get phone calls – Waleed to you believe this thing? I’m hearing it like everybody else. Whether it’s true or not, I really don’t know. What happened before, I have no clue.”
Harb said he’s pledged to look after Quick’s home while it’s abandoned, to make sure no one breaks in or vandalizes it.
“There are a lot of bad people out there and I don’t want anything to happen to them,” said Harb. “They already have enough on their plate and I don’t want them to have anymore headaches.”
A man wearing sunglasses and a hat with ear-flaps wielded a gun as he robbed a pharmacy in Windsor’s east end on Sunday night, say police.
Police were called around 9 p.m. to the Shoppers Drug Mart at 7770 Tecumseh Rd. E.
A surveillance camera image of a male who robbed a Shoppers Drug Mart on Mar. 15, 2015. (Image via Windsor Police Service)
Store staff said the robber — a slim young male — approached the pharmacist while holding what looked like a small silver handgun.
The robber demanded narcotics.
After taking a small amount of prescription drugs, he fled the store.
A small, dark-coloured pickup truck was waiting in the parking lot. The robber ran to it and got in. The vehicle was last seen heading west out of the parking lot.
The robber is described as white, thin and short — perhaps five-foot-six in height. He appeared to be in his 20s.
At the time of the crime, he was wearing dark glasses and a knitted hat with ear-flaps. The hat was grey and tan in colour.
He also wore red gloves, a green hooded sweater with a red zipper and blue jeans.
Anyone with information about this crime is encouraged to call investigators at 519-255-6700 ext. 4305. Anonymous tips can be submitted via Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477 or www.catchcrooks.com.
A repeat offender is being sought on a Canada-wide warrant and is known to frequent Southwestern Ontario, warn OPP.
Provincial police are on the lookout for Larry Cameron, 55, who is described as a federal inmate.
A booking photo of repeat offender Larry Cameron, 55. (Image via OPP)
Cameron is now wanted for breach of parole. OPP said he is supposed to be serving a six-year, 11-month sentence on nine offences — including indecent public exhibition, unlawfully being in a dwelling, and seven counts of break-and-enter.
Along with frequenting Southwestern Ontario, Cameron is also known to hang around the Greater Toronto Area.
The Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement squad is appealing to the public for tips on Cameron’s whereabouts.
Cameron is described as a white male, five-foot-eight and 160 pounds.
Anyone with information on Cameron is encouraged to call the ROPE squad at 416-808-5900 or 1-866-870-7673.
Anonymous tips can be submitted via Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477 or www.catchcrooks.com.
A teenage male and a teenage female are both facing charges after Windsor police stopped them in a stolen vehicle on Monday night.
Officers were patrolling the downtown core around 9 p.m. when they noticed a vehicle being driven erratically.
A check on a description of the vehicle revealed that it had been reported stolen earlier.
The officers followed the vehicle as it made its way north on Church Street. They stopped it when it reached Riverside Drive.
Behind the wheel of the automobile was a 17-year-old male. In the passenger seat was a 17-year-old female.
The two teens were placed under arrest. Police later learned that both are Windsor residents, and the male driver had outstanding warrants.
The teens each face a charge of possession of stolen property. Their names won’t be released due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Anyone with more information about this incident is encouraged to call Windsor police at 519-255-6700 ext. 4211. Anonymous tips can be submitted via Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477 or www.catchcrooks.com.
A Lakeshore woman seeking leniency on a drug-dealing charge says her abusive ex-husband had a fetish for penis piercings, got high on his own supply, was connected with corrupt police officers — and may have set her up.
“The devil himself. That’s how I see him,” Sabrina Lacommare said to RCMP investigators about her estranged spouse, Mark Anthony Trudel.
In a rambling interview with RCMP in 2012, Lacommare suggested Trudel exchanged money, drugs, and information with members of OPP and the Windsor Police Service.
“I’m not doing anything,” Lacommare, 49, told RCMP. “He’s the one that’s running the show.”
A video recording of the three-hour interview was played in Superior Court on Tuesday.
In January, Lacommare pleaded guilty to one count of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking — a charge related to an arrest and raid by OPP in June 2011.
Cocaine packaged for sale was found in Lacommare’s purse and at her residence.
Lacommare said her arrest was “a blessing in disguise, because it was my way out.”
“I just want my life back. I was brought up by a very good family and I made a mistake.”
According to Lacommare, she only learned of Trudel’s involvement in drugs after their marriage in 2001.
Lacommare said that after her arrest, she tried to tell OPP about Trudel, but “they didn’t want to hear about Mark.”
“People were shutting me up,” she claimed.
At one point in the interview, Lacommare said a retired Windsor police officer once told her he wanted to import drugs from Thailand with Trudel.
Lacommare told RCMP that Trudel has been in the drug trade for 20 years and “will never get out.”
But when pressed for more information about Trudel’s methods and connections, Lacommare characterized him as “an idiot” who is “too stupid to use code words” and “can’t keep his mouth shut.”
Lacommare also told police Trudel “rats people out to get out of trouble,” and she’s “pretty sure a lot of people don’t like him.”
Sgt. Steven Richardson of the RCMP testified that he found Lacommare’s statements in the interview “scattered,” “misleading,” “self-serving,” and “deceptive.”
“It became very clear to me she was just as involved in the drug trade as her husband,” Richardson said in court.
Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme, who is representing Lacommare, demanded to know why Richardson didn’t follow up on Lacommare’s information.
“These allegations were buried,” Ducharme said. “What reason did you have to disbelieve?”
Richardson responded: “I just didn’t think it was credible.”
Under questioning by Ducharme, Richardson testified that a full-scale investigation of Trudel was never launched by RCMP, and RCMP surveillance of Trudel totalled less than eight hours.
Richardson said he felt Lacommare was minimizing her own involvement and wouldn’t answer direct questions. “She tries to portray herself as some sort of hapless victim.”
Ducharme accused Richardson of “feigning naiveté,” and said Trudel was, in fact, “very hooked up with the OPP.”
Justice Renee Pomerance reminded both the prosecutor and the defence that the purpose of the evidence is to determine if Lacommare deserves leniency in sentencing — not necessarily to determine the truth of her allegations.
A Lakeshore woman seeking leniency on a drug charge knew names and details about an internal investigation from years past that worried Windsor police top brass.
Speaking with RCMP in 2012, Sabrina Lacommare said her abusive ex-husband Mark Anthony Trudel was responsible for a cash drop of more than $30,000 in a Tim Horton’s parking lot in 2007 — rumoured to be a payoff for an illicit delivery from the Windsor Police Service’s drug vault.
Windsor police Supt. Michael Langlois said in Superior Court on Wednesday that Lacommare’s knowledge of such specifics was “very interesting,” and Windsor police would have followed up — had they been made aware of what she knew.
In her three-hour interview with RCMP that was recorded on video, Lacommare described Trudel leaving $30,000 to $35,000 cash in a vehicle in 2007.
Lacommare also mentioned Trudel having connections with a retired Windsor police detective, Ed Gagnon, and a Windsor police staff sergeant who had committed suicide. The staff sergeant was responsible for the Windsor police drug vault at the time, Langlois testified Wednesday.
Langlois confirmed that Windsor police investigated an incident in 2007 where $32,000 cash was discovered in a vehicle in a Tim Horton’s parking lot.
A member of the public found and reported the cash. It was rumoured that whoever dropped off the money had mistakenly put it in the wrong vehicle.
Police were also aware of rumours involving Trudel, Gagnon and the staff sergeant responsible for the drug vault, said Langlois. Earlier testimony identified the deceased staff sergeant as Cort Joseph Rebkowec — who took his own life in March 2007.
The money was eventually claimed by another member of the public. Langlois said the claim was investigated and nothing inappropriate was found.
However, the rumours and Rebkowec’s suicide prompted a “complete, thorough, and integrity-based audit” of the drug vault.
The audit concluded that nothing was missing, Langlois said.
Sabrina Lacommare of Lakeshore leaves Superior Court in Windsor in this January 2015 file photo. (Nick Brancaccio / The Windsor Star)
Senior ranks of the Windsor police — including deputy chiefs — met to discuss what to do because Lacommare’s story involved “rumours from years gone by” about a retired Windsor police detective and another who had committed suicide, Langlois said.
It was agreed that the WPS would call upon an outside agency — the RCMP — to investigate and further interview Lacommare.
But the RCMP never turned over the interview video to the WPS.
Lacommare’s lawyer, Patrick Ducharme, said his client had “offered everything” to RCMP — including a willingness to act as a witness or agent.
Ducharme also noted that his client was willing to plead guilty and cooperate early in the process on her drug charge.
“She was saying, ‘Tell me what you want me to do,'” Ducharme said. “She was offering full cooperation.”
Assistant Crown attorney Richard Pollock questioned the usefulness of Lacommare’s offer. He noted that police did not solicit her cooperation.
Justice Renee Pomerance pointed out that Langlois’s testimony has made it apparent Lacommare’s information would have been of great interest to Windsor police.
But Pomerance also said that in order for remorse to be a mitigating factor in sentencing, she needs to know Lacommare has been accurate in her description of her own involvement in drug crime.
The sentence hearing has been scheduled to resume May 15.
An alleged drug dealing Windsor cop now faces a dozen charges under the Police Services Act.
Const. David Bshouty, 32, faces four Police Act charges of discreditable conduct after U.S. officials arrested him last April at the border. He’s also charged with insubordination for failing to sign in.
He faces three counts of neglect of duty as well as discreditable conduct and corrupt practice after Windsor police arrested him for drug possession.
Bshouty has also been charged with deceit and discreditable conduct for alleged activity before he was hired as a police officer.
Windsor police began investigating Bshouty, on the force since 2009, after receiving an anonymous tip in February 2014.
On April 12, 2014, U.S. Homeland Security arrested him for allegedly carrying crack cocaine across the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit.
U. S. authorities were acting on information provided by Windsor police. Those charges were later dropped when it turned out the material he had wasn’t cocaine.
On April 22, 2014, Windsor police arrested Bshouty and charged him with drug possession for a small amount of oxycodone.
Then last week, while he remained on suspension for that charge, Windsor police arrested him again for drug trafficking. Police haven’t said what kind of drugs he’s accused of selling. It’s possible Police Act charges could also stem from his most recent arrest but they would likely be dealt with in a separate hearing.
A Windsor woman already facing fraud charges has been accused of stealing more than $400,000 from another company where she worked as a bookkeeper.
The latest charges against Nada Khalaf, 56, are one count of fraud over $5,000 and one count of uttering forged documents.
Windsor police began investigating Khalaf on Feb. 5, after being contacted by a representative of a local manufacturing company.
Khalaf had worked for that company as a bookkeeper from 2008 to 2012.
The company owner learned that OPP had laid various fraud-related charges against Khalaf relating to her bookkeeping for a different company in Leamington.
In light of those charges, the complainant decided to review his own financial documents. An examination of payroll deposits, petty cash expenditures, and cheques indicated that money had been stolen over the course of Khalaf’s four-year employment period — with the total sum in excess of $400,000.
Members of the Windsor police financial crimes unit investigated and subsequently arrested Khalaf.
Police said the case is ongoing and the company’s estimated loss figure may increase.
Anyone with further information about this case is encouraged to contact financial crime investigators at 519-255-6700 ext. 4330.
Anonymous tips can be submitted via Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477 or www.catchcrooks.com.
“We want people in the neighbourhoods to start taking ownership of what goes on in their streets,” said Const. Mike Akpata of the Windsor police arson unit. “If beautification and pride start to take hold in a neighbourhood, it spreads.”
Along with Akpata, Windsor fire prevention officer John Lee, Ward 4 Coun. Chris Holt, and other community safety representatives will attend the meeting at Willistead Manor to listen to the public’s arson concerns.
Const. Mike Akpata of Windsor police at the scene of an arson in the 1600 block of Hall Avenue in November 2014. (Jason Kryk / The Windsor Star)
According to police, the Walkerville area was subject last year to 14 deliberately set fires. There have been two more so far in 2015.
Akpata said those numbers don’t include accidental fires or fires with undetermined causes. “These are ones that, through some type of determination, we know to have human involvement,” he said.
While the crime of arson can have financial motives, Akpata said the incidents that disturbed Walkerville neighbourhoods last fall were “fires of opportunity” — fires that were ignited in alley ways for no apparent reason other than the availability of fuel.
Any garbage can cause problems, but the trash that tempts arsonists of opportunity is chock-full of flammable material: discarded mattresses, sofas and furniture, cardboard and paper products, clothing and fabric, dry leaves, pieces of wood.
“Your call (on the motive) is as good as mine. They could be bored. They could be playing with fire,” Akpata said. “The refuse was there, and then the fire came.”
The simple solution is to make sure such things aren’t lying around in the first place. It might take a couple phone calls, but proper, responsible disposal is the key, Akpata said.
The second piece of advice is more complex. Akpata believes community engagement is a vital part of public safety. That means watching out for other people’s property as well as your own, and not being shy about contacting police.
A discarded mattress in a Walkerville alley way on Mar. 24, 2015. (Tyler Brownbridge / The Windsor Star)
“The people in the neighbourhood are the best eyes as to what’s going on,” Akpata said. “Police can’t be everywhere at all times … Police would not solve any investigations without the help of the citizens.”
If you see something suspicious, Akpata encourages you to call 911 or the Windsor police non-emergency number of 519-258-6111.
One way to think about it, Akpata said, is the broken window theory: “One broken window leads to more broken windows. One fixed window leads to more fixed windows.”
Thankfully, despite heightened awareness of the problem, arsons aren’t actually on the rise in Windsor. Akpata said the total number of arson incidents citywide in 2014 was 52 — lower than the 2013 total of 69.
The neighbourhood watch meeting takes place 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Willistead Manor, 1899 Niagara St.
Matthew Ronda, 27, was arrested around 11 p.m. Tuesday after a police effort that involved patrol officers, a police dog and members of the drugs and guns unit.
Police credit information from the public for identification of the suspect.
Ronda has been charged with robbery with an offensive weapon, wearing a disguise with intent to commit a crime, and breach of recognizance.
A surveillance camera image of a male who robbed a Shoppers Drug Mart on Mar. 15, 2015. (Image via Windsor Police Service)
Investigators believe Ronda was the slim, hat-wearing male who robbed the Shoppers Drug Mart at 7770 Tecumseh Rd. E. on the night of March 15.
The robber — who was wearing sunglasses and a winter hat with ear flaps — went to the store’s pharmacy and demanded narcotics. He appeared to be carrying a small silver handgun.
After seizing a small amount of prescription drugs, the robber fled to the parking lot, where he got into a waiting pickup truck that drove away.
Anyone with more information about this individual or this crime is encouraged to call investigators at 519-255-6700 ext. 4305.
Anonymous tips can be submitted via Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477 or www.catchcrooks.com.
Crime rates in the city continued on a downward trend last year, according to Windsor police.
There were 13,272 reported criminal code offences last year, compared to 13,949 in 2013.
Total crimes against persons dropped 11 per cent to 2,347. The number of property crimes decreased four per cent to 8,693.
There were 2,347 reports of violent crime in 2014, down from 2,634 in 2013.
Police said the numbers of robberies, criminal harassment reports, arson, possession of stolen property and youth crime were all significantly reduced in 2014 compared to the previous year.
Some areas did see minor increases. There were three homicides in 2014, compared to two in 2013. Sexual assaults involving family members increased by two to 29. Assaults against police increased by one for a total of 43.
The number of break and enters or break and enter attempts also increased, from 1,282 in 2013 to 1,307 in 2014.
There are things you could be doing to make your property less prone to crime.
That’s one of the messages that will be pushed at a town hall meeting on Tuesday morning about preventing crime in Windsor’s west end.
“It’s called CPTED — crime prevention through environmental design,” said Fabio Costante, a west Windsor activist and separate school board trustee. “It’s a way to identify risks surrounding your property, and how to mitigate those risks.”
Founder of the Our West End initiative, Costante will be joined by Windsor police representatives for a frank discussion on what more can be done to safeguard residences, businesses, and public properties.
Fabio Costante (L), founder of the Our West End initiative, and Barry Horrobin, director of planning with Windsor police, stand in an alley in the city’s west side on March 30, 2015. (Tyler Brownbridge / The Windsor Star)
Barry Horrobin, director of planning and physical resources with Windsor police, will be on hand to provide basic advice on CPTED — which can range from strategic lighting, to physical fortifications, to trimming trees and hedges for improved sight lines.
“Sometimes people’s landscaping is very beautiful — but it gets to the point where it blocks the view of the main entrance to the building and/or the address number,” Horrobin said, by way of example.
“Those are things that are very much against natural surveillance, that a property owner has complete control to change.”
Ward 2 Coun. John Elliott in a 2010 file photo. (Dan Janisse / The Windsor Star)
Ward 2 Coun. John Elliott will also be attending. But Elliott emphasized that the meeting shouldn’t be taken as any indication west Windsor is more prone to crime than other parts of the city.
“If you check the stats, you’ll find that’s not true,” Elliott said. “The west end always gets that rap. It’s a stigma from many years ago.”
Elliott believes that, rather than crime, the west side’s reputation should reflect its true qualities: deep historical value and strength through collaboration.
“This is a community like no other. This is the oldest historical area on this side of Montreal,” Elliott said.
“I don’t know that there’s a community in Windsor that works together more cohesively than the west side. The agencies, the police, the schools — We’ve been in the same loop for years.”
Costante agreed. He suggested that part of the perception problem could lie in how Windsor crime is reported by the media: Anything that happens west of Crawford Avenue is often described as taking place in the “west end” — generalizing a large geographic area with a wide variety of neighbourhoods.
“I don’t think it’s fair at all,” Costante said. “We’ve had a stigma for as long as I know, and I don’t understand it.”
Call 519-567-8719 for more information. Call 519-567-4331 to register.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
Barry Horrobin of Windsor police explains some of the principles of CPTED.
Natural Surveillance: The degree to which a place or space is naturally observable to anyone — not just trained observers like police. Encompasses sight lines, lighting.
An apartment building on Sandwich Street in Windsor’s west end. (Nick Brancaccio / The Windsor Star)
Access Control: The degree to which a property owner can control access to a property — encouraging visitors, but discouraging trespassers. Encompasses hedgerows, fencing, gateways.
Territoriality: How a property is identified and demarcated. Includes separation of private and public space. Encompasses signage, visual distinctions.
Target Hardening: Improving the physical security of a space. Encompasses lock quality, alarm systems, door hardware.
Activity Management: Ensuring that a space is used for its intended purpose. For example: A park with a playground set is meant for children during the day. If it attracts loiterers at night, the reasons why it’s attractive to them should be examined — and changed.
Fabio Costante (L), founder of the Our West End initiative, and Barry Horrobin, director of planning with Windsor police, stand in an alley in the city’s west side on March 30, 2015. (Tyler Brownbridge / The Windsor Star)
A 46-year-old Leamington man is facing charges after he allegedly kicked up a ruckus over not being able to pay his $90 restaurant bill.
Elias Chavira-Gonzalez is accused of one count of food or lodging fraud, two counts of breach of an undertaking, and one count of breach of recognizance.
The incident happened around 2 p.m. Monday at an eatery in Leamington’s downtown core.
Provincial police said officers arrived at the business to find the accused shouting and causing a disturbance.
According to OPP, the accused had ordered about $90 worth of food that he could not pay for.
Chavira-Gonzalez was taken into custody and held for a bail hearing.
He’s due to appear in a Leamington courtroom at a later date.
Two different motorists are facing impaired driving charges related to two separate crashes that happened in Essex County last weekend.
Casey Blokker, 30, was arrested after a collision on Queen Street in Kingsville at around 1 a.m. March 29.
Provincial police said Blokker was behind the wheel of a silver Pontiac that smashed into a parked vehicle.
The Pontiac then left the scene. The automobile was found a short distance away with extensive front end damage.
Blokker suffered minor injuries. No one else was hurt.
OPP said the accused was showing signs of impairment at the time of his arrest.
Blokker faces charges of impaired operation of a motor vehicle, having blood alcohol content exceeding 80 milligrams, and failure to stop at the scene of an accident.
He’s due for a court appearance in Windsor on April 14.
The previous night, around 8:55 p.m., provincial police were called to a crash scene in the 1300 block of Tecumseh Road in Lakeshore.
Brandon Sylvestre, 37, of Lakeshore, was found at the scene showing signs of impairment.
Police believe Sylvestre was driving a black Ford vehicle eastbound on Tecumseh Road. The vehicle crossed the centre line, entered the oncoming lanes, then left the roadway.
The vehicle went into a ditch, struck a culvert, and also struck a hydro pole before ending up on the front lawn of a residence.
Sylvestre suffered minor injuries in the crash. He’s been charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle and having blood alcohol content exceeding 80 milligrams.
