Police officers across Chatham-Kent have seen a decline in the number of firearm seizures across the municipality.
A 2019 year-end report presented at the police services board meeting on Tuesday showed 369 firearm seizures compared to 381 the previous year. Among the seizures, police in Chatham-Kent processed 102 non-restricted rifles and shotguns, 77 pellet rifles, pistols, and replica firearms, and 23 restricted handguns, along with several bows and crossbows, ammunition, and several knives. The report, authored by Inspector Mike Domony, showed that 193 pounds of ammunition, 63 rifles and swords, and 246 handguns and knives were destroyed in July of 2019.
The number of weapons seized at Chatham's two courthouses has also decreased. Officers confiscated 394 weapons while screening at the entrance last year compared to 413 in 2018. CKPS said the items (mostly pocket knives, box cutters, and the odd fake grenade) are seized for safety reasons and, in most cases, they are returned to the owner upon leaving.
"This is what our officers deal with on a daily basis at the front door," said Domony.
He added charges are not usually laid and some of the confiscated items are destroyed.
As far as drug seizures last year, Chatham-Kent police seized illegal drugs almost daily with officers seizing illicit drugs 359 times throughout the year. Methamphetamine continues to be a popular drug in the Chatham area accounting for 31 per cent of the total seizures. Processed dried marijuana followed at 16 per cent, a variety of drugs including hydromorphone accounted for 13 per cent, fentanyl was 10 per cent, cocaine was eight per cent, and heroin was five per cent of the illegal drugs confiscated by police. Ecstacy, crack cocaine, magic mushrooms, and Oxycodone are the least confiscated illegal drugs in Chatham-Kent, with all of them accounting for three per cent or less of the total seizures done last year.
