Inspector Steer and Sergeant Ho presented the 2024 Annual Use of Force Report to the Board. In 2023, York Regional Police (YRP) began working collaboratively with the Ontario Police College and the Ministry of the Solicitor General to improve data validation procedures and increase transparency to YRP's application of force. This unique partnership allows YRP to access the organization's use of force data directly from the Ministry following its review and verification processes.
In 2024, York Regional Police officers responded to 405,726 calls for service. Of those, 269 incidents, involving 372 subjects, led to the application of force. YRP encountered 254 armed subjects, including 181 subjects who were armed with a firearm, 55 subjects who were armed with an edge weapon, 12 subjects who were armed with a blunt force object and six subjects who utilized a vehicle as a weapon. YRP’s use of force incident rate sits at 0.066 percent, well below the Canadian national estimate of 0.10 percent. Between 2020 to 2024, YRP has seen a 188 percent increase in firearm-related encounters. In 2024, de-escalation methods were used in 90.8 percent of use of force incidents, over five percent more than in 2023. This improvement is a result of officer training to enhance officer capabilities. YRP’s use of force incidents remains the lowest in the GTA despite the increases in interactions with armed subjects.