Barrie police says it has tracked an average of five antisemitic incidents per year over the past five years, but it cautions the figure likely doesn't capture the full extent of such occurrences in the city.
The figure comes from a report that Deputy Chief Rob Burke submitted to the Barrie Police Service Board on Tuesday. It outlined the service's response to a July 14 notice of issue from Ryan Teschner, Ontario's Inspector General of Policing regarding an increase in antisemitism and hate‑motivated incidents across the province.
The notice outlined seven areas of action for police services and boards, including consistent classification of hate-motivated incidents, improved investigations, officer training and support for victims.
Chief Rich Johnston says while the number captures incidents that are reported to police, he believes there are likely more hate-related incidents occurring in the city that never reach the service.
"I'm under no illusion that that is the number of hate-related instances that occur in our city," he told Barrie360.
The types of incidents that Barrie police classifies as potentially hate-motivated include the use of racial slurs during an incident, as well as graffiti and other mischief, Johnston said.
"The use of a racial slur is so destructive in our society — or a slur of any kind toward any group... but whether it gets reported or not is a challenge for us."
None of the antisemitic occurrences recorded by the Barrie Police Service over the past five years resulted in criminal charges, but there's more than meets the eye when investigators determine the legal threshold for a hate-motivated offence.
Police consider the circumstances, evidence and context of each incident when determining how it should be handled.
"In the heat of a moment, during an occurrence, someone may use a racial slur," Johnston said. "Never is it acceptable, but it may not be hate-motivated... The use of a racial slur doesn't immediately mean it's a hate-motivated crime. It may be a hate-motivated incident, to some degree, but it depends."
Burke's report says a newly-created Strategic Intelligence Response Unit (SIRU), formerly the Intelligence Unit, has been tracking occurrences through the service's records management team to improve information-sharing and identify broader concerns.
It also outlines additional training for officers, access to dedicated Crown counsel, support for victims through Victim Services of Simcoe County and continued engagement with the Jewish community.
The service can also increase its presence around local places of worship when incidents elsewhere in the province raise concerns in the community.
Johnston said that after a disturbing shooting on Sunday at a Belleville synangogue, officers increased their presence around Barrie's synagogues that same night.
"We recognize that when you see things start to change across the country, for us to not pay attention is negligent," he said. "People don't feel safe when you see a hate crime. Its effect is exponential and it reverberates across our country, our province, and our city."
Johnston said measuring the success of the service's response will be difficult given the relatively small number of reported occurrences, but said the ultimate goal is to prevent hate from occurring in the first place.
"Success for the Barrie Police Service — for all police services — should be (that) we should be out of business because people are able to get along."
