Ontario Invests $1.8M to Help Police Improve Community Safety

Through the depiction of police departments in popular culture mediums, it’s certainly easy to believe as an outsider that video surveillance has always been the best of the best, but that isn’t always so. Surprisingly, public service departments that work to safeguard citizens are often slower in receiving technological advancements for their systems, products, and processes because the focus and cashflow is allocated elsewhere. Yet it’s important to always consider the role of technology in providing benefits to public servants across the country.

The Government of Ontario is investing $1.8 million through the Ontario Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Grant Program to help 20 police service centres enhance their video surveillance systems to better safeguard communities across the province.

The CCTV funding has already been utilized by local police service departments to work on community safety projects such as upgrading and modernizing traffic camera infrastructure to provide high-quality video captures. These types of projects can improve the quality of evidence and thus lead to crime reduction through stronger investigation tools.

“CCTV surveillance systems are an important part of local police work to detect, prevent, and deter criminal activity, especially in areas of gun and gang violence and other serious crimes. This funding will help police services strengthen CCTV capacity and improve crime prevention efforts to better protect communities.”
– Ontario Solicitor General, Michael Kerzner

Canadian Grants Supporting Community Safety Projects

The Ontario CCTV Grant program began in August 2020 as part of Ontario’s Guns, Gangs and Violence Reduction Strategy. The overall funding plan is to invest a total of $6 million over three fiscal years until 2023 to help police departments improve their video surveillance systems in areas where crimes, such as drug and human trafficking, are most prominent.

The Ontario CCTV program covers 50 per cent of project costs up to a maximum of $200,000 to help pay for CCTV cameras, software, and installation.

The Multitude of Government Grants That Help Keep Canadians Safe

In collaboration with community organizations, there are a variety of other grant programs currently functioning that support public service providers and community partners in creating or enhancing systems, products, and processes that will ensure ongoing safety and well-being of local and provincial communities across Canada.

These grant programs include, but are not limited to:

• The Community Safety and Policing Grant: Provides police services with the necessary tools and resources to enable deployment of front-line officers where and when they are needed most.
• The Constable Joe MacDonald Public Safety Officers’ Survivors Scholarship Fund Grant: Is available to support the education of spouses and children of public safety officers who have died in the line of duty.
• The First Nations Constable Fund Grant: Supports 40 First Nations constables across nine First Nations police services.
• The Hate Crime Extremism Investigative Team Grant:  Supports numerous police services in focusing on crime prevention involving hate propaganda, the promotion of genocide, hate-motivated crimes, and criminal extremism.
• The Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) Enhancement Grant: Funding for police services to increase mental health and addiction workers to provide on-going support for individuals experiencing a mental health or addiction crisis.
• The Ontario Association of Crime Stoppers Grant Program: This is a partnership between the public, the police, and the media that allows citizens to anonymously help the police solve crimes. The grant funds go towards operating an answering service that receives crime-related tips outside of regular business hours.
• The Proceeds of Crime – Frontline Policing Grant: Funds from assets seized or forfeited by the government during criminal prosecutions are made available to help police departments carry out various crime prevention projects.
• The Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet Grant: With the help of municipal police services, the OPP, crown attorneys, and victim service providers, this grant works to protect children from online exploitation.
• The Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) Grant: To enhance regular RIDE spot-check activities carried out by local police departments.
• The Safer and Vital Communities Grant: Support for not-for-profit community businesses and First Nations organizations to address risks to safety and well-being.
• The Court Security and Prisoner Transportation Grant: Funding to support municipalities in offsetting their court security and prisoner transportation costs.
• The Victim Support Grant: Funding to build resources and address the needs of victims and survivors of intimate partner violence or human trafficking.

Canadian Government Funding for Technology Adoption

Every Canadian business can benefit in one or more ways by adopting new technology to improve best practices and stay up to date with modern advancements such as funding for cyber security, automation, and product development.

Visit our Capital Investment & Technology Adoption Funding page to learn more about the currently available grant and loans programs that can help your business thrive.

Eligible businesses can access capital investment and technology funding for support on specific costs related to projects which focus on improving business performance while boosting the Canadian economy, such as clean technology adoption to meet Canada’s zero-emissions goals.