Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, gentlemen, for coming today.
Some of my questions will be geared specifically toward my area--in other words, my riding and areas in eastern Ontario--but not necessarily, because I think they're representative of the rest of Canada.
Of course, organized crime and some of the things we read in the newspaper are generally situated in the large cities. I had a round table on crime in my riding, and of course I invited the chiefs of police of every police department, as well as victims groups and crime prevention groups, so the whole community relating to that. We heard from our police chiefs that some of the same things affecting big cities are affecting our smaller towns and cities. In my riding a couple of deaths have been investigated by the OPP that sure sound to me, when you read the newspapers.... In my old line of work, that is called the white intelligence you get from the newspapers, and organized crime would consider that white intelligence from their perspective--in other words, things that are available to the public.
Obviously some of your 400 agencies are small-town police forces. The feedback you're getting, the organized crime, the violence, the drugs, gangs, and guns we see in the city, are you seeing that? Are you getting that information from your smaller police departments?