Good afternoon. My name is Detective Sergeant Gary Giroux. I'm the operational case manager of the G-20 investigative project team that was formed on June 28, 2010, as a result of the criminality that took place within the downtown core of the city of Toronto.
The mandate of the project team is an offender-based criminal investigation with regard to the G-20 related criminality that took place within the city of Toronto on Saturday, June 26, 2010. All of the prosecutions are based on identification of the offender by still photographs and video or witness testimony.
To date, we've received 40,000 still photographs that were provided to the investigators by private citizens and by undercover police officers within the crowd to assist us in our investigation. We've received 500 videotapes that were taken by the public and were provided to us for our assistance. Citizens within the city of Toronto and the greater Toronto area provided statements to the police with regard to the criminality they witnessed while present at the G-20 demonstrations.
In addition, we have 22,000 hours of closed-circuit cameras that were positioned in the downtown area of the city, 22,000 hours of closed-circuit cameras that recorded the criminality that took place on that particular day. We had aerial support from planes and helicopters from a variety of policing agencies. We had surveillance cameras that were provided to us by private businesses and office towers in the downtown area.
Some of the offenders who committed these offences, including arsons, were wearing no disguises at the time of their offence.
Others--several hundred black bloc individuals who wore dark clothing and disguises--transitioned throughout the downtown core breaking windows. They clearly came to the city of Toronto with a clear agenda to damage property. These individuals are in addition responsible for assaulting citizens and police officers and burning and destroying a number of marked uniform police cars. The dollar value on June 26, 2010, is estimated to be in excess of $2 million.
As a result of the tremendous support from the public, the masked offenders were followed and tracked through the crowd until their disguises were removed--in essence, their “de-blocing” tactics. At that time, there were photographs. With the assistance of the media and the release of these photographs, those offenders have been identified, and a number of them are in custody.
The arrests that my project officers have made have taken place within the city of Toronto and the greater Toronto area and in numerous other parts of the province of Ontario, the province of Quebec, and the province of British Columbia. Some of the offenders were arrested prior to the violence that took place on June 26, but were arrested in other offences related to the G-20. At the time, the Toronto police already had their photographs for comparison purposes for the criminality that took place on Saturday, June 26.
To this date, there have been 37 arrests, many of them of black bloc offenders. There have been 131 criminal charges laid to this point, including arson, assault, mischief, mischief endangering life, and assaulting police officers. The majority of the offenders, during their interrogation and when confronted with the physical photographic evidence, go on to confess to my investigators with regard to the criminality that they participated in.
To this point, arrest warrants and extradition orders will be sought for three American citizens who participated in over $500,000 worth of damage. All three of them are members of the black bloc. Their offences total over 100 criminal charges. They're all American citizens. These offenders are all known and they will all be apprehended.
One of the offenders, who lives within the greater New York area, attacked the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce while armed with a miner's pickaxe, striking windows 20 feet high, for a total damage of $385,000. The damage took less than 30 seconds to commit.
The Canadian Bankers Association has offered assistance with regard to facial recognition software. It will be instrumental in a number of the most serious offender prosecutions. These prosecutions have dedicated crown attorneys who have carriage of all of my G-20-related criminal prosecutions, and many of the crown attorneys will be seeking penitentiary sentences for these offenders.
Numerous offers of assistance from other policing agencies within Ontario, Canada, and the United States have been provided to my officers. Additional arrests are pending. The investigation is active and ongoing.
Thank you.