Public Safety committee  It's interesting, and I've certainly equated the terrorist threat and criminal radicalization, criminal extremism. That to me is no different from a gang problem we have in Toronto. I remember many years ago that we wouldn't admit to having a gang problem, but clearly there's a g

Public Safety committee  Privacy laws prohibit the sharing of information. We then need to look to the courts to get judicial authority, or some judicial body, not always the courts. Interestingly we've had some situations recently where, if we don't believe that we have a criminal offence but we need

Public Safety committee  When I first came to intelligence in 1993, everything came into the Toronto police intelligence unit on a piece of paper and then we got faxes, then email, and then we got web access. I carry three BlackBerrys. The information out there is overwhelming. I don't disagree that if

Public Safety committee  I'll address the first question as succinctly as I can. For instance, at Pearson International Airport, if you were to have outside of regular business hours a late flight leaving—and Peel Regional Police are the police of jurisdiction—and there's information that comes from a f

Public Safety committee  There's much that goes through my mind, having been to most major demonstrations in the city of Toronto, some here in Ottawa, and some in other parts of this province since 1993. I will say that for our system to work we do need people to protest. We do need checks and balances

Public Safety committee  In fact, I think it's a crucial piece, even across the federal government. Having worked for the last four years with the RCMP, and having the same authority as an RCMP officer, it is challenging to get access to information in different government agency holdings that would in f

Public Safety committee  Certainly. There are two aspects to that. One is obviously our role as a nation with the international community and that we ought to be seen to be holding up our end. There are events that have happened. We've seen Canadians go overseas and commit terrorist attacks against i

Public Safety committee  Thank you. Good morning. Thank you very much for allowing me to appear before this committee on behalf of Chief William Blair and the Toronto Police Service. As stated, my name is Steve Irwin. I am an inspector with the Toronto Police Service. As of next month I will have comple