Message from the Chief of Police

chief jim macsween

We’re pleased to share with our community and our members the 2023 Annual Report, now exclusively in digital format. 

The 2023 Annual Report highlights our law enforcement and crime prevention efforts across the four objectives of the 2023-2025 Business Plan: Safety and Well-Being, Inclusion and Belonging, Recruitment and Retention and Continuous Innovation and Improvement.

In addition to these themes, an underlying focus for York Regional Police has been, and continues to be, supporting victims of crime.

Members of York Regional Police often find ourselves caring for victims of crime. Treating them with compassion and respect is an intrinsic duty shared by all our members.

The stories on this site detail our rescue of 64 victims of labour trafficking, who were subject to deplorable living and working conditions. Our community partners supported us, offering medical attention, food and shelter to assist these victims.

We also solved a 51-year-old cold case through technological advances in DNA, bringing justice to the victim’s family.

We share our concentrated efforts to dismantle the increasing number of organized criminal groups responsible for auto thefts, guns and gangs and violent crime like carjackings.  

We continue to leverage advances in technology that contribute to the modernization of our police service, including a new state-of-the art helicopter acquired in 2023 and the re-design of our cruisers to a simpler, navy-and-white, two-tone design.

Helping members reach their leadership potential has also been a focus. We partnered with Schulich ExecEd to provide members with a customized, hire-to-retire leadership program, which has proven to be appealing from a recruitment and retention standpoint.

We are also ensuring an equitable workplace through anti-racism training for all members and the creation of several Internal Support Networks that celebrate our members’ varied cultural histories.

We are proud to share the details of our fundraising efforts like Holiday Heroes and Police Appreciation Night, benefiting Victim Services of York Region, the Salvation Army and the York Region Centre for Community Safety.

Deputy Chiefs Alvaro Almeida, Paulo Da Silva, Cecile Hammond, Kevin McCloskey and I remain grateful for the professionalism and courage of all our members, sworn and civilian, who continue to protect our community with compassion and fairness each and every day. As always, we are thankful for the ongoing support of our Police Services Board and regional and municipal councils, which continue to provide the resources we need to ensure our community remains safe and secure, where everyone feels they belong.