new all-time high<\/a> was set as the city climbed past its deadly record that stood unbroken for nearly three decades. This forced police and government officials to re-evaluate their approach to gun violence, and sparked calls from the municipal and federal governments for a ban on handguns within city limits. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe last time 89 people were killed in a single year was 1991. Idsinga, a young constable at the time, attributed the rash of violence to “Chinatown and Asian gang” feuds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’re not seeing the same thing this year,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Toronto criminologist Maria Jung has pointed out that 1991 is still the peak for both killings and crime in the city because the homicide rate per 100,000 residents is lower now. Mass casualty events like the van attack, which aren’t the norm, have also contributed to a higher homicide figure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘Hundreds of reasons’ for surge in violence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Still, that’s cold comfort to Idsinga, who said innocent bystanders are being killed indiscriminately and at an alarming rate this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s very tragic,” he said, noting he’s shocked by the brazen way guns are being used on the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0root cause of\u00a0the wave in\u00a0horrific violence is difficult to pinpoint, he told Toronto press.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There’s hundreds of reasons that all add up, that contribute to this violence,” Idsinga said. He said gang activity, turf wars and retaliation, and guns and drugs all play a role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While an uptick in the number of tips police have received has allowed investigators to put out what Idsinga believes are a record number of outstanding warrants in murder cases, he says more work needs to be done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of the 712 Toronto homicides over the decade, 248 remain unsolved \u2014 that’s around 35 per cent, according to police statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Idsinga attributes this to the “large burden” witnesses are faced with when they come forward with information. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officers are still battling a culture of people not talking to police due to fear of reprisal, he pointed out, but those who have come forward are making a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We need that information to get that direction and carry on with that investigation,” Idsinga said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Toronto’s record-setting year for homicides was marked by “senseless” violence that has left police struggling to understand its root causes, a top investigator says. With 11 days left in 2018, Insp. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":22761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3538],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Screen-Shot-2018-12-20-at-9.26.02-AM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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