True Patriot Love - Canada's Problem With Gang Crime

00:00:00.000 when you talk crime with somebody who focuses on that for a living and the conversation off

00:00:09.480 camera begins with there's so much to cover every day now it's sort of a frightening place to be

00:00:16.440 but that's where our conversation began today off camera with jeremy grimaldi who i often refer to

00:00:22.060 as canada's last crime reporter hey jeremy how you doing i'm great how are you good thank you

00:00:28.300 well you were right when you pointed out earlier yeah there's a lot going on a lot to cover off on

00:00:34.300 this week and over the last couple of weeks certainly a couple of things and if you don't

00:00:39.740 mind we can go through a couple of topics starting with of course the tragedy that occurred in british

00:00:47.360 columbia you and i also having a chat about that trying to unravel it from a crime perspective

00:00:54.620 almost seems pointless this uh almost feels like more of a case of us having missed something

00:01:01.500 along the way from a mental health perspective yeah i was i was uh kind of shocked by that story and

00:01:09.700 and there's so many questions so few answers it's hard to know where to start but one thing that

00:01:15.820 that definitely caught me off guard was how many times police have been to his home

00:01:19.280 or her home uh and and found weaponry including guns uh yeah i i feel as though there's so much

00:01:30.220 focus on crime there's so much focus on the justice system it's clearly bunged up but there's

00:01:35.380 there is no it seems like there's no intervention that's possible or suitable for some of the people

00:01:42.920 we have in our society i think that's probably always been the case and we've seen these it's

00:01:48.800 shocking to canadians to experience this we had uh the last time we saw anything like this was in

00:01:54.400 montreal uh certainly in in my youth uh that became an indelible moment this is another one of those

00:02:01.140 that just seems inexplicable uh we may never have the answers people need but for certain that

00:02:06.600 that poor town is devastated i would dare say forever yeah that that that kind of tragedy

00:02:14.340 especially one that's so difficult to digest and difficult to know how to feel about is one that

00:02:21.680 uh you know it's a it's a modern day one in the past uh there would be you know there'd be certain

00:02:29.440 feelings from the public that would that would evolve into memory and memorials this one seems like

00:02:37.000 it's going to be so complicated and convoluted that i i just don't know how you'd move on from it

00:02:43.720 i don't think in the traditional way no i think that this you're right i think this is going to be a new

00:02:49.680 experience for everybody involved and and certainly for canadians uh to digest has been um just as

00:02:57.960 devastating i think uh i wonder from your perspective the coverage of this as a reporter

00:03:03.820 um and uh you've been doing it for many years the coverage is difficult i i have noticed that

00:03:11.460 uh the struggle over gender has been a major issue uh in publications and the reception of how people

00:03:18.300 are gendering the this murderer um and uh i wonder how you feel about how that's all being handled it's

00:03:27.020 it's really touchy i'm not really sure how to feel about it is is the short answer um different media

00:03:34.860 organizations have different rules around identity um so that causes a layer of i think confusion on

00:03:43.880 behalf of the public and potentially on behalf of the media itself uh after that initial barrier of the

00:03:52.460 media uh there's also online uh information um purveyors i guess i'd call them they're not reporters

00:04:02.340 but purveyors of of information um who are telling a totally different story and who are uncovering and

00:04:11.300 and uh uh releasing a lot of information that the the mainstream media doesn't have or doesn't have yet

00:04:18.060 or doesn't feel comfortable releasing right so there's there's a there's a disconnect there there's a

00:04:23.580 there's a further disconnect when when the mainstream media discusses um about about some of these things

00:04:32.620 going on online and a part of me feels like that that may be a direct result of some of the rules that

00:04:40.940 they face in reporting some of these issues and and again some of the rules that the police face

00:04:45.980 in releasing information and it all adds up to uh something that has as i think led to confusion

00:04:55.520 i think you're right at the moment that it happened i think there was confusion um it just it's

00:05:02.340 interesting to know that a lot of this is driven by policy not necessarily the writer or the reporter

00:05:08.000 uh it's more the policy of the media outlet and how they're going to handle it uh i think that's

00:05:13.740 pretty interesting nonetheless a horrible tragedy and i think covering it from a crime perspective

00:05:18.540 as i say is um it's just not a thing most likely and and this is a long investigative process i would

00:05:25.260 imagine so many people involved uh so many families involved in such a small community where

00:05:30.760 there isn't a massive policing force present at all times um so i think that a lot will come out over

00:05:38.660 the next months and uh you know the weeks and months ahead but and we'll check in with you on

00:05:43.540 that but i just wanted to uh kind of put a pin in it to say you know this is a one of those moments

00:05:49.700 in canadian crime history that i think uh sadly will will not be forgotten yeah it it won't likely be

00:05:58.660 forgotten and it'll be interesting to see what kind of perspective history adds to it

00:06:02.660 um because often uh often the perspective is dialed in right away and people understand it right away

00:06:10.500 like they're all shooting um and then there's ones that we don't quite understand right away and and

00:06:18.420 and and we understand better over time slowly and so a different perspective is is held

00:06:24.580 a year in two years in uh then then was held uh when it happened yeah that's interesting too yeah

00:06:33.460 i think that we will definitely have a different lens on this in the days ahead uh i wanted to ask

00:06:39.380 you also uh this occurred and and and i think that it kind of got passed over you know as one of the

00:06:47.060 murder numbers in the gta but little ot uh omer niaz muhammad uh by his uh birth name was shot and

00:06:55.460 killed february 9th he was 24 years old and uh to the uh rap and hip-hop community in ontario canada

00:07:03.540 uh across the country and beyond uh this was a bit of a shock he was shot in burlington um in a public

00:07:10.420 place at a shopping center and it just led me to to down the road of thinking oh my

00:07:16.900 gosh this is seven or eight that i've heard of in the last couple of years you know brazen public

00:07:23.860 shootings and uh you know i wonder what your take is on that why are we starting to see this or

00:07:30.420 is this more common than i noticed before i would dare say it's more common than you noticed i think uh

00:07:37.380 uh a lot of it has to do with the the the popularity of the artist uh i've covered a couple of these

00:07:47.300 incidents involving rappers well more than a couple to be honest but when when when the the rapper is

00:07:54.020 more popular more eyes are on it from around the globe um that's the first thing and the second thing

00:08:01.220 is that uh what i think i think what we're seeing is young people who who maybe don't have that much to

00:08:10.660 lose um engaging in online um uh battles and and and disrespect that that leads to uh this kind of

00:08:22.740 behavior and it's it's it's sad and it it it opens up your eyes to maybe uh more of a societal issue

00:08:34.500 um that's that's sometimes not discussed i think also our bail reform uh comes into play here maybe a

00:08:42.580 little bit too if you know that you're going to be out uh on bail pretty quickly after shooting at

00:08:47.060 somebody in a public place uh whatever street cred that gives you is met with laws that are you know

00:08:55.220 lenient to say the very least and a bail system that's going to have you back on the street within

00:08:59.620 minutes yeah the bail system seems to play a role in in a lot of uh crimes these days now a defense

00:09:11.060 attorney will tell you that maybe it's just that we're finally reporting it more than the actual

00:09:16.980 bail system changing all right i don't really know what to believe there's very few numbers and

00:09:22.980 statistics on this but you know it is a fact that nowadays police are when they release the details

00:09:30.260 of a crime they are putting in the press release or the tweet or whatever it is they're releasing

00:09:35.860 that the person was on some sort of recognizance some sort of bail so that that does add a a layer of

00:09:43.780 you know misunderstanding i think comparatively speaking to to the way we understood it in the

00:09:50.740 past where the police wouldn't have announced that and the way we're understanding it now i don't know

00:09:56.180 that gun buyback is working when there's so many brazen shootings but the other thing that occurs to me

00:10:00.660 is that they're happening in public places which if you think about it is kind of scary but it seems

00:10:08.500 ideal for these moments you know maybe you know where this person goes on a regular basis there's

00:10:13.780 a convenience store there that you know that they visit uh a salon that you know that they go to on

00:10:19.620 it becomes a way of keeping up with the routine it gives you a little bit of anonymity in the crowds

00:10:25.060 where this is occurring and it's just unexpected yeah yeah i i don't i don't have offhand what kind of car

00:10:34.100 they were driving but i understand that oh sorry it was a white suv um and and apparently now there's

00:10:41.300 a second vehicle but i know one vehicle was found burnt out uh by the police after the crime so i do

00:10:48.340 i do know that that some of these getaway drivers often use vehicles that are not noticeable uh i know

00:10:54.260 that under civic was the vehicle to use for for years i understand that may be changing now but

00:11:00.740 but but um it does open up that opportunity to do it in a public place but it also shows

00:11:07.620 the inexperience of these guys the the depth of their what do you want to call it hatred towards

00:11:14.820 the other person one of the other stories that i'm following is and i think everybody has certainly

00:11:19.860 here in ontario is the corruption that's going on uh in the gta among the police that story was shocking

00:11:26.740 to me oh yeah that that that's a that's a big one you don't you don't come across that every day

00:11:34.260 um and and there was a lot of people involved and you know what what shocked me was the you know the

00:11:42.260 media loves to use the word brazen uh and and this was brazen um the the fact that some of these cops are

00:11:49.060 willing to to sail their colleagues down the river uh for for what a few thousand dollars and uh and

00:11:58.420 some you know some uh some some ties to organized crime is is beyond me i don't understand how you

00:12:06.660 can do that and live uh with with with your conscience after doing something like that if you

00:12:12.740 don't mind kind of recap the story for us because you're going to be the best eyes on this i think we've

00:12:17.300 got in the country yeah um well uh you know a lot of a lot of cops were tied up in this um and you know

00:12:26.260 in one particular incident that that the police are alleging um a police officer sold uh the address

00:12:34.100 of a correctional officer um to a gang or a gang member or someone who wanted some retribution

00:12:43.140 uh and they visited his home and tried to tried to kill him three times i believe in in the coming

00:12:50.100 days uh i also understand um that the correctional officer uh was in charge of ensuring that drugs

00:13:00.020 stayed out of prisons and he was quite successful at that um so it it you know one's mind goes to the

00:13:08.500 idea that perhaps they were uh losing a lot of money due to not being able to get drugs into

00:13:14.260 correctional facilities and this was payback again no no proof of that but that is that's something that

00:13:21.460 that jumps to your mind it it certainly does i think that was the uh speculation that everybody

00:13:26.500 jumped to at that moment uh was that this was somebody was in the way of drugs it actually felt to me

00:13:33.060 like the officers involved the police that were involved were part of a gang there was so much going

00:13:41.380 on here so many layers to this that they must have known about or you would assume that they knew about

00:13:48.420 that it just felt to me like there was a gang embedded in the police force and i think that a lot of

00:13:55.860 people feel that way yeah and and and fair enough for feeling that way now i i going back to my initial

00:14:04.020 statement about sailing your colleague down the river for a few thousand dollars which something

00:14:08.820 we've seen in the the ryan wedding investigation or i'll get incredible crazy um uh yeah just just to put

00:14:17.860 put a point on that i did i did speak to a number of sources afterwards about this the idea that they're

00:14:25.460 willing to sell information to these to these gangs a lot of them low lives to to do this sort of crime

00:14:32.980 against a upstanding member of the community um and i was told that you know a lot of times it's done

00:14:40.420 once and once the gangs have that information of you committing that crime or doing that that deed for

00:14:48.020 them they they sort of have you uh with their tentacles so when they need another something else done

00:14:55.060 they they have they have the ability to extort you into doing it um so just to just to explain it a

00:15:01.380 bit better for the viewer because i it's something that i was really wondering about uh you'd think

00:15:06.900 that an officer would have more scruples in this you know i do understand it's a stressful job uh i do

00:15:13.940 understand you know linking arms with with with the underworld sometimes in some situations because again the

00:15:23.380 the world they live in is one uh where the lines can be blurred uh and again i'm not condoning it i just

00:15:32.180 say that i i do comprehend it i understand it this i feel took things a step further yeah it does feel

00:15:40.900 like that doesn't it like to begin with if they already had their hooks if they had their talons into

00:15:46.260 these police that became involved in this process um what were they doing before you know where did

00:15:54.740 this begin this sounds like we're far down the the track of uh you know becoming involved with the

00:16:02.180 underworld so uh i think that was the most shocking element of that now what happens uh as best you know

00:16:09.060 what happens in this process now uh there will be i would imagine there will be a full investigation

00:16:15.780 there'll be it'll go to court what do you anticipate will will be the the trail on this well it's going

00:16:22.420 to be a lengthy one because all these officers have long well not all of them but a lot of a lot of the

00:16:28.820 ones that were heavily involved or allegedly heavily involved have have long careers so you know you have to

00:16:34.900 wonder um if you're if you're a superior uh how many crimes were they involved in how many of the

00:16:42.740 crimes they investigated uh did did they did they play dirty who knows so you know they're gonna have

00:16:50.420 to reach way back into these people's history and uh and and try and gain as much evidence as possible

00:16:57.940 um you'd have to imagine uh that they'll find it and then and then there's the the further investigation

00:17:06.500 into all police forces and um and all officers around the province maybe around the country you know

00:17:15.140 this this is one that scares you and this is one that makes you wonder uh you know what's going on

00:17:22.100 behind closed doors and then you take a look across the province and there's corruption charges

00:17:27.700 being laid uh internally not just in toronto but in in several uh different jurisdictions um is it

00:17:36.580 too easy are we leaving something out is there um a widespread uh endemic issue going on across

00:17:45.300 the province and maybe across the country it'll be very curious to see what this unwinds

00:17:51.540 yeah and and those those are all completely fair questions that have to be asked uh because

00:17:56.980 this is the last thing you'd want um when the police uh get corrupted you're you're you know the next

00:18:04.820 step is uh banana republic so they're they're our last line of defense uh between us and the criminals

00:18:11.940 so um yeah you want them to be upstanding uh people and and officers yeah it's a respect that we

00:18:22.100 uphold uh based on that uh you know many of the things that police do but uh honesty and steering

00:18:28.740 clear of corruption i think is the kind of first marker jeremy thank you so much my man for being

00:18:34.340 with us and uh i'll put out there that uh you see a lot more jeremy around here following crime because

00:18:40.420 that's what we need uh i think that it's very interesting earlier you said jeremy that the police are

00:18:45.700 now putting out whether somebody was on bail when they're announcing a more recent crime so that we can

00:18:51.540 see what's going on i wouldn't have known that if you hadn't have told me that and other gems to keep

00:18:56.900 you safe and uh keep a handle on crime uh with jeremy grimaldi right here on tpl thank you so much

00:19:02.900 thank you thank you have a nice day

00:19:10.260 you

True Patriot Love - February 22, 2026

Canada's Problem With Gang Crime

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