An increase in crime report has caught the eye of a Windsor city councillor.
Last week, Windsor police released its crime data for the month of November that showed a 14.4 per cent increase in crimes against people compared to Jan. to Nov. 2023.
Ward 4 councillor Mark McKenzie took to social media stating that he'd had enough and called for federal bail reform.
"What we're seeing is that Windsor is not unique," says McKenzie. "You're seeing this in cities across Canada right now. When you start looking at the dangerous catch and release policies that have resulted in violent crimes skyrocketing by 39 per cent in Canada, 256 people were murdered in 2022 by an offender who was actually out on bail."
He says he plans to make a motion at Monday's council meeting requesting that the city send a letter to the federal government asking they take immediate action by keeping repeat and violent offenders in jail while they await trial.
"I think most of us on council have some common sense and realize that look, crime is up and it's not Windsor police's problem, they're doing everything they can to try and arrest these people and keep them in jail, but once they arrest them then it's the courts who now need to keep them in jail."
McKenzie says the passing of Bill C-75 and Bill C-5 by the Trudeau Government, have made matters worse, as he says it's made it easier for violent offenders to post bail.
He also called upon the provincial government to address jail capacity issues.
"I would like to see Doug Ford and his government step up also. I think this is something that municipalities, the province and the feds can work together on, but we need to start with again changing Bill C-75, as well as Bill C-5. We've got to stop allowing these repeat offenders to just be out on bail days after they're arrested."
Windsor city council meets Monday Dec. 9 at 10 a.m.