Hamilton Police Arrest Over 1,000 Wanted Offenders in 18 Months as Project KORA Delivers Safer Community. Photo Credit: Facebook/Hamilton Police Service
Hamilton Police Service (HPS) announced on October 20th that they have arrested over 1,000 outstanding individuals over the past 18 months as part of Project KORA (Keeping Offenders Responsible and Accountable).
HPS launched Project KORA in April 2022 in order to “reduce the number of wanted individuals” in Hamilton and “hold individuals committing offences accountable.”
The police service says the project “contributes to a safer and more secure community and streets for all.”
In addition to the more than 1,000 arrests, police say that they seized various weapons including firearms, recovered stolen property, and confiscated illicit drugs.
In a press release, HPS specifically recognized the work of their officers who “invested considerable time and employed their investigative skills to locate and apprehend these outstanding offenders.”
“The officers pursued leads relentlessly and followed up on information regarding the whereabouts of the offenders until they were brought into custody,” continues the release.
In addition to the charges each wanted offender was already facing, HPS says that 295 further charges have been filed with the courts as a result of their investigations.
The project focused on offenders wanted for property and victim-related offences as well as weapons offences and those wanted for violations of previous judicial releases.
In regards to the substances seized, police say they recovered 272 grams of fentanyl, 5.5 grams of methamphetamine, 30 grams of cocaine, and illegal oxycodone pills.
Weapons recovered included brass knuckles, hatchets, knives, pellet guns, a crossbow, throwing stars, a taser, and five firearms.
The five handguns seized were a Glock 41 Gen 4, Ruger SR 9mm, Springfield Armory XD 9, Smith & Wesson SD 40, and Canik TP9 Elite.
Over $4,800 in Canadian currency was also seized as proceeds of crime.
HPS had previously released a six-month update about the project in October 2022.
At that time police had arrested 348 wanted individuals.
At the time, HPS Superintendent Mark Stiller said that they know “outstanding wanted individuals have a significant impact on Hamilton’s crime and are associated with violence” in the community since they are commonly repeat offenders.
HPS continues to conduct other ongoing investigations and they encourage citizens with information about any criminal activity in the city to contact them or report tips anonymously to Crime Stoppers Hamilton.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
