How app upgrades are helping Toronto police do more bail compliance checks
CBC
There's an app for that — even to help monitor people on bail in Ontario.
And it's getting some upgrades, courtesy of a $2.4-million provincial grant, finalized last year.
Back in 2019, Toronto police created a bail compliance dashboard, a mobile and desktop app, to give officers one spot to review bail conditions, surety information and the address of those out on bail for firearms-related charges before checking in on them. Earlier this year, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) took over management of the app to expand it across the province.
With three years of provincial funding, which began in 2023 and wraps next March, Toronto police have improved their systems so the dashboard receives court information faster and on more individuals, allowing officers to do more compliance checks.
They can also now start monitoring people on the app facing other serious charges, like carjackings, home invasions and human trafficking. The work, done in partnership with Durham Regional Police, is called Project Aware.
"We've expanded year over year," said Craig Lawrie, project lead from the Toronto police's information management unit.
"We're getting court data faster, it's more accurate, and we're making sure that we're reducing administrative burdens where we can, so frontline officers have more time for bail compliance."
Last year, Toronto police completed 200 per cent more bail compliance checks compared to when the dashboard was first created six years ago. During Project Aware, officers were able to complete 2,718 more checks in 2024 than they did in 2023.
"In the past, officers would have to use very manual-type methods like spreadsheets or mug shots on a wall," said Det. Sgt. Andrew Steinwall, who works with the bail enforcement unit.
"This takes us into modern times."
Steinwall says officers review the app before completing a compliance check, which usually starts with going to the home of a person out on bail for a serious offence to make sure they're following their conditions. What happens after depends on what they find.
There are now more than 1,200 people facing charges from TPS with their information in the dashboard. The majority (714) are for firearms offences, alongside roughly 500 individuals being monitored for the other serious charges the service has added.
Alison Craig, a Toronto-based criminal defence lawyer, thinks this a good investment.
"I've long said the solution is more compliance checks and enforcement, rather than change in the bail laws and bail reform," she said. "I hope if the system is proven effective, it will assist perhaps in more people getting bail, because our jails are overcrowded."
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