2023 conference speakers
GUNS, GANGS, AND THE GRATUITOUS VIOLENCE: tHE NEW REALITY

Marc Larochelle
Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau
Ontario Provincial Police
Marc Larochelle has been a Police Officer for 17 years spending 14 years in Criminal Investigations, Drug Enforcement and Biker Enforcement. In 2022, Marc was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and assigned to Patrol Operations. After a decade of covert investigations, Marc decided to leave his new position with the Greater Sudbury Police Service to join the Ontario Provincial Police where he continues to organize crime investigations with the OPP Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau.

Craig Cooling
Central East Correctional Centre, Institutional Security Team Member
Ministry of the Solicitor General - SOLGEN
Joined Corrections in March of 2017, became a member of the Institutional Crisis Intervention Team in October 2018, and Team Leader in April of 2020. In 2022 I became one of the original members of the Institutional Security Team at Central East Correctional Centre.

Dr. Todd Negola
Clinical/Forensic Psychologist
Department of Veterans Affairs
Dr. Todd D. Negola is a clinical/forensic psychologist working for the federal government (Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Department of Veterans Affairs) for the past 27 years. Aside from his work with VA, he also conducts training internationally and consults regularly with federal, state and local law enforcement as well as public and private educational institutions, community programs and mental health personnel on areas including gangs and gang activity, psychopathy and safety. He has several peer reviewed publications, a co-authored book chapter and teaches regularly at several college/universities. When not working, he is often found coaching his daughter’s softball team or his son’s baseball teams. He is married to Kristi and they celebrated 27 years of marriage last summer.

Justin Parry
Sergeant - Secure Operations Unit
Winnipeg Police Service
Justin Parry is a 19-year member of the Winnipeg Police Service and is currently the Sergeant of the Secure Operations Unit, which oversees witness protection, member security, informant control, intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Intelligence. Additionally, Justin is the manager and a contributing member of the Winnipeg Police Service Gang Expert Program. In 2012, Justin was qualified as an expert in Manitoba Provincial Court to provide testimony on two Indigenous-based criminal organizations. During his assignments with the Homicide Unit, Major Crimes Unit, and Organized Crime Unit, Justin has gained extensive experience with gangs and gang-motivated offences. He has conducted complex investigations that focused on gang-related activities, including several large-scale Part VI investigations. This work has allowed him to gain familiarity with the mindset of gang members, cultivating them as sources and witnesses and utilizing that information to successfully further major gang-related investigations.

Peter Donnelly
D/Insp - Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau
Ontario Provincial Police
D/Insp Donnelly has been a case manager in the OPP since 2013 with many years in homicide and major cases as well as organized crime. He is one of the designated multi-jurisdictional major case managers for the province. D/Insp Donnelly is now assigned as the Hub Commander for East/North Organized Crime Bureau and his territory reaches from Cornwall in the East to Thunder Bay in the West.

Thomas ADAMs
Institutional Security Team
Ministry of Solicitor General – Toronto East Detention Centre
Thomas started his career in Corrections in October of 2016. Member of the Institutional Crisis Intervention Team 2020. Defensive Tactics Instructor 2021. Current member of the Institutional Security Team starting the roll in September 2022.

Craig Sharp
Provincial Operations Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau
Ontario Provincial Police
Detective Sergeant Craig Sharpe has served as a police officer for 27 years. Throughout his career, he has worked for the Waterloo Regional Police Service, Kingston Police Service, and currently serves with the OPP. His current role is the unit manager for the Indigenous Issues and Intelligence Unit (IIIU), established in response to the recommendations of the Ipperwash Inquiry. The IIIU is responsible for strategically deploying its members across Ontario to gather and provide intelligence to disrupt, deter, and dismantle organized and serious crimes. The unit focuses specifically on preventing criminal organizations' exploitation of Indigenous communities.

GARY BEZAIRE
London Police Service
Detective Bezaire has been a member of the London Police Service for over 23 years. During his tenure, he has worked in various departments including general patrol, robbery, guns and gangs, and major crime. Additionally, Detective Bezaire has served as a member of the London Public Order Unit and currently holds the position of director on the London Police Association. Currently, he is the officer in charge of the London Human Trafficking team. Proudly, Detective Bezaire is a devoted husband and father of two children.

Kim Harris
Toronto Police Service
Detective Sergeant Kim Harris has been serving in the Toronto Police Service for 25 years. She is currently the Controller of the Covert Operations – Source Management Section. She is a highly experienced criminal investigator and has served in various investigative units over the course of her career, including Divisional Street Crime and Major Crime Units. She also has several years of experience in both the Gun and Gang Task Force Street Enforcement Teams and Major Projects Section. For the past five years, Detective Sergeant Harris has been assigned to the Source Management Section, where she oversees the daily operations of the unit, provides and facilitates training, offers investigative support, and is an experienced Agent and Confidential Source Handler.

Vincent Paris
Ministry of the Attorney General
Vincent Paris is a Dalhousie Law School graduate who articled for Cooper, Sandler & West in 1996-1997. He worked as a researcher for Commissioner Fred Kaufman at “The Commission on Proceedings Involving Guy Paul Morin.” Later, he joined the downtown Toronto Crown Attorney’s Office in 1998. In 2004, he was assigned to provide legal advice to the Toronto Police Service Criminal Intelligence and Organized Crime Enforcement branches, which eventually became the MAG Guns and Gangs initiative. In 2007, he was appointed as counsel to the Firearm Investigation and Enforcement Services Directorate of the Canadian Firearm Program under the R.C.M.P., a role he continued until he was promoted to General Counsel in 2017. Currently, Vincent is the team leader of the Gun and Gang Support Unit, a group that assists police agencies across Ontario in tackling organized crime. He has lectured extensively on firearms, organized crime, search and seizure, and police use of force to police forces throughout Canada, the United States, and Mexico, as well as Judges, Crown Attorneys, and defence counsel. Since 2007, he has been a board member of the Ontario Gang Investigators Association, and he is recognized as a Subject Matter Expert on organized crime and firearms by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). He was the keynote speaker at a meeting of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held in Vienna, where he discussed the importance of tracing firearms. Presently, Vincent is working with the UNODC and Interpol on some training initiatives to counter firearm trafficking in Africa and South America. He is also engaged in a project with the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute to counter the involvement of organized crime and terrorist groups in the trafficking of precious metals.

Marc Labrosse
Quebec Provincial Police (SQ)
Marc Labrosse has been working as a member of the Quebec Provincial Police (SQ) for the past 25 years. Currently, he is responsible for managing the Office of Collaborating Witnesses, which oversees the development, evaluation, and control of agents working in the field for the SQ. His office also manages the special witnesses and cooperating witnesses. Previously, Marc oversaw ENRCO, an organized crime task force in Montreal supervised by the SQ. The task force manages wiretap investigations regarding Hells Angels and other gangs. Since 2013, Marc has gained extensive experience in Part VI investigations, writing over 450 different authorizations in numerous gang-related cases. One of these files, Project "Objection," where an agent was involved, made it possible to arrest and charge four Hells Angels members. Marc has had the opportunity to work with different collaborators in a wide area of criminality, giving him access to talk directly with career criminals involved in operations to deploy realistic operations on the field.