Blake Ellis/The Independent

Approximately $3.1 million in drugs has been taken off the streets in 2025 through the efforts of Lambton OPP’s street crime unit, says Inspector Ross Stuart. 

The street crime unit has been involved with 54 drug cases in 2025. “On the surface that might not sound like a lot,” Stuart told members of the Lambton Group OPP Detachment Board at its meeting Feb. 18. Every one of those investigations, he said, may involve surveillance over a long period of time, writing warrants, using confidential informants.

“They take time and a lot of effort to the point where that investigation is resulting in either an arrest or property being recovered,” says Stuart. “Fifty four is actually quite a high number for our unit.

These investigations have resulted in 48 arrests, 111 charges and 44 warrants in 2025. From these warrants, 130 kilograms of cocaine, 534 grams of fentanyl, 70 grams of methamphetamines, four firearms and little over $31,000 in cash has been seized. 

The detachment’s major crime unit has been involved with 284 investigations in 2025, including 63 sexual assaults. There were 134 criminal charges laid by this unit. 

“Some of these were really quite serious,” said Stuart. There was an investigation of a conspiracy to commit murder in February 2025, which involved two teenage girls. There was also an investigation of a sudden death of a three month old infant, also in February. 

In November, there was a homicide investigation in Port Franks, one of two in Lambton County during 2025. 

There was also Project Player, which was all time investigation in regards to four stranger-related sex assaults. At the end of the year, officers went to BC to arrest a man. 

“Even though it was decades later to be able to get justice for those victims is extremely important,” said Stuart. 

 There were a total of 41,216 calls for service in 2025, down slightly from 42,470 in 2024. There was a decrease in property crime by 29 percent and a drop in break and enters by 47 percent. 

There were also 10,055 traffic stops, with less than 7,200 traffic charges laid with 258 impaired drivers taken off the road. Motor vehicle collisions have decreased by 15.5 percent from the previous year and the number of collisions involving fatalities have decreased from 10 in both 2023 and 2024, to five in 2025. Three of those fatalities involved alcohol while one involved speed.

The hot spots for motor vehicle collisions continue to be Highway 402 westbound in Plympton-Wyoming, the intersection at Kimball Road and Petrolia Line in St. Clair Township, as well as Modeland Road and Highway 40 in Sarnia.