The Ottawa Police Service is supporting the City of Ottawa’s recommendation in allowing retail store locations in the city, and that the move to do so would help in reducing organized crime.

The Advice from the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) was included in a report published earlier this week that was given to council before a special meeting taking place next Thursday. The Council will decide in that meeting whether or not to allow retail stores.

The section of the report by the OPS outlines some of the investigative work that has gone into illegal cannabis shops in Ottawa before legalization took place in October. According to the report, there were 465 criminal charges between 2016 and 2018 related to the illicit market including gun offences, assault, kidnapping, forcible confinement, robbery and break and enter.

Though the OPS does support legal pot shops in the city, they warned in the report that illegal shops will try to undercut prices on the legal market to keep their customers.

“While staff acknowledge that, if the city adopts the provincial cannabis retail model there is no guarantee that the associated crimes prevalent with illicit storefronts will not continue, law enforcement intelligence experts believe that organized crime profits and their related crimes will be reduced by adopting the provincial cannabis retail model for legal storefronts,” the city report says. ”It is for this reason the OPS is recommending that the city adopt the provincial cannabis retail model.”

President of the Ottawa Police Association Matt Skof said that the support from the OPS to have legal cannabis stores in Ottawa is understandable as enforcing illegal shops has existed in a grey area up until this point.

“We are in a staffing crisis. We are not staffed to handle these things. We just do not have the resources now to go into these shops and shut them down from a criminal perspective,” said Skof.

The report says that the City could support as many as 69 legal stores and that this could generate as much as $200 million per year when retail stores are allowed to open in Ontario in the spring.

“The government’s model is to let as many of these shops establish themselves and the rules of the market with establish [equilibrium],” said Anothony Di Monte, the city’s general manager of emergency and protective services. “What that is an how many stores end up in Ottawa—I’m not sure.”

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) will regulate retail stores according to the following regulations laid out by the government. These include:

Licensed and authorized retailers need to pay $10,000 in initial registration fees, plus $750 for a cannabis retail manager licence if they have staff.

Products cannot be visible from the street.

Minors are not allowed to enter and sales are restricted to people 19 and older.

The stores must be located at least 150 meters from elementary or secondary schools.

Stores can be open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

Ontario cities have until January 22 to let the province know if they will allow cannabis retailers.