Hundreds of Ontario’s top police leaders have descended on Kitchener.

The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) is holding its annual general meeting in the city this week.

Over 2.5 days, administrators will be hearing about emerging trends in several aspects of policing, including cybercrime.

To that end, OACP members heard from former Research in Motion (now BlackBerry) co-CEO Jim Balsillie Monday morning.

Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin described cybercrime as “changing the way we do our business,” noting that checking out streets and parks isn’t an effective deterrent for some modern criminal activity.

“Now we have the dark web that we need to patrol,” he said.

Another major focus of the meeting is police oversight. Changes to Ontario’s current oversight process are expected to be announced this year, partially in response to criticism of the Special Investigations Unit and other existing accountability measures.

“Trust and confidence in policing is an issue … we’re all facing,” Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau, the OACP’s current president, told reporters.

Asked about promoting women in policing and advancing women through the ranks, Bordeleau cited figures showing that while male officers can end up being superintendents or deputy chiefs within 20 years, female officers can face 40-year waits to get their careers to the same point.

He described policing as a career that can have “internal struggles, and challenges and barriers,” and said chiefs and other administrators should work to identify and deal with those issues.

“I think the focus is ‘Let’s remove all those barriers that exist,’” he said.

The meeting will wrap up with the nomination of a new executive for the OACP. Larkin is expected to be nominated to serve as its president for the coming year.

With reporting by Nicole Lampa