RICHMOND HILL, Ont. - Ontario's opposition leaders jockeyed Monday to position their parties as vanguards of community safety as a summer plagued by brazen acts of violence prepares to give way to this fall's provincial election.

Conservative Leader John Tory and New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton, speaking at the Police Association of Ontario's annual general meeting in Richmond Hill, Ont., unfurled markedly different law-and-order platforms aimed at preserving public safety -- and garnering votes.

Tory outlined a three-pronged platform centred on bolstering the ranks of Ontario police by 200 officers, imposing harsher penalties for drug, gun and sex crimes and reaching out to troubled communities with educational and job opportunities.

He criticized Premier Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government for what he called a "catch-and-release'' justice system that allows charges to be thrown out or plea-bargained away.

"Catch and release works in fishing. It doesn't work in gun crime,'' he told the 200 delegates at the meeting.

Hampton likewise pledged more police officers, but for municipal forces. A stronger police presence in Ontario's most troubled areas would act as a deterrent to crime, he said, adding that city police forces are being "burdened'' by court security costs.

An estimated five per cent of police budgets are spent on court security, Hampton said. Uploading court security costs from the cities would free up about $250 million a year for municipal police forces, allowing them to field about 3,000 more officers, he said.

"As long as the McGuinty government continues to download onto municipalities, municipalities won't have the financial resources to be able to make thoughtful decisions about policing,'' he said.

The opposition leaders' remarks came on the same day Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter announced an expansion of the government's guns and gangs initiative in London, Ont.

Reached on his cell phone, Kwinter took Tory's law-and-order platform to task, accusing the Conservative leader of rehashing Liberal policies.

"Virtually nothing that he has said . . . is new and nothing that we haven't done,'' Kwinter said.

The NDP leader's suggestion that cities upload court security costs "makes no sense'' because there's no way to ensure the freed-up money will be earmarked solely for policing, he added.

"It sounds good, but he hasn't thought it through.''

Community safety is likely to be a running theme in next month's campaign. Figures provided by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services suggest gun-related homicides in Toronto are nearing levels reached during the bloody "Summer of the Gun'' in 2005.

There have been 26 gun-related homicides this year, compared to 29 two years ago.

This summer's spate of gun crimes prompted NDP MP Olivia Chow to release her own three-point plan Monday aimed at curbing youth crime.

Chow called for the Canada Summer Jobs program to be expanded year-round, long-term funding for youth safety and crime prevention programs, and more support for local crime prevention initiatives  .

McGuinty pledged $26 million last month to put 200 more police officers on the streets to stem the flow of illegal guns.

McGuinty has also called for an outright federal ban on handguns during a summer in which gun violence has plagued several Toronto neighbourhoods.

While attending a family birthday party, 11-year-old Ephraim Brown was fatally shot in the neck during a shootout between two rival gangs. His death came two months after Grade 9 student Jordan Manners, 15, was shot to death at his high school.

Ottawa has ruled out bringing in a handgun ban, saying the weapons are already effectively banned with only a few exceptions.

McGuinty is scheduled to speak to the association Thursday.