Over 1K automated speeding tickets issued to Toronto police vehicles in 2-year period
The officers issuing Toronto's speeding tickets are also racking them up as well, as newly obtained data from automated speed and red light cameras shows cops in the city are facing fines for more than 1,000 incidents in a 26-month period.
The tickets and figures, obtained by CTV News through Freedom of Information requests, show evidence of Toronto Police Service (TPS) vehicles, including regular patrol cars, prisoner transport vehicles, special constable cars, and even parking enforcement cars, zooming past speed limit signs across the city.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
In one case, a special constable car was ticketed $120 for going 59 km/h in a school zone at pick-up time.
In another, a squad car is seen running the red light on King Street at Spadina Avenue just after 11 a.m. as a man is seen crossing in the crosswalk one lane over. That resulted in a $325 fine issued to the car.
A photo included in a speeding ticket issued to a Toronto police special constable. (Freedom of Information request)
While the TPS says it frowns upon and follows procedures to deal with unnecessary speeding, figures show the number of tickets issued to police vehicles is trending upwards – from 435 in 2021 to 495 in 2022.
“We know that speed is the primary factor that determines whether someone is struck with a vehicle lives or dies. So the thought of police officers casually speeding around and potentially putting the public at risk is disturbing,” Jess Spieker of Friends and Families for Safe Streets told CTV News Toronto.
“The thought of police officers who are paid to uphold public safety in fact endangering public safety – that’s not good,“ Spieker said.
The figures show that several tickets were sent to parking enforcement vehicles, which typically do not deal with emergencies requiring high speeds. One car – PKW31 – was issued a $227.50 fine for going 65 km/h in a 40 zone at Renforth Drive and Lafferty St.
Just two days later, the same parking enforcement car sped through Bicknell Avenue at Avon Drive and was issued a $95 fine for going 45 km/h in a 30 km/h zone.
Data shows traffic tickets issued to Toronto police are trending upwards. (Freedom of Information request)
Some tickets issued to police could be argued
Police are legally allowed to break certain traffic rules in the course of their duties if circumstances call for it.
Some of the cases of tickets issued to Toronto police vehicles show signs that they could be tossed, if challenged, as the speeds could be interpreted as justified.
One such ticket shows a cruiser following an ambulance through a red light, for example, and another set of tickets show a group of cars all going around 60 km/h in a 30 km/h zone in what could be a coordinated response.
The largest ticket in the sample was a squad car going 92 km per hour in a 50 km per hour zone on Jane Street at Lambton Avenue – though it’s not clear from the ticket itself whether the speeding in that case was justified.
According to city data, the spot that saw the most tickets issued to police vehicles was Beverley and D’Arcy streets, a few blocks of 52 Division in the downtown core. Fifty-five were issued at the intersection.
The next most common spot, at 44 tickets, was Sheppard Avenue East at Don Mills, just off Highway 404. In third, was Jane Street at Lambton Avenue, with 30 tickets.
The largest number of red light tickets issued to police was 23 at Warden Avenue and Ellesmere Road – many times more than any other location.
The largest quantity of tickets of any day was issued on Nov. 1, which includes the early morning hours of Hallowe’en.
What happens when a cop gets a ticket?
According to a TPS spokesperson, the service has a process in cases of officers being issued speeding tickets by automated enforcement cameras. In such cases, TPS pays the ticket up front and then, it’s up to supervisors to look into what happened and potentially dock the ticketed officer’s pay.
“In terms of process, Automated Speed Enforcement Notices involving TPS vehicles are sent to our Fleets and Materials Management team, who forward them to Professional Standards (PRS),” Stephanie Sayer wrote in an email. “PRS determines which unit the vehicle is from and notifies that unit’s Complaints Coordinator, who will then conduct an investigation to determine if an exemption is justified. If the Coordinator determines there was no justification, prescribed hours would be docked from the officer’s pay as a penalty.”
That system differs from the arrangement with, for example, TTC drivers, who are expected to pay for tickets themselves.
Data from TPS differs from City
CTV News first requested the speeding tickets issued to police vehicles in 2021, but was denied access on the grounds that disclosing the tickets could reveal investigative techniques, reveal law enforcement intelligence, and facilitate the commission of an unlawful act, and only provided the total number of tickets.
CTV appealed the denial twice with the province’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, and the TPS agreed to release a slightly redacted version of the tickets in February, following mediation.
In the interim, CTV News requested data from the City of Toronto, which provided figures on automated tickets that did not match the figures provided by the Toronto Police: in a smaller matching time period, the city figures showed about 30 more tickets.
That’s a concerning sign considering the Toronto Police just asked for and received a multi-million dollar budget bump from the City of Toronto, according to Anna Willats of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition.
“Obviously they’ve got to look at what system they have for dealing with these tickets and they’ve got to change it,” Willats said.
The number of tickets issued to the Toronto Police is a tiny fraction of the tickets that are issued by the machines throughout the city – Toronto’s figures show some 380,000 tickets were issued in 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6978861.1722008569!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
At least 4 buildings burned at Jasper Park Lodge, others damaged: Fairmont memo
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge said Thursday afternoon most of its structures are "standing and intact," including its iconic main lodge.
Major Canadian bank experiences direct deposit outage on payday
Scotiabank says it has fixed a technical issue that impacted direct deposits on Friday morning.
'He was just gone': Police ramp up search for vulnerable 3-year-old boy in Mississauga, Ont.
Police in Mississauga are conducting a full-scale search of the city’s biggest park for a non-verbal toddler who went missing Thursday evening. Sgt. Jennifer Trimble told reporters Friday morning that there has been no trace of three-year-old Zaid Abdullah since 6:20 p.m., when he was last seen with his parents in Erindale Park, near Dundas Street West and Mississauga Road.
Sask. appeal court says anti-trans group cannot join constitutional dispute over pronoun law
Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has denied a political group that opposes so-called “gender ideology” intervener status in a legal dispute over the province’s controversial pronoun law.
Justin Timberlake's attorney disputes he was intoxicated when arrested for DWI
A hearing in the case of Justin Timberlake being accused of driving while intoxicated was held Friday, where an attorney for the singer disputed his arrest in June.
Elon Musk's estranged daughter calls out his 'entirely fake' claims about her childhood
Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk's estranged daughter, publicly refuted several recent anti-trans statements her Tesla CEO and X owner father has made about her.
What we know about 'malicious' attack on French train network ahead of Olympics opening
French transport was thrust into chaos Friday just hours ahead of the Olympics 2024 opening ceremony after a series of co-ordinated 'malicious acts' upended high-speed train lines.Here's what happened and what we know so far.
Harvey Weinstein in hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 and contracting double pneumonia
Disgraced and imprisoned movie mogul Harvey Weinstein 'tested positive for COVID and contracted double pneumonia in his lungs,' Juda Engelmayer, Weinstein’s spokesman, said in a statement Thursday.
Reported rate of child pornography increased 52% in 2023, total crime up 3%: Statistics Canada
Last year, reported child pornography cases increased by more than 50 per cent in Canada, in part due to more cases being sent to police by specialized internet child exploitation units, according to a Statistics Canada report.