The Toronto Police Association (TPA) is holding an online vote to see if their membership has confidence in Chief Mark Saunders’ leadership.
Front-line officers received a memo Thursday afternoon asking them to vote.
The vote will close on Feb. 21.
“A significant amount of our members have been telling us that they’ve lost confidence in the Chief’s ability to address their concerns with any sense of urgency,” TPA president Mike McCormack told CP24 Thursday. “So the vote will quantify the members’ dissatisfaction with what’s going on right now.”
McCormack added that this “dissatisfaction” comes at a time of transition for the police force in the city.
“We’re going through a transition in the Toronto Police Service but the methodology to getting to this modernization – transitionary period – we believe, and our members believe, public safety, officer safety, the well-being of our members at risk and we’ve been in a dialogue to try and get this fixed – this crisis in policing that we’re experiencing in the city of Toronto for quite some time,” he said.
“We’ve fallen on deaf ears and our members have had enough and they’ve given a mandate – they want their voices to be heard and they’ve lost confidence in the leadership and are trying to resolve this crisis in policing.”
The memo, obtained by CTV News Toronto, cites Saunders’ “ineffective leadership, lack of communication skills and failure to take responsibility.”
The confidence vote is the latest move by the union, which is locked in a protracted struggle with the Chief and the Police Services Board over the long-term transformational task force plan, which calls for the overall size of the service to shrink by as many as 250 officers by the end of 2019.
The transformational task force plan also calls for two police divisions in the city’s east end — 54 and 55 — to be merged into one new division.
The TPA memo released Thursday states the Toronto Police Service has 577 fewer officers than it did in 2010. McCormack adds that more than 100 officers have left or indicated they will depart in 2018.
Last month, the TPA bought a full billboard ad along the Gardiner Expressway as well as newspaper ads, slamming Saunders, Mayor John Tory and the Police Services Board for long 911 dispatch wait times, saying leaders were not doing enough to hire more dispatchers and that 911 callers sometimes wait minutes before they are connected to a dispatcher.
On Thursday, McCormack said he does not put all of the blame on the Chief.
“The Chief is the one who is responsible for implanting the modernization or transformation,” he said. “Do I put all of the blame of the Chief? Of course not. I think the mayor has a role in this and the chair of the police service board.”
Mayor Tory responded to the billboard and newspaper ads by ordering the hiring of 20 new police dispatchers.
In a statement issued Thursday night, the mayor reiterated that he has “complete confidence” in Chief Saunders.
“Toronto is the safest city in North America thanks to the hard work of the members of the Toronto Police Service,” Tory said in the statement. “I remain committed to the plan to modernize the Toronto Police Service and know the Chief is dedicated to addressing the concerns which always arise when significant change takes place.
“At this very moment, more than 80 new police officers are being hired and staffing is being significantly increased at 911. Responsibilities are being taken on by the City so police officers can be deployed where they are needed most instead of directing traffic or answering noise calls.”
Tory added that he believes “constructive discussion is far preferable to billboards and online votes as a way to address genuinely held concerns on the part of our police officers.”
McCormack said morale in the service is low and the memo alleges there have been instances where police divisions have not been able to muster up enough patrol officers to meet minimum service requirements.
The non-confidence vote is not binding on any decision makers. The police chief serves at the pleasure of the Police Services Board.
“It gives the Chief an opportunity to address the issues of the membership however he chooses to do that,” McCormack said.
He added the non-confidence vote was used only one other time by the TPA in the last 25 years.
“We take no pleasure in doing this but our members have reached a breaking point and we need to address this issue.”
Saunders is expected to respond to the developments later on Thursday evening.
