A new task force report is recommending a series of sweeping changes to the city’s police service.
The proposed changes, which will be presented to the Toronto Police Services Board this Friday, include cuts to the number of officers, and the shuttering of certain divisions.
Documents obtained by CTV Toronto outlined specifics of the restructuring aimed at shedding millions of dollars from the $1-billion budget.
Among the recommendations, the task force suggests that the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) should be disbanded by the end of the summer. The report also recommends the service should lose 450 uniformed officers through attrition, cutting the force down to 4,750 officers.
No additional hires or promotions for three years are also proposed.
The report would also have control of the parking enforcement unit handed over to the city and would remove police officers from public transit.
“TTC will be responsible for their own Special Constables program,” the documents read.
Several divisions would either merge or shut down to save on property taxes.
Under the proposal, 54 Division would close shop in 2017, merging with 55 Division. In 2018, 12, 13, 33, 53, and 41 divisions would be shut down.
The paid-duty system would also be “overhauled” to allow private security and workmen to do most of the duties, except where there is risk.
“This will include all sporting and community events,” the documents state.
On Wednesday, Mayor John Tory told reporters that he thought this would be one of the most significant documents with respect to policing in Toronto in the last 25 years.
“It achieves things people said we couldn’t do, or we wouldn’t do, or in some cases they said we shouldn’t do,” Tory said of the report.
“I think they are things that are in the public interest – they will make for a safer city, they will make for a better policed city, they will make for the more efficient deployment of police services, and they’ll make for the beginnings of a restoration of trust.”
However, Toronto Police Association President Mike McCormack told CTV Toronto there had been no discussion around the impact the proposed changes would have on public safety – nor had there been any public consultation.
“It’s up to you and the other people who live in this city to determine what kind of policing they’re going to get in this city,” McCormack said.
“Not politicians, not the police union, and not the police service.”
