Toronto police can't afford monthly costs staff overtime officers on transit past March: city

Toronto police will not be able to afford the roughly $1.7-million monthly overtime costs of the additional officers currently deployed to the TTC past March 20, the city manager said Wednesday.

At Wednesday’s special budget meeting, Toronto City Council debated hot topic issues before approving a 2023 operating budget of $16.16-billion, including a $43.8M increase to TPS' funding.

As the meeting edged into the evening and councillors had the chance to ask city staff questions about the operating budget, Ward 4–Parkdale–High Park councillor Gord Perks asked City Manager Paul Johnson to confirm that TPS was currently spending about $1.7-million a month on the enforcement efforts.

“The overtime pay for the 80 police officers going into the transit system was about $1.7 million a month?” Perks asked, to which Johnson confirmed.

Perks then asked if it was correct that TPS can only accommodate that financial burden through winter.

“Yes, that's my understanding,” Johnson replied. “There would need to be additional considerations if it goes on beyond.”

With winter ending on March 20, this means TPS can only afford to staff the security measure for just over one more month. Any more funding would require further authorization.

When reached for comment, spokesperson Stephanie Sayer for Toronto police said she couldn’t speak to how long the temporary initiative would be in place.

“Although I can’t speak to how long the TTC security initiative will last, I can tell you the cost to support it is variable and based on actual deployments each day,” Sayer said. “If current levels of support continue, the cost could be approximately $1.5M a month.”

The deployment of the extra officers has relied on callback shifts, which lean on off-duty officers for coverage in an overtime capacity.

The 80 officers were deployed to the publicly-funded transit system in late January in an effort to reduce crime after a rash of violent incidents took place on TTC property.

In recent months, Toronto’s transit system has been at the centre of a string of violent – and, at times, seemingly random – crime, prompting increased enforcement and police presence, which has left some riders questioning their personal safety.

The concerns aren’t unfounded – in the last month, the Toronto Police Service (TPS) notified the public of at least 18 different violent crimes against riders or employees of the system. In the weeks before that, a string of muggings, assaults and a fatal stabbing at a west end station, prompted calls for national action.

When the measure was announced, TPS Chief Myron Demkiw did not provide information about costs.

CTV News Toronto reached out to the City of Toronto to ask if there were security plans in place past March 21 in the event that prolonged measures are needed, but they referred the inquiry to TPS, who was unable to speak to the duration of the initiative.