Changes are coming to the structure of the Toronto Police Service’s gun and gang task force and drug squad but officials are cautioning that the number of officers assigned to the units will not change.

CTV News Toronto has learned that the current number of Integrated Guns and Gangs units and drug squad units will both go down from six to four due to the realignment.

That said, sources have told CP24 that the changes will only result in the elimination of already vacant positions, some of which have been unfilled for up to two years.

Speaking with reporters outside Toronto police headquarters on College Street on Friday afternoon, Deputy Police Chief Barb McLean confirmed that changes are coming but said that it will have no effect on the number of officers assigned to the specialized units.

“We are keeping the same number of people that are working today. Today, next week it will be the same,” she said.

McLean said that staffing the guns and gang units remains a “priority,” though she refused to provide details on the structural changes being made to the units, telling reporters that she doesn’t “want the criminal element to be aware of exactly what we are doing.”

“We are committed to staffing at the level that we need to address the guns and gangs in our city,” she said.

Tory had expressed concerns about changes

Mayor John Tory told reporters earlier in the day that he planned to meet with senior police leadership to express his “profound disagreement” with any reduction in the resources dedicating to fighting gangs.

On Friday afternoon, however, he told reporters that he is now satisfied that the structural changes will not result in a reduction in the number of officers assigned to the units.

“That is the bottom line that I sough absolutely clear assurance on, that those numbers will not be changing,” he said.

The Progressive Conservative government has committed $25 million over the next five years to helping to address a spike in gun violence in Toronto and Tory has said that he will push for city council to match that investment if re-elected next month.

He told reporters on Friday that it is hope that some of that money will actually allow for additional resources to be assigned to the Integrated Guns and Gangs units eventually.

“I am confident that we will be able to do more and that that extra money will be able to fund that but today what the people of Toronto need to hear is that there will be the same amount of people fighting gangs and guns tomorrow as there were today,” he said.

Each drug squad and gun and gang unit is made up of about six or seven specially-trained officers, who work in coordination with one another.

On Friday, Toronto Police Association President Mike McCormack said that while he has not yet been formally notified about changes to the units he intends to discuss the issue with Saunders and TPS Board Chair Andy Pringle in a meeting scheduled for Monday.

He said that he has already heard from members of those units who are “concerned for what it will mean for them going forward.”

“We keep getting told we have to do more with less and that includes units like guns and gang and the drug squad and now they are taking personnel away from that at what we believe is a critical time,” he said.

McCormack said that while 27 new police recruits graduated on Thursday, a total of 246 officers have left the force so far in 2018, either due to retirement or another reason.

“We are short at least 600 to 700 police officers right now,” he said.