In this issue:
1. Police and cell phone service on the TTC
2. Misrepresenting crime levels in Toronto
3. New Police Board members
4. TPAC renewal, again
Toronto Police Accountability Bulletin No. 147, October 5, 2023.
This Bulletin is published by the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition (TPAC), a group of individuals and organizations in Toronto interested in police policies and procedures, and in making police more accountable to the community they are committed to serving. Our website is http://www.tpac.ca .
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In this issue:
1. Police and cell phone service on the TTC
2. Misrepresenting crime levels in Toronto
3. New Police Board members
4. TPAC renewal, again
5. Subscribe to the Bulletin
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1. Police and cell phone service on the TTC
Twenty two years ago the Toronto Transit Commission considered installing cell phone service in the subway system. It is still trying to get cell phone service for subway riders even though many other transit systems did so more than a decade ago.
By 2004 the TTC had grown cold on the idea because it said cell service would not produce revenue for the TTC (as though that should have been an important consideration) but also because the Toronto Police Service advised that it did not support cell phone service in subways because `cellphone detonation of bombs was a preferred method of terrorists.’
Staggering advice you might say. Police came to their senses a few years later and agreed that terrorists had other devices they might use, and that allowing riders to access their cell phones means could help them in emergencies. But by that time the TTC had given up on the idea. It has been revived because of recent incidents on the TTC.
Sometimes police come up with very unhelpful ideas in the guise of keeping people safe – like the recent idea voiced by Chief Myron Demkiw that to prevent cars being stolen owners should erect retractable bollards in their driveways (if they have one.
2. Misrepresenting crime levels in Toronto
The media finds it easy to misrepresent levels of crime: the last month has seen many reports claiming rising violent crime in Canada, using data from Statistics Canada. Our reading of the data questions that interpretation.
Statscan produces the Crime Severity Index, which looks at criminal charges that result in imprisonment, basing the index on the number of such crimes per 100,000 people. It excludes the minor crimes. In Canada it showed 76 severe crimes in 2018, 80 in 2019, 74 in 2020, 75 in 2021, and 78 in 2022. Severe crime last year was not as substantial as in 2019, although it is somewhat higher than in 2021.
The Violent Crime Severity Index is indeed a bit more troubling over these five years: 83, 90, 88, 93, 97. But it is not evenly distributed across the country. In Ontario, for instance, the severe violent crime index is 60, 61, 55, 56, 58 – substantially lower than the rest of the country, and lower in 2022 in Ontario than in 2018 and 2019.
The Ontario picture is mirrored in Toronto where the Crime Severity Index is 54, 54, 46, 45, 51, again much lower than in Canada and reduced in 2022 from a few years ago. The Violent Crime Severity Index for Toronto is 79, 78, 66, 65, 75, showing a large increase from 2021 to 2022, but down from 2018 and 2019. Kingston, on the other hand, shows a big increase in the violent crime index: 73, 67, 74, 77, 84.
See: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510002601&pickMembers%5B0%5D=1.21&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2018&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2022&referencePeriods=20180101%2C20220101
Shooting data provided by police in Toronto shows a substantial decrease from the first part of 2022 to 2023. Last year, 88 people were killed or injured by guns in Toronto from the beginning of the year until July 16; for the same period in 2023, the number is 66, a 25 per cent drop. Total shootings and firearm discharges for the same period showed 221 in 2022, and 158 in 2023. It is wrong to claim there is an increase in serious crime in Toronto.
There are many theories about why crime rates fluctuate, but no one seems able to come up with a definite answer which would help to explain changes in the crime rates. What is clear is that crime rates have almost nothing to do with the number of police officers – many municipalities in Canada with higher violent crime figures than Toronto have more officers per capital than Toronto. The data on that is set out in `Crisis in Canada’s Policing’ by John Sewell and Chris Williams, page 50. Calls to increase the number of officers in order to reduce crime should not be treated seriously.
3. New Police Board appointees
The new regime at City Hall, with Mayor Olivia Chow in office, has resulted in new council appointees to the Toronto police board. The progressive councillor from Etobicoke, Amber Morley is on the Board, as is Jon Burnside, from East York. Burnside is a former Toronto police officer and is now chair of the Board, and it is difficult to expect him to agree to any change. But perhaps Councillor Morley can team up with Councillor Lilly Chang who has been on the board for the last year but has generally been silent, to bring forward items that otherwise the board might not deal with. Currently the Board will not allow outsiders (like TPAC) to put matters on the agenda: the Board has prevented TPAC from raising issues of concern. Maybe Morley can be ready to place critical issues on the agenda – such as what seems to be a plethora of ethical and criminal cases raised against Toronto police officers.
4. TPAC renewal
TPAC has added several new members to the steering committee, but we are still looking for new blood – particularly people of colour and members of the trans/binary community. If you are interested send a short note about yourself and your reasons for an interest in TPAC to info@tpac.ca
5. Subscribe to the Bulletin
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this Bulletin, please send a note to info@tpac.ca with the instructions in the subject line or in the text of the message. Our e-mail list is confidential and will not be made available to others. There is no charge for the Bulletin. Our website is http://www.tpac.ca .
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