In this issue:
1. Policing public order
2. How many cops does Toronto need?
3. Vulnerable Person registry
Toronto Police Accountability Bulletin No. 153, September 25, 2024.
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. Policing public order
2. How many cops does Toronto need?
3. Vulnerable Person registry
4. Subscribe to the Bulletin
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1. Policing public order
The Toronto police service is reassessing its policies about policing public order, a response largely because of the demonstrations and protests about the war in Gaza. Many people submitted their ideas of the changes which should be made to existing policies.
a) TPAC’s brief stated any new policy should focus on three changes to the existing policy. First, the new policy should respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, something that is not even mentioned in the current policy. The right to protest and express opinions is guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This means that the actions of police are constrained by the Charter, and it is necessary that the new policy conforms to the requirements of the Charter.
The use of informants and infiltrators by police causes distrust of police and is indicative of their bias against some people who are exercising their Charter rights. The use of undercover infiltrators and informants also has a recognized chilling effect on association, assembly, and free expression. For these reasons, informants and infiltrators should not be used by police unless there is an objectively reasonable basis to suspect that violence will ensue at the event.
Second, event organizers should be largely in charge of demonstrations and protests. Currently, police attempt to assume control over most protests. In almost all cases, event organizers are entirely capable of doing this themselves, and they assign event marshals to ensure order is maintained. Before an event, police should get touch with event organizers so both parties can identify personnel to talk to during the event. Only in cases where the event does not have marshals and the situation is getting disorderly should the police intervene. In short, police should pay due respect to the event organizers.
Third, the primary role of police should be traffic management, to ensure that drivers know the options available to them, and that no one is injured by vehicles. This can best be done working co-operatively with event organizers.
Further, the Toronto Police Service should use this review to consider opportunities to use civilians in some of the roles that are currently filled by armed police officers at public demonstrations. For example, many of the roles involved in guiding traffic and communicating with drivers could be filled by civilians. When counter protestors or agitators are present, civilians with expertise in de-escalation and conflict resolution could be empowered to engage with them to divert and prevent confrontation. Similarly, civilians with expertise in human rights and equity could respond to complaints of oppressive comments or allegations of human rights violations.
b) The brief of the Law Union of Ontario emphasized the need to respect the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and also demand much greater involvement by the Police Service Board in monitoring police actions during demonstrations.
It proposes that the policy should set out the legal restraints on police powers of arrest and search, particularly in the context of protests and demonstration and require Board review and a legal opinion for any proposed police actions that could fall outside of those limits. Reference is made to some of the many things the police did in the G20 demonstrations including illegal arrests, arbitrary searches and kettling, and suggests there needs to be much greater review of police discretion, surveillance and use of force.
c) Many Jewish organizations asked that a revised policy deal with events which may threaten Jews – demonstrations targeting Jewish communities or Jewish businesses. Some of these briefs recognize the tension between Charter rights of free speech and the sense that Jews feel threatened, and the difficulty of mediating a balance.
It is unclear when the police service will come forward with a new policy about policing public order.
2. How many cops does Toronto need?
Police chief Myron Demkiw filed a report at the September board meeting on four scenarios for assessing the number of police officers needed in future years, hoping to establish a multi-year staffing plan. The first approach is simply hiring replacements for those who retire, and not expanding at all.
The second is to maintain the current ratio of staffing to city population: as the city grows, so would the police force. This would require an additional 86 officers every year and 29 additional civilians with a cost (according to the Chief) of an additional $25 million or more every year.
The third approach is to meet current provincial training allocation. This would require an additional 164 officers and 55 civilians each year, at a cost (according to the Chief) of an additional cost of $30 million or more each year.
The fourth is an `adjusted service level’, with a requirement of between 1300 and 1800 additional officers. This approach seems very discretionary and expensive.
Many deputations were made to the Board, most arguing that the police force should not be expanded, but to reduce crime and increase community safety, more money should be put into community services and less into policing. TPAC argued that there was considerable room in the existing service for the number of police officers to shrink without reducing levels of service, and that civilians and community organizations could provide comparable (or better) service than police officers for many functions at much less expense.
The City Council appointees to the Board argued that the key issue was not so much the number of staff, but rather ensuring there is `adequate and effective policing’ — which is the Board’s statutory mandate— and that the chief’s proposals were too specific about different metrics or measurements. As well, City Council had to determine the amounts it is willing to spend on policing, given its other responsibilities. This position was adopted by the Board after much debate, which means issues of how Toronto can ensure there is adequate and effective policing is not simply a function of the number of police officers.
3. The Vulnerable Persons registry.
The police service established the vulnerable person registry in 2019, but things have not gone well with it, and the City Ombudsman was brought in to report on its status. The Ombudsman reports that the Police Service has not managed the registry with the attention required. While the police attend annually to more than 30,000 calls regarding mental health calls, only 305 people have registered with the registry. As the Ombudsman notes, communication with the public lacks `clarity, meaning and accuracy.’
One problem is that the Vulnerable Persons Registry was created without input from people with disabilities, and it uses incident-reporting software. It was also initially designed for a third person to fill out in behalf of the vulnerable person. Self-registration was only allowed after a personal request. As a result, an unpleasant side effect is that the person and their image are referred to as “an incident” rather than a human being.
The Ombudsman agrees that the police should seek a third party to manage the registry. The chief stated in January of this year that the service was looking for a third party manager, and here we are, nine months later and that has not been completed.
The service agreed with all 13 recommendations of the Ombudsman, and the Board agreed to proceed with implementation.
4. 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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