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Election Report Card: Police reform

One of the first tasks for whomever wins the mayoral election will be to negotiate a new contract with the Toronto police. The current agreement expires on December 31 and the new one will have financial implications far beyond the men and women in uniform.

The police force is the most expensive item in the city budget, and the bulk of the costs, 89 per cent, is for salaries and benefits. Constraining these costs through a new contract will be key to ensuring City Hall has enough money to invest in other priorities.

But the price of policing isn’t the only facet of the force that needs a closer look. Toronto’s racialized communities continue to be disproportionately affected by the police practice of carding, and too often the force’s interactions with the mentally ill turn fatal.

So which candidate has the best plan to reform the force?

Olivia Chow

The platform: Chow has identified the cost of paid duty jobs (in which off-duty officers are paid for tasks like monitoring traffic sites) and overtime pay as expenditures she would reduce. She is the only leading candidate calling for a ban on carding, and she believes community partnerships with police, youth job initiatives, and investments in social programs are the best ways to prevent crime. She has come out in favor of expanding the use of the crisis teams to deal with people in mental distress. She also supports giving Tasers instead of guns to some frontline officers, as well as outfitting police with lapel cameras.

The good: She pledges to sit on the Police Services Board to renegotiate the controversial shift schedule that, according to the current contract sees the city pay police for 28 hours of work every 24 hours. According to the city, switching to a 24-hour shift structure could save up to $35 million a year.

The bad: Some mental health advocates oppose Tasers, warning that police will be too quick to use the potentially lethal weapons.

The score: Chow is saying the right things, but we wish she were offering specific budget targets. It’s going to take a tremendous amount political will to put a significant dent in the police budget. 4/5

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Doug Ford

The platform: Ford has declared himself a “massive supporter” of frontline officers, and falsely claimed that his brother Mayor Rob Ford’s administration put “more police officers out on the street.” (Average deployed uniform strength actually dropped by 6 per cent under Ford’s watch between 2010 and 2014.)

Instead of reducing the amount the city pays for officers, Ford says he would save money by implementing recommendations in the Shared Services Review, which studied cost-cutting measures like combining different city divisions’ procurement and HR departments. Ford has said these changes, which he likens to buying batteries in bulk from Costco, could save up to $100 million.

The good It’s entirely possible the Toronto Police Service is paying too much for batteries.

The bad: The Shared Services Review determined the city could save up to $67 million across all departments, which is much less than the $100 million Ford has claimed. And the majority of those savings, up to $47 million, would come from coordinating labour practices across city divisions in order to make a concerted effort to negotiate cheaper contracts with public employees. This would involve getting tough with the officers’ union, which Ford has signaled he is unwilling to do.

The score: As usual, Ford’s numbers don’t add up and his full-throated support for frontline officers is a sign he wants to maintain the unsustainable status quo on police salaries. 1/5

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John Tory

The platform: Tory says it’s “absolutely necessary” to control police spending, but also asserts that “adequately resourcing our police department” is what has made Toronto safe. He has vowed not to reduce the number of rank and file officers, and even hinted the city might need more.

Paid duty expenditures and overtime from attending court are costs Tory says he wants to bring down. Like Ford, he also wants to combine some of the force’s administrative functions with other city divisions.

He has suggested that changing the 28-hour shift structure is unrealistic because it would involve renegotiating the police contract, and warned that any candidate who says they can do that is “trying to fool you.”

Tory believes carding “hasn’t been reformed enough” but doesn’t support eliminating it, arguing that police do difficult work and “they need the tools to get the job done.”

The good: He has praised the Iacobucci report on police interactions with people in mental distress, in particular its recommendation to outfit cops with lapel cameras. The report included many important recommendations and deserves to be discussed as part of the campaign.

The bad: Tory, who received a highly controversial endorsement from the police union during his 2003 mayoral run, is dismissive of negotiating cost-saving measures into the new contract, which is the only way expenditures will be contained. He also suggests a robustly funded police department is the most important factor in community safety, which isn’t supported by evidence.

The score: Tory has made token statements about reform, but shows no real commitment. 2/5

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bens@nowtoronto.com | @BenSpurr

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