What to know
- Toronto police are expanding their Neighbourhood Community Officer program to the TTC’s Line 1, with eight officers now patrolling key stations.
- The program has already begun, and all new officers are expected to be fully deployed by the end of the year.
- Police say the expansion aims to improve rider safety through community-based policing and partnerships with TTC staff.
- Transit advocates, including TTCriders, warn that increasing police presence could undermine non-enforcement safety initiatives like the Toronto Community Crisis Service pilot program.
Toronto police are expanding a community policing program to the TTC subway system, with dedicated officers now patrolling sections of Line 1 Yonge University.
Toronto Police Services’ (TPS) Neighbourhood Community Officer (NCO) program has been in operation since 2013, but as of late November, it has expanded into the transit system. On Tuesday morning, police released a video highlighting the rollout.
Toronto Police confirmed the updated program has already begun, with all new officers expected to be in place by the end of the year.
Through the NCO program, eight officers are being assigned to the subway, with four covering the stretch between Union and Wellesley stations and another four between Bloor and Eglinton stations. Police say the move will allow for seven-day-a-week coverage, with a priority on peak commuting hours and high-traffic stations such as Union and Bloor.
The NCO program places experienced officers in specific communities for a minimum of four years, with the goal of reducing crime, fear of crime and anti-social behaviour through relationship-building and problem-solving rather than reactive enforcement.
TPS Chief Myron Demkiw said the TTC expansion is meant to extend that community-based approach into the transit system.
“NCOs are visible and accessible to the public, walking through their neighbourhoods, meeting residents and engaging in collaborative problem solving,” Demkiw said in a press release, adding that the program aims to improve safety and well-being across the TTC system through partnerships with city and transit staff.
Police say officers will work alongside TTC Special Constables and community engagement teams, particularly when responding to vulnerable people or those in crisis. According to police, the goal is not only to respond to criminal incidents but to prevent them through early intervention and engagement.
The announcement comes as the agency continues to tackle violence in relation to the transit system, where last month, a TTC employee and customer were stabbed at TMU Station.
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Transit advocates, however, say increased police presence does not necessarily translate to safer commutes for riders.
“We hear from riders constantly that many would feel uncomfortable with more policing on their daily commute,” TTCriders Executive Director Andrew Pulsifer said to Now Toronto. “That’s why we advocate for a non-enforcement-based approach to safety on transit.”
Pulsifer pointed to the Toronto Community Crisis Service, which deploys civilian crisis workers to respond to mental health and social emergencies, as an alternative that prioritizes de-escalation and support rather than enforcement. But because the crisis service remains a pilot program, Pulsifer warned that expanding police presence on the TTC could undermine efforts to properly assess its effectiveness.
“Adding more police to the transit system risks undermining both its effectiveness and the City’s ability to properly evaluate it,” he said. “We are disappointed that the City would invest in a program that advocates have long championed as a real solution to transit safety, only to limit its impact by expanding enforcement at the same time.”
Beyond the TTC, TPS is also deploying 16 new NCOs to four additional areas across the city. Currently, the program services 56 Toronto neighbourhoods, and has extended to Dufferin Grove, Banbury-Don Mills/Victoria Village, Wexford-Maryvale, and Etobicoke City Centre.
