Rival mayoral candidates David Soknacki and Karen Stintz are calling for a review of the organizational structure within the city’s police force.

In separate press conferences Wednesday morning, Soknacki pointed out that crime rates in Toronto have decreased and that it is time for the city to re-examine what it expects from its police force, while Stintz pledged to implement organizational changes recommended by the Toronto Police Service in a 2013 report.

Soknacki is vowing to cut over $65 million annually in the police budget if elected, and re-invest those savings in other public services. He singled out the police shift model that uses a five-member platoon, and recommended reducing this number to four so that the public wouldn’t have to pay for 28 hours of policing each day.

“Moving from such a wasteful shift model to another one that pays for 24 hours from a 5-platoon to a 4-platoon shift model will reduce total salary costs and save us over $25 million toward that $65 million target,” he said.

Soknacki , who served as the budget chief under former Toronto mayor David Miller from 2003 to 2006, did not say where additional savings would come from but he said that more details would be forthcoming over the next few days, and that the savings would go toward other city services such as transit and affordable housing. He told CP24 that cuts to the budget can be made without sacrificing either the number of officers or service.

In the meantime, rival candidate and former chair of the Toronto Transit Commission Karen Stintz is promising to work with the Toronto Police Service to consolidate the administration of different police divisions so as to share resources.

At just over $1 billion, Toronto’s police budget is the city’s largest operating cost. In 2011, police Chief Bill Blair imposed a hiring freeze to balance the budget.

Stintz’s pledge is part of a six-point platform that she says will lead to economic growth in the city. Her plan includes getting city departments to claw back their spending by 8 to 10 per cent over four years, creating an “Office of the Toronto Ambassador” to help newcomers navigate city programs and services, and making Toronto more attractive to entrepreneurs through the creation of a centre for economic development. Stintz envisions the new centre for economic development to be a merger between Invest Toronto, Build Toronto, Enterprise Toronto and the Economic Development Division.

“I am the only candidate for mayor putting forward a plan to limit property tax increases, manage spending, and better focus City services and programs to help job creators," said Stintz.

@VidyaKauri is on Twitter. Follow @CP24 for instant breaking news.