The most recent rash of gun violence in Toronto has understandably raised the eyebrows of many residents. Municipal politicians have jumped into the discussion – as has President Mike McCormack of the Toronto Police association, expressing their concerns.

Chief Mark Saunders has responded with words to the effect that it is merely a temporary “blip”. Some were taken aback by his response. I was not.

The current murder rate in Toronto in 2015 is not out of line with the past few years whatsoever and is far less than the spike of 1991, when 89 murders were committed, or even the 2007 blip that resulted in 86 homicides. Non-fatal gun crime certainly is up, but increases need to be monitored and assessed over weeks and months before determining it to be a crisis.

Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti blames the numbers on the cancellation of the "carding program". I don't see that. I do support a street-check program that focuses on suspicious behaviour in specific circumstances and not based on race, but the program was alive and well under various forms in both 1991 and 2007.

Then in a true "Trumpism", he suggested bringing the army to help. Give me strength. We hardly have any snow! Policing cities is not the job of our army AND if Canada's largest police service – and a good one, supported by surrounding services and the various OPP-led provincial enforcement units can't keep things reasonably in check, we should all run for the hills.

The Toronto Police Association wants to tie the so-called “blip” to the need for more resources. I get that a real lack of resources can impact response times, but if Johnny is angry and wants to stab or shoot Billy, he isn't necessarily looking around to see how busy the cops are before he does it.

It is virtually impossible to staff every platoon to meet peak demand periods, 24/7, 365 days a year. If it was, TPS and the OPP would have the same number of people working on a Wednesday evening during the winter as they would on a Saturday evening on the Victoria Day weekend. That's not practical or fiscally sound. Some days and some shifts are understandably more challenging than others.

On occasion, some police services are totally tapped out and have no one to send to SOME calls. In other words they aren't going to pull a patrol car off an armed robbery to respond to a shoplifter. But to say not one car in the entire city was free to respond to a shooting? Not one traffic car could break away from a radar trap or RIDE checks? Not one car was tied up at a more minor occurrence that they couldn't pull away from to respond to a threat to public safety? I'm not saying that the claim isn't true, but it is a tough one to swallow.

Throwing more money at policing challenges isn't often the answer, nor is it always feasible. Most police services are fighting for more money and more officers, but the pot has run dry folks. There is no new money and all police services need to stop doing some things, do more of other things, shift schedule more effectively, focus on partnerships and prevention, and prioritize their efforts to get the best bang for their limited buck. The focus needs to be on leading change, not on fighting for more people.

Municipalities have the responsibility to fund and ensure adequate and effective policing in their own communities, so they need to belly up to the bar and lead the change necessary to meet their needs.

And lastly, some pundits would like to blame gun violence increases on the so-called Ferguson Effect, suggesting that TPS officers are backing off their duties in reaction to the ongoing criticism of police across the U.S. following the police shooting death of teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. I admit that potential reaction by police had concerned me actually, however the more officers that I speak to the more confident I am that the impacts of such thinking will be minimal among officers across this country.

TPS, like most police services in Ontario and all of Canada, is vastly comprised of wonderful, dedicated and brave professionals. If they see someone in danger or a crime in progress they will risk their lives to take appropriate action in a timely way. That's what they have done for decades and will continue to do through the good times and the "blip" times.

Chris Lewis served as Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police from 2010 until he retired in 2014. He can be seen regularly on CTV and CP24 giving his opinion as a public safety analyst.