Toronto’s police chief said Friday that the boost in the number of police patrolling the streets that starts tonight should lead to a permanent increase in the overnight deployment.
Starting tonight 7 p.m., the 240 officers who regularly patrol Toronto will be joined by another 200 officers, in an attempt to quell the spate of gun violence that has occurred this year.
But Chief Saunders told CP24 Friday morning that the boost, which ends in eight weeks and will likely cost $3 million in overtime pay, should lead to a permanent change in how many officers patrol the streets at night.
“The fact I have only 240 people working at critical times of the evening when the gunplay is happening is a problem,” he said.
“And I have a pool of more than 1,300 people, 1,300 officers dedicated to frontline policing. It’s easy to have 250 working out of 1,300 – are we looking at maybe 300 (per night) on a regular basis.”
He stressed that any permanent change to the shift schedule would require an agreement between the Toronto Police Association TPA and the Toronto Police Services Board.
The TPA is grieving the mandatory overtime required to allow the boost of 200 officers for the next two months.
The increased patrols will occur in select police divisions across the city between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m.
Saunders said that he is happy with officers’ performance in recent weeks, as the TPA has criticized him for not responding to repeated complaints that various divisions are understaffed and overworked.
“Most of my men and women are doing a great job – they know what the ask is – to keep the city safe and they’re happy to do that.”
He said officers have seized 76 guns off city streets since mid –June.
According to data provided by Toronto Police, there have been 55 homicides in the city this year (including the 10 people killed in the North York van attack). Twenty-seven of those victims were shot.
At this time last year, there were 24 homicides.
The increase in overnight police patrols comes as the city said it will spend up to $15 million on community programming and anti-gang efforts, with funding from the province and federal government.
In addition, the Police Services Board has approved a plan to spend an additional $4 million on new closed-circuit television cameras and ShotSpotter, a system that uses microphones placed in neighbourhoods and expert remote analysis to almost instantly locate where a gun has been fired.
Over in 23 Divison in north Etobicoke, Supt. Ron Taverner said the additional officers to patrol there will focus on Fridays, Saturday and Sundays, and try to stay out of their vehicles.
”For the most part you can expect to see officers out in the communities where gun violence has been taking place – they will largely be on foot.”
