Deputy Chief Peter Sloly says controversial comments he made about the cost of policing are largely in line with the thinking of Mayor John Tory and Police Chief Mark Saunders.
Sloly told attendees at a forum hosted by the Studio Y fellowship program on Jan. 15 that the TPS is “wasting money on infrastructure” and could probably eliminate several hundred officers just by leveraging “big data.”
The remarks, which were widely publicized, in turn ignited a controversy with Toronto Police Association President Mike Mike McCormack telling CP24 that Sloly was motivated by “sour grapes” after being passed over for the job of police chief.
The Toronto Police Services Board also discussed the remarks during an in-camera session, however it is not clear whether or not the board decided to take any disciplinary action.
Speaking with reporters about those remarks for the first time on Wednesday, Sloly said his remarks shouldn’t have shocked anyone.
“The things that I was talking about are the things that the mayor has been talking about, that councillors have been talking about and that our chief and our command have been talking about,” he said. “I am surprised that people were surprised by my comments. They weren’t new to me and they weren’t new to the people who are leading progressive change in policing right across this city and this country.”
After Sloly’s remarks were first publicized, the deputy chief took several days off and did not respond to requests for comment.
Sloly, however, told reporters on Wednesday that his impromptu leave was taken in order to deal with a broken furnace and leaky roof at his home and not to escape questioning.
“My knuckles seem to be pretty darn good here,” he said when asked whether he had his knuckles rapped for speaking out of turn. “In fact I received great support from the people across the city, from my own board members, from my command members and service members across this city.”
Sloly is one of four deputy chiefs with the Toronto Police Service.
