Six Toronto councillors have written an open letter to Mayor John Tory in which they appear to question a decision to place dozens of additional police officers on the transit system amid a wave of violence.

In the letter, Amber Morley, Gord Perks, Alejandra Bravo, Ausma Malik, Josh Matlow, and Paula Fletcher agree that the recent violence on the TTC has “increased the urgency to ensure safety for transit riders and operators, who are understandably concerned.”

But they say that they want to ensure alternative approaches to improving safety are considered.

To that end, they are asking Tory to answer dozens of questions concerning his plan.

Specifically, the councillors want to better understand the daily costing of the increased police presence.

They want to know how many shifts each constable will cover and how long they will be present in the transit system, and how often and on what timelines will this approach be assessed.

The councillors also want to know where the funding to pay for these additional officers will come from, who will foot the bill, and what impact associated costs will have on the TTC’s operating and capital budgets, notably the nine per cent cut to transit services proposed in the 2023 budget.

Pointing to recent TPS data on systemic discrimination in police use of force against racialized people, Morley, Perks, Bravo, Malik, Matlow, and Fletcher also want to know more about the TPS and TTC’s approach to develop a system safety and wellness plan “that ensures past violence and discrimination experienced by Black and Indigenous transit users, along with members of other racialized communities, will not be repeated.”

They also want city teams and partners, internal TTC departments, and community stakeholders to all be involved in co-designing and testing this approach and a plan put in place to ensure community accountability.

Further, the councillors also demanded to know more about the alternative the city considered to increase safety on the TTC while responding to the needs of people in crisis, “including investing in trained crisis response and mental health outreach workers to proactively support these transit users.”

They want to know if an increase presence of TTC would help support passengers better or flag cases where passengers could use extra assistance or if there is a heightened risk.

The councillors seek assurance that the additional officers are trained in non-violent de-escalation and can identify those who are seeking respite.

Lastly, they are asking for cost analyses for the hiring of 80 police officers vs. 80 crisis response and 80 additional TTC service staff.

TTC, police

It should be noted that the City of Toronto has since announced it is temporarily deploying 50 additional security guards who have “daily experience” dealing with unhoused people in crisis and are trained in mental health first aid, overdose prevention and response, and non-violent crisis intervention.

On Monday, the city also said it would also be immediately hiring 20 community safety ambassadors who will work directly with people experiencing homelessness and provide outreach services.

This action is part of a “medium- and longer-term strategy” to prioritize “many different and complex issues surrounding safety on the transit system,” it said.

Tory, meanwhile, said the City of Toronto’s decision to deploy 80 additional officers to the TTC comes in response to a call from transit riders and workers to take “immediate action” to make the system safer.

“On very short notice, we’ve mobilized to make our transit system safer,” Tory said in a statement, adding he supports “doing everything we can to make sure the TTC is safe for everyone – that includes deploying more Toronto Police officers on the TTC right now and hiring more TTC special constables in this year's budget.”

“I'm focused on working with the TTC, Toronto Police, and City of Toronto staff on solutions that will help keep people safe. It's disappointing that some councillors would rather play politics than work together on immediate and long-term solutions to violence and crime,” he charged.

Aside from stepping up law enforcement on public transit, Tory said the city is “working hard to address the root causes of violence, and investing further in the transit system.”

“I am committed to investing in all aspects of community safety including crisis services, outreach workers, anti-violence programming, and investments for families and youth,” he assured, adding the effort to ensure public transit and the city overall is safe for everyone is ongoing.

The mayor, who deferred any questions about operational matter to the TTC and Toronto police, also vowed to continue urging other levels of government to also invest more in the TTC, housing and “all aspects of community safety, including mental health and addictions treatment.”

With files from CTV News Toronto's Abby O'Brien.