More than two thirds of Toronto police officers believe that morale within the force is negative overall and an even higher percentage say that the recommendations from the Transformational Task Force have brought it down further, a new survey commissioned by the Toronto Police Association suggests.
The survey has not yet been released but TPA President Mike McCormack provided CP24 with its findings on Tuesday.
McCormack confirmed that 68 per cent of respondents to the union’s “Morale Survey” said that they believe morale is negative overall, which is an increase of 18 per cent from a similar survey in December. McCormack said that a further 94 per cent of respondents also said that they believe the recommendations from the transformational task force have had a negative impact on their own personal morale.
The final report from the Transformational Task Force, released in January, calls for a “culture change,” within the TPS, which would make neighbourhood policing a top priority and place an increased emphasis on technology. The report calls for the redrawing of some divisional boundaries and the closing of some police stations. It also suggests that the TPS use civilian employees rather than costlier uniformed personnel to “follow up on non-emergency neighbourhood safety incidents.”
“We talk to our members regularly, we do this a few times a year, and what we have seen is a huge decrease in morale right across the board among front-line police officers,” McCormack said. “I don’t think we have seen a morale crisis like this in years.”
Speaking with CP24 on Tuesday, McCormack confirmed that 20 police officers have resigned from the TPS through the first two months of 2017 compared to 29 in all of 2016.
The apparent increase in officers leaving the force comes amid an ongoing reduction in the total number of officers through attrition.
The 2017 police budget calls for 5,072 uniformed personnel, which is down from 5,224 in 2016. The target for 2018 is 4,912 and the target for 2019 is 4,767.The TPS also currently has a freeze on non-essential promotions in place.
“Our officers are committed, they love to do the work but they are burning out,” McCormack told CP24. “They are stressed out and they are bouncing from call to call.”
It should be noted that crime in the city is largely down so far in 2017 among the seven major categories tracked by the TPS. Through February 28, the total number of homicides was down 48 per cent from 2016 while assaults were down two per cent, break-and-enters were down two per cent and sexual assaults were down eight per cent. Meanwhile, robberies were up 8 per cent and theft over occurrences were up 12 per cent.
The results of the Toronto Police Association survey are expected to be released to the public on Wednesday.
