City Council meets Monday to consider cutting the $1.22 billion police budget by 10% next year, or $122 million, at a time when shootings in Toronto are up by 20% over last year.
Gun violence this year is also on pace to surpass 2019’s record number of occurrences since police street checks (aka carding) were abandoned in 2015.
According to police crime data, as of June 21 there were 204 shootings and firearm discharge incidents in Toronto so far this year, compared to 170 at this time last year.
That means gun violence in Toronto this year is on pace to surpass the record 492 incidents that occurred in 2019, the highest level recorded since 2004.
Deaths and injuries from gun violence so far this year total 90, the highest level in the past six years, except for 2019 when there were 98.
The number of people killed by gunfire so far this year, at 21, is at the highest level it’s been over the past six years, except for 2016, when there were 22.
The number injured by gunfire so far the year, at 69, is at the highest level it’s been in six years, except for 2019 when there were 84 and 2018 when there were 71.
These grim statistics, fuelled by gang violence, underscore the recklessness of cutting the police budget by 10% next year, based on an absurd “Defund the Police” slogan popularized by the brutal death of George Floyd while in the custody of four Minneapolis police officers.
Four years ago, Toronto Council rejected four motions to reduce the police budget by as little as $12 million, proposed by Councillor Michael Thompson.
Among those voting with the majority to defeat Thompson’s motions was Councillor Josh Matlow.
And yet Matlow is now putting forward the motion at council calling for a $122 million cut to the police budget next year.
Mayor John Tory has proposed a more sensible plan to divert some police funding to vulnerable communities and to lower the incidence of fatal confrontations between police and civilians.
But let’s remember that while gun violence in Toronto is increasing, the number of uniformed officers has been decreasing, down almost 5% from 5,270 in 2015 to 5025 today.
According to the mayor’s office, Toronto today has fewer police officers per capita (167 per 100,000 population) than Vancouver (198) or Montreal (223), while the average American city with a population of over 500,000, has 243 officers per 100,000.
Finally, we have the continuing reckless refusal by Council, the Toronto Police Services Board and the province to acknowledge that eliminating street checks in 2015 because of concerns the practice was racist has led to an explosion of gun violence in Toronto.
As retired staff-inspector Mike Earl, who headed Toronto’s Holdup Squad, told the Toronto Sun’s Chris Doucette in 2018:
“The city is in crisis and I don’t understand how anyone can deny it. The bad guys are running the streets. The provincial regulations (on carding) need to be revised. The longer they wait, the worse it’s going to be …”
Earl was referring to the fact the current provincial regulation to reform street checks to protect the rights of civilians questioned by police is unworkable, which was also the opinion of the judge who reviewed it for the province last year.
The result is that street checks have been abandoned by police, while gun crime continues to increase.
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