Ford targets ‘thugs,’ urges more police hiring
Critics blast premier’s ‘old school’ approach as ineffective against crime
TORONTO — In a move meant to curb “the violent criminals who think they own our streets,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced $25 million in funding over four years to address gun crime and gang activity in Toronto.
“We are sending a clear message to the thugs,” Ford said at an announcement Thursday that drew fiery criticism from policing and legal experts.
“We are sending a message that we’re coming for them, that we are giving our police the tools they need to hunt them down.”
The lion’s share of the money will be an $18-million cash injection over the next four years to the Toronto police, to be spent as police Chief Mark Saunders sees fit. The remaining $7.5 million will go to establish what Ford called “legal SWAT teams” at every Toronto provincial courthouse to“focus exclusively on ensuring violent gun criminals are denied bail and remain behind bars.”
Among the concerns raised by experts and Ford’s political opponents are the potential problems with handing over cash to a police service for unspecified purposes, while the root causes of crime are not addressed. “Much more than that has to be done to deal effectively with the issues of crime in our cities,” the NDP’s Gilles Bisson told reporters at Queen’s Park on Thursday.
“Gun crime is a serious problem in our cities, and we need to take a look at a number of issues,” including access to guns as well as poverty.
In an emailed statement, Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray reiterated that Saunders has endorsed policing efforts that are “focused and strategic so our members can target the right people at the right time. These funds will allow us to improve our analytical capabilities, leading to more intelligence-led policing and will allow us to penetrate gun violence.”
Michael Tibollo, the minister of community safety and correctional services, said in the legislature that the money will allow Toronto police to “purchase equipment and innovative technologies for their important task of tackling gun and gang violence.”
Ford told reporters Thursday that his government has “faith in consulting with the chief and letting them decide.”
“We are going to hand over the money, they are going to be accountable, and they are going to be able to tell us: ‘This is where we think the money should go,’ ” the premier said.
During the provincial campaign, Ford expressed his support for the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS), the now-defunct provincially funded police unit created in the wake of 2005’s so-called “Summer of the Gun.” The unit attained notoriety for its high rate of carding — stopping, questioning and documenting people not suspected of a crime — and was disbanded in 2017.
But Ford said Thursday the money would not go toward TAVIS-style policing, adding there would be “no TAVIS, no carding.”
“I’m from the old school. I love boots on the ground, I love having police in neighbourhoods. But again, that’s not up to the premier to decide, that’s up to the police chief to decide,” Ford said.
The premier also called on the municipal and federal governments to match the funding announced Thursday, stressing in particular the need for the city to follow through on its commitment to hire more officers, saying “it’s critical we hire more police officers.”
The service, alongside Mayor John Tory, has agreed to hire 200 more officers to replace a higher than expected number of retirements and departures — though in general, the police service is attempting to decrease the number of officers.
Jooyoung Lee, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Toronto whose research includes policing and gun crime, said there is a problem with “old-school” policing: “it’s been shown to be not very effective.”
“At worst, it has led to the dissolution of entire communities and turned them into places where young folks of colour are being arrested and mass incarcerated. It’s a place where communities are essentially destroyed by the surveillance by police.”
Despite Ford’s comments that the money would not be used for TAVIS-style policing, Lee says, given Ford’s comments about having “boots on the ground,” he worries the “funding will come back in the form of policies and practices that look a lot like TAVIS but are called something else.”
The law-and-order approach, Lee said, has never been linked to long-term, sustainable reductions in gun violence. Though it may lead to a short-term drop in violent crime, a lack of investment in communities means there will continue to be generations of young people being drawn into gang and gun activity.
In a statement, Mayor John Tory thanked the province for the investment and said city officials have already indicated they have the “delegated authority from council” to provide the funding that would let the city match the provincial contribution for 2018.