School’s in on police reform
Task force hears from experts as it looks for ways to modernize policing in city
More female front line officers. Undergraduate degree mandatory to qualify for a promotion. Publicly available crime data. Elections for police board positions.
Members of the task force aiming to modernize policing in the city were schooled Wednesday in the ways policing could be improved and made more efficient, by the experts who spend their days tackling the big issues now dogging Toronto police and the city.
Three months after unveiling an ambitious draft plan to overhaul policing in the city, the so-called Toronto police Transformational Task Force held a daylong consultation with academics and researchers specializing in crime and policing at Ryerson University.
The idea, according to task force member and former budget chief David Soknacki, was both to seek affirmation that the task force is on the right track, and to identify necessary changes or solutions the group missed in its interim report — in time to include them in the final plan.
“We wanted to find the holes and the gaps in what we’re doing. We found support, and things we need to attend to,” Soknacki said.
“The police just don’t think that we’re the experts — there are lots of other stakeholders out there that have a lot to contribute,” said Toronto police Insp. Shawna Coxon, a fellow member of the task force.
In June, the group released The Way Forward, an interim report that offered 24 recommendations to address central issues affecting police, ranging from dealing with mounting costs to maintaining public trust.
The task force said it has found a way to trim about $100 million from the service’s operating budget over the next three years, most of that from instituting a three-year freeze on hiring and promotions.
The task force received praise for certain initiatives, including the move to disband the controversial Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) unit, which became notorious in some communities for its high rate of “carding.”
Gary Ellis, head of Guelph-Humber’s Justice Studies program and a former Toronto police superintendent, said everything the police service does must have the goal of creating value, something that has become increasingly important given declining public trust.
That value must be apparent to the public, he said, citing as an example the controversial practice of carding, the police practice of stopping and documenting people not suspected of a crime. “If it is of value, there should have been evidence-based research,” he said.
Citing the benefits of higher education, including giving officers the ability to see different perspectives, Ellis said Toronto police should consider making an undergraduate degree a prerequisite for promotion, a move already made by York Regional Police.
Irvin Waller, professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, emphasized the importance of crime prevention, for the sake of both safety and financial efficiency.
One of the ways to do that is to make violence against women a priority, he said.
If police want to see a change in how women are treated, and thus a decline in crime, Toronto police should be hiring more female police officers, not only for specialized roles but on the front lines.
He cited Montreal’s police service as a leader in Canada, with women representing 31 per cent of its total force. In Toronto, 19 per cent of officers are women.
“If you want to be transformational, I think this is the place to go,” Waller said.
Michael Kempa, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, told the task force he was encouraged by what he saw; “so much of the report is promising,” he said. In particular, he praised the task force’s idea of an “innovation hub” to promote ongoing professional improvement.
“You should have reformers constantly working, and a revolving membership,” he said, adding that Toronto police should then link the ideas that flow from the hub to the training curriculum.
Kempa also stressed the importance of strong civilian oversight by members of the Toronto Police Services Board.
One change that could lead to greater public understanding of the role of boards could be to introduce an election process for board members or chairs, though he acknowledged that may also create the problem of politicizing positions.
The transformational task force is expected to unveil its final report in December. Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca