Police board mulls pulling cops from schools

Having uniformed officers ‘creates unsafe environment’ teacher says at meeting

After a series of teachers and school workers detailed the negative impact of police officer presence in schools, the Toronto Police Services Board came to the verge of suspending the School Resource Officer program at its meeting Tuesday, pending consultation with community and education stakeholders.

Instead, the board put the controversial motion over to next month’s meeting — a decision made in part because Chief Mark Saunders questioned whether the civilian board was exceeding its authority by telling him where to place his officers.

“I’m concerned whether or not the board is crossing over into operations at this point in time,” Saunders told the board amidst a lengthy de- bate about the program, which now sees 36 officers placed in 75 schools across the city.

According to Ontario’s Police Services Act, civilian police boards can direct the police chief when it comes to matters of policy only. The day-today operations of the police service are controlled by the chief.

The slippery question of when a police board crosses the line between policy and operations has previously arisen at the board amidst the heated debate over carding, the practice of stopping and documenting people not suspected of a crime.

After Saunders asked for clarification Tuesday, Karl Druckman, with the City of Toronto Legal Services Division, said there were “policy aspects” to the issue of where to deploy officers.

But Druckman said the board likely does not have the power to direct the chief on the precise placement of officers within the city — though board members could indicate to the chief that they want the program terminated.

The motion to suspend the officer program was moved by board member Ken Jeffers, after a half-dozen deputations by members of the public, some teachers or workers within Toronto schools.

They were responding to an agenda item calling for a review of the school officer program, which has not been conducted since 2011.

Speakers told the board the presence of armed, uniformed officers in the school criminalized students from an early age, created a “school to prison pipeline” and had a disproportionate impact on undocumented students and racialized youth, including black students.

“The School Resource Officer Program, for too many of our students, creates an unsafe environment,” said James Campbell, a Toronto high school English teacher.

Katie German, who has worked in schools in Rexdale and Scarborough, said the appearance of a police car outside, day in and day out, sends the wrong message to both the community and to students, who she says do not understand why an officer is walking the halls in the first place.

German called for “immediate” independent input and oversight of the program, a common refrain made by both members of the public and the board. In moving to suspend the program, Jeffers said he was “very, very concerned” and that the program needed “some serious checks and balances.”

Mayor John Tory, who sits on the police board, made his own motion calling for an independent review of the school officer program. He said the review should include an examination of its effectiveness, with particular attention paid to the impact on marginalized communities.

Concerns about armed officers in schools have also been raised by parents at recent public meetings on anti-black racism, Tory said.

“I’m not sure that it’s working,” Tory said of the program.

“And I base that, yes, on some of the things that I heard today, but even as much so on the things I heard these people say (at the anti-black racism meetings).”

Saunders told the board he was already in the process of arranging an independent review of the program, potentially by researchers at Ryerson University. The previous two reviews, conducted in 2009 and 2011, were done by Toronto police.

Saunders said the board had heard only one side of the debate. Stressing that there were positive stories to be told, the chief said he hoped all voices would be heard on the issue.

In a tweet shortly after the board meeting adjourned Tuesday, Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack called Jeffers’ motion to suspend the officer program “myopic” and a “huge mistake.” Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca.