Board to hear on how police can change

About 360 people have signed up for online town halls starting today

At a time of an unprecedented push for policing reform, the civilian oversight body that oversees the Toronto Police Service is set to hold the first of four marathon virtual town halls to hear what the public thinks should be done.

About 360 people have signed up to depute Thursday, Friday, and next Wednesday and Thursday. Each will have three minutes to address four of the seven Toronto Police Services Board members at a time, who will sit on a rotating basis.

Links to all four sessions will be posted to Twitter.

Calls for change are expected relate to anti-Black racism, defunding the massive police budget (and shifting the resources to social services), mental health crisis response, policing culture and use of force, subjects that have dominated headlines for weeks this spring and summer.

“People are feeling frustrated because despite many promises of transformation and reform very little has actually changed, or is changing,” said Danica Izzard, from the Toronto Labour Council, who is on the speakers’ list.

“So it’s nice to see this momentum, that’s finally putting this on the agenda, and we want to see real change. And that’s why the city and police services need to commit to the redesign of the policing model. It’s incredibly important that they redirect the financial resources, demilitarize police culture and, of course, ensure the law is applied equally for the protection of everyone.”

The council, which represents more than 20 unions in Toronto with 220,000 members, will be presenting a paper called “Unfinished Business: Community Safety and Racism in Policing.”

It recommends a “major portion” of funding be re-assigned from policing to create new methods of community safety, such as use of non-lethal technology and mobile crisis teams, while also calling for amendments to provincial statutes that “have prevented democratic control over policing and the unsustainable growth of police budgets.” Last month, the board planned to debate a report by chair Jim Hart which proposed reforms that included new anti-racism training for officers and the expansion of the service’s mental health crisis teams.

But critics denounced the measures as inadequate, prompting the board to invite input from the public, stakeholders and the board’s own advisory panels on racial issues and mental health. The board, whose members include Mayor John Tory, will consider a revised report in August, “informed by what is heard at the town hall meetings, and other recent discussions,” Sandy Murray, a TPSB senior adviser, wrote in email Wednesday.

The board originally planned for a day of deputations, but a groundswell of interest caused that to be expanded to four days, each running 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The backdrop to the meetings is council’s decision last month to vote against cutting the 2021 $1-billion-plus police budget.

Councillors, however, backed proposed reforms that include developing alternative ways for police to respond to calls that don’t involve weapons.