Serve with honesty, Tory urges new officers
Even in face of disrespect, act professionally, mayor advises
After urging the fresh crop of police recruits to be accessible and act professionally, even in pressure-cooker situations, Toronto Mayor John Tory offered some practical advice to the rookies who will soon patrol city streets.
“Fair or unfair, people like us — you as police officers and me as an elected leader — our honesty and integrity are under constant scrutiny because we have been given such extraordinary responsibilities,” Tory said Thursday, addressing a Toronto Police College graduation ceremony.
When faced with making split-second decisions “that relate to right or wrong,” the mayor suggested two “quick and simple tests that usually work: What would my mother or father think about what I am about to think of doing here?” Tory said, and: “How will it look on the front page of the newspaper if it was written up?
Tory was making his second public appearance at a police-related event since being sworn in as mayor and taking a seat on the seven-member Toronto Police Services Board. He attended his first board meeting last month.
Along one side of the large gymnasium inside the Mimico training facility sat family and friends of the 89 recruits, who wore their new uniforms and white gloves.
Also attending the military-style ceremony, complete with parading, lots of saluting and the Toronto Police Pipe Band, was Councillor Rob Ford, the former mayor and subject of a Toronto police investigation. He sat at the far end of a row of seating reserved for police brass, board members and other guests.
Thursday’s graduation ceremony was also the last time Bill Blair will attend as chief of Canada’s largest municipal police service, which has 8,046 uniformed and civilian members. Blair’s contract expires in April and a broad search is underway for his replacement.
Tory was not sitting on the previous board when it refused last year to renew Blair’s contract. But Tory told members of Police Recruit Class No. 14-03 that Blair’s 38-year career in policing is one to admire.
“This city . . . is a remarkably safe and peaceful metropolis, something to be proud of and to safeguard,” Tory said. “We have it thanks in part to our very excellent Toronto Police Service and leaders of integrity and sensitivity and distinction, like Chief Bill Blair.”
During his speech, Tory also warned the new officers that they would not always be treated with respect on the streets. “You must not succumb to the temptation to behave in the same manner,” Tory said, reading from a speech he had written.
He added that it is essential that in a city as diverse as Toronto, “all of us, especially those of us in public service and policing, embrace those differences, that diversity.”