Four things you didn’t know about Mark Saunders

On Monday, after the cameras flashed and the city met its next top cop, Toronto police chief designate Mark Saunders settled into a routine far more familiar — lunch with his old homicide partner.

Hours earlier, Toronto Police Insp. Ken Taylor received a quick email fired off by Saunders, his longtime friend and colleague: “Hey KT — I’m the new chief.”

By the time the two men met up for a bite at Red’s Midtown Tavern on Yonge St., the new leader of the largest municipal police service in the country was still adjusting to, well, being the new leader of the largest municipal police service in the country.

“I think he was still in shock,” said Taylor, who describes Saunders as “honest, relentless, and he works his a-- off.”

Taylor noted that although his colleague may still need time to let reality sink in, Saunders would only have applied to be chief when he was completely confident he could do the job.

Below, four reasons why friends and colleagues agree. He only recently got his degree, studying part-time

Saunders just completed a bachelor of applied arts degree in justice studies at Guelph-Humber; he will cross the stage to make it official in June.

He began studying part-time three years ago, taking evening, weekend and online classes in the adult education stream — at the same time he was deputy chief of Specialized Operations Command.

Taylor said he and many others were impressed by Saunders’ ability to juggle all the demands on his time.

Gary Ellis, head of Guelph-Humber’s Justice Studies program and a former TPS superintendent, said Saunders recently took the time to speak to younger students in the program, on his own volition. “He’s a busy guy, so it meant a lot to them.” He changed the way homicides are investigated

Among the roles Saunders has filled within the police force was heading its homicide squad from 2010-12. Colleagues credit him for implementing a new, more effective way of investigating homicides — a system still in place today.

Called “front-ending” or “front-loading,” the tactic involves a team, rather than one or two detectives, arriving on the crime scene and working on the case within its first 48-72 hours. The investigative system was a recommendation in the Justice Archie G. Campbell review — an examination of police investigations in the wake of Paul Bernardo murders — and aimed to improve homicide solvency rates. He’s been “the first black” before

In his comments at a press conference Monday, Saunders acknowledged the importance of becoming the first black chief of the force. “If it offers any hope to anybody that is a person of colour that feels that this gives them hope,” he said, “then I’m glad that it does.”

But colleagues note Saunders has been breaking barriers as a black officer throughout his career. In 2010, he became the force’s first black officer to lead the homicide unit. Before that, he was the first black sergeant with the elite Emergency Task Force unit.

Ellis, who led the homicide squad when Saunders was a detective, said he was at that time the only black officer in the unit, and had quietly been a leader simply by excelling in the job. “I was always impressed with him as his boss . . . He just worked really hard.” He initiated the force’s specialized cyber unit

As deputy chief, Saunders developed an investigative cybercrime unit, known as C3, to ensure the force was maximizing its use of policing technology, and stayed aware of how the service could be vulnerable to cyber attack. “He established the cyber crime area of the service, and I might say that we’re one of the leading agencies in the country doing that,” said Staff Superintendent Jim Ramer, unit commander of Detective Operations. “That’s really because of his leadership in that area.”

Toronto Police Insp. Shawna Coxon, who was on the team establishing C3, said Saunders’ work on the project demonstrated an ability to make difficult changes. “The implementation of C3, as a new section, was not easy,” she said. “So he’s not going to shy away from making those hard decisions, and making changes where they need to be made. He can just do it in a way that leaves people feeling valued and respected, and that’s going to lead to bigger changes as we go along.”