"Virtually all" recommendations on use of lethal force in effect, Toronto cops say,
But they won’t say which recommendations are in place
One year after the release of a sweeping report on police use of lethal force, Toronto police say “virtually all” of former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci’s 84 recommendations have been implemented.
But the force is not providing any details — including which recommendations were scrapped, which were modified, and how resources are being used — despite a provision in Iacobucci’s report recommending a comprehensive update on implementation be publicly released “at least annually.”
A progress report on Iacobucci’s recommendations will likely only come at the Toronto police board’s September meeting — six months after former chief Bill Blair was supposed to provide the board with a status update on implementation.
The board has not yet been briefed on what action Toronto police have taken following the release of the report because of ongoing community consultation and delays caused by the police ‘carding’ issue, according to police board chair Alok Mukherjee.
Deputy Chief Mike Federico, the senior officer tasked with overseeing implementation of Iacobucci’s review, declined a request for an interview.
Mark Pugash, Toronto Police spokes- person, said that “out of deference to our civilian oversight body, board responses will be made before speaking to the media.”
“What I can tell you is that virtually all the recommendations have been implemented,” Pugash said.
Last July, Iacobucci and Blair released the former justice’s detailed report, which was commissioned after teenager Sammy Yatim was shot dead in an empty streetcar by Toronto police Const. James Forcillo.
Yatim’s death in a hail of nine bullets — caught on bystander video and posted online — prompted widespread outrage about Toronto police conduct during encounters with emotionally disturbed people.
Drafted after nearly a year of research and consultation, Iacobucci’s recommendations aim to eliminate fatal encounters between Toronto police and people experiencing mental health challenges. The recommendations range from additional officer training emphasizing de-escalation techniques, to a pilot project to equip some front line officers with Tasers, to the creation of a police and mental health oversight body.
Toronto police moved immediately on some recommendations. On the day of the release, Blair announced he had already acted on one of Iacobucci’s suggestions aimed at eliminating the assumption amongst some officers that deaths were inevitable: a formal statement setting out Toronto police commitments to people with mental health issues, including the force’s aspiration to “preserve every life.”
In May, Toronto Police acted on one of Iacobucci’s central recommendations when the force launched a yearlong pilot project equipping 100 officers with bodyworn cameras.
But the status of dozens of Iacobucci’s recommendations remains unknown even though the former judge suggests a detailed public report on the progress of implementation “at least annually after the date of release of this report.”
“The TPS needs to be, and to be seen to be, accountable to the citizens the organization serves. It is a public institution,” Iacobucci wrote in the report.
Pugash and Mukherjee say the im- portance placed on community consultation meant an implementation report could not be ready on the oneyear anniversary of the release of Iacobucci’s review.
“We feel it’s important to provide maximum opportunity for stakeholders, who represent the entire spectrum of the mental-health community, to provide their feedback and comments,” Pugash said in an email.
He added that the force has been working on the issue of interactions with people in mental health crisis before the Iacobucci report. That includes acting on recommendations in last year’s inquest into the Toronto police shooting deaths of three mentally ill people, Sylvia Klibingaitis, Michael Eligon and Reyal Jardine-Douglas.
Mukherjee said Blair did not provide a status report on the Iacobucci recommendations in March because the police board was preoccupied during the spring months with the issue of “carding,” the controversial police tactic of stopping, questioning and documenting people not suspected of a crime.
Further delay was caused due to a decision to consult the police board’s mental health sub-committee, Mukherjee said. In June, that committee received a complete list containing a status update on each of Iacobucci’s recommendations.
“It’s not because of hesitation or reluctance, it was simply the volume of work,” Mukherjee said. “I know (Federico) has been working quite hard to literally go through each recommendation and develop what needs to be implemented.”
Mukherjee said it’s possible the board will get an update on implementation, as well as a written response from the mental health subcommittee, in August, though it’s more likely to happen in September.
As recommended in the Iacobucci report, Toronto police also created an implementation advisory committee, which has met twice. Jennifer Chambers, who is with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s Empowerment Council and sits on the advisory committee, said she is “confused” about its purpose.
Chambers was upset that at its May meeting the committee met to discuss implementation but members were not provided with written copies of the progress report until after the meeting. Members were invited to provide feedback individually, but she felt they could not respond as a committee without having all the information at the meeting.
“(The committee) hasn’t been used for anything. It’s hard to see what its purpose is at this point in time,” she said.
Demonstrators from Black Lives Matter who crashed last week’s police board meeting to protest the police shooting death of Andrew Loku have also been calling for an update on the action police have taken since the Iacobucci report.
Loku, 45, was wielding a hammer when he was shot dead by a Toronto officer inside his apartment complex, a building with units leased by the Canadian Mental Health Association. His death has once again sparked outrage about Toronto police interaction with emotionally disturbed people.
“We want action,” Pascale Diverlus, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Toronto, said Thursday. “We want action now.”