The bloodiest year
Yesterday, Toronto saw its 90th homicide of 2018. With six weeks remaining, the city has already surpassed a grim record set in 1991
Ugly milestone prompts debate over how to address causes of violence
They range in age from a 3-week-old baby to a 94-year-old woman.
Many were killed inside a residence, many more on the street, others outside a bowling alley, while sitting in their car or while attempting to stop a robbery.
They were struck by gunfire in a targeted hit or a mass shooting, fatally stabbed, pushed in front of a subway train, or killed by a van in one of Toronto’s worst mass-casualty events.
Their alleged killers include family members, strangers, youth as young as 13, and some perpetrators who are still unknown.
Together, their deaths mark a grim record for the city. With Sunday’s fatal shooting, Toronto has hit 90 homicides in 2018, with six weeks left in the year. The tally surpasses the previous record of 89 homicides, set in 1991.
The violence has prompted an outcry from community groups and activists, citing an urgent need for services and resources to address the root causes of crime. A surge in shootings, in particular, made community safety a top issue in last month’s municipal election and prompted a move to send 200 additional officers into the streets this summer.
During Toronto’s infamous “Year of the Gun” in 2005, the city saw 80 homicides, 53 of which were fatal shootings. So far this year there have been 47 fatal shootings, one fewer gun death than there had been by this date in 2005.
Criminologists and sociologists warn against drawing conclusions from a single year of data, saying crime ebbs and flows and trends should be observed over longer periods of time.
Fixed numbers, like homicide counts, do not account for multiple factors that can influence homicide numbers, says Jooyoung Lee, associate professor of sociology at the University of Toronto, whose research includes policing and gun crime.
“They don’t take into account that a city like Toronto is changing over time and the population is exploding,” Lee said.
A more reliable figure is the homicide rate, which factors in population. In 1991, the previous record-breaking year, there were 3.8 killings per 100,000, the highest in city records. The long-term average in Toronto has hovered around 2.4 homicides per 100,000, though it has risen to three in recent years, including during the Year of the Gun.
So far this year, the rate sits at approximately 3.5 per 100,000.
Lee also noted the year’s homicide total will undoubtedly break from historic numbers because of the “atypical” mass casualties caused during April’s Yonge St. van attack, when driver Alek Minassian is alleged to have mounted the curb, striking pedestrians as his van moved along a two-kilometre stretch.
The attack killed 10 people, a single event that has increased the city’s homicide total by 11 per cent.
But from a policing perspective, the Yonge St. tragedy, while anomalous, should not be discounted in discussions about the homicide record, said acting Insp. Hank Idsinga, who heads the Toronto police homi- cide squad.
“It’s still 10 murders, it’s still 10 victims, and to dismiss them and say it’s not part of the problem would be equally misleading,” Idsinga said in a sit-down interview in October.
Idsinga and his unit have had an exceptionally busy year, due both to the sheer number of homicides and to a string of high-profile and resource-intensive cases.
In January 2018, police arrested alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur — a sweeping probe, led by Idsinga, that has included the largest forensic investigation in the service’s history. McArthur is charged in the deaths of eight men between 2010 and 2017.
Then came the Yonge St. van attack, followed by a surge this summer in gunfire, some of it unleashed in crowded public spaces. In July, two men were gunned down on Queen St. near Peter St., during the early evening of a busy Canada Day long weekend.
The following month, in an incident that made international headlines, an 18-year-old woman and a 10-year-old girl were killed when gunman Faisal Hussain opened fire along Danforth Ave. on a warm Sunday evening. He then exchanged gunfire with officers before shooting himself.
Despite the heavy workload, the homicide unit is “responding well and getting the job done,” Idsinga said.
He cites a solve rate that has stayed around 70 per cent, which includes a few cases where warrants have been issued but the suspect is still at large. There are more homicides where he is confident an arrest is coming in the near future.
But given the workload, police will eventually have “to take a real serious look at how the manpower and the structure in this office is working,” Idsinga said.
“We can keep going at this pace and respond to the homicides, but the people who are doing the work are eventually not going to be able to keep that pace up anymore,” he said.
Currently, the unit consists of six teams — each comprising two detective sergeants and a crew of detectives — which take on every sixth murder. The teams can expand and contract depending on need, with as many as nine homicide investigators able respond if necessary, in addition to those sent from the local division and forensic identification services.
A possible solution to the growing workload could be creating specialized technological units to help the squad. Idsinga said they are considering a video analysis unit — crucial work, as it’s how a growing number of cases are getting cracked.
“The solves are largely coming from video,” Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux, who has been with the homicide squad for more than 20 years, said in an interview.
Either for insurance purposes or for their own self-preservation, property owners or businesses are equipping themselves with high-end cameras, Giroux said. In a recent homicide case, detectives working on the case obtained “super highend” video from a condominium complex — “you can read the plates on the cars,” he said.
The growing prominence of video, however, has created an increased amount of the labour that’s imposed on detectives. A unit to help tackle the growing technological demands on homicide investigators could lessen the load, Idsinga said.
Both police and researchers say that it’s the right call to make such changes, adjusting to the realities of increased crime. But there must be greater emphasis placed on addressing its causes.
“The fact that this is a recordbreaking year in some respects should give everyone collectively pause to think about how we can prevent this from becoming the new normal,” said Lee.
“The people who are doing the work are eventually not going to be able to keep that pace up anymore.”
HANK IDSINGA
HEAD, TORONTO POLICE HOMICIDE SQUAD