TTC fare inspectors, constables will try wearing body cameras
Pilot project among changes to use-of-force policy
TTC fare inspectors and special constables will be wearing body cameras as part of a pilot project that will run until early next year.
Approved by the TTC board at a meeting on Thursday as part of updating the transit agency’s use-offorce policy, 20 fare inspectors and 20 special constables will use the cameras for six weeks at a time, before the technology rotates to other employees. The project will start in May and last nine months. Fourteen in-car cameras will also be added to special constable’s vehicles.
Along with the cameras, according to the TTC Special Constable Service 2023 Annual Report, enforcement staff will have undergone modernized training that includes prioritizing de-escalation. Staff can only use force in self-defence or in trying to protect the public. Special constables will be authorized to use force to protect the peace, while fare inspectors can only use force for self defence.
The cameras are the result of recommendations from an Ombudsman Toronto report in 2017, which stemmed from an incident in 2015 where transit enforcement officers got into a brawl with two members of the public after a Leafs game. The encounter was captured on video and the resulting outcry prompted the agency into updating its policies about using force.
Many people were concerned about how the change in policies might affect racialized users of the TTC, especially Black and Indigenous people. One incident that was brought up was the case of Reece Maxwell-Crawford, a Black man, who in February 2018 was violently accosted by three fare inspectors. The incident was caught on cellphone camera and Maxwell-Crawford eventually received an apology from the TTC CEO and a settlement.
Others at the meeting also brought up the recent video footage of four police officers violently arresting a man on a TTC subway car in March that went viral. In the video, one officer can be seen kicking the man while the other officers pin the man on the ground.
Some critics fear that the use of force may be used against unhoused people using the TTC for shelter.
“So the presence of body worn cameras will inevitably, and by design, capture people in their worst moments and contribute to the systemic over-surveillance of homeless people,” Diana McNally-Chan, a front-line health worker told the TTC board.
Shelagh Pizey-Allen of TTC Riders,
a public transit advocacy group, wanted assurances and it explicitly stated that use of force wouldn’t be used in cases of fare evasion, which is a problem the transit agency says costs $123.8 million a year.
“We’re asking for clarity and a commitment that use of force never be used to protect $3.30,” said Pizey-Allen to the TTC board.
In a presentation given to the board by Angela Gibson, head of strategy and foresight at the TTC, the threshold for use of force by TTC personnel is higher than any police force in Canada.
“We’ve worked with the Ombudsman’s office, as well as our external experts, to restrict the application of use of force by fare inspectors. That would mean, that we would not be using, or could not use force to enforce fares,” said Gibson.
“De-escalation is the first tactic, and use of force is the last resort in the case where a customer is threatened, or our employees are threatened.”
‘‘ De-escalation is the first tactic, and use of force is the last resort in the case where a customer is threatened, or our employees are threatened.