In the wake of a finger-pointing advertisement blaming him for delays in 911 call times, Mayor John Tory is firing back at the Toronto Police Association, suggesting its union president is “professionally angry” and calling its latest provocative tactic “propaganda.”
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Tory said public safety has not been sacrificed during ongoing efforts by the Toronto police service and its board to rein in the $1-billion police budget.
“Oftentimes, you get presidents, especially police union presidents, who are professionally angry. This is just what they do.
“We are not, for one minute, compromising the safety of the people of Toronto or the ability of the police service to provide for that safety,” Tory said.
Tory’s comments come one day after the police union ran a full-page advertisement in the Toronto Star depicting a laughing Tory alongside a grinning Toronto police chief Mark Saunders and police board chair Andy Pringle.
“These guys are putting your safety on hold,” the ad says, with a ‘911’ apparently written in blood behind them.
“Please hold, your call will be answered by the next available operator,” the ad says.
The union ad is in reference to concerns about call wait times for members of the public dialing 911, something Tory and Saunders have admitted has been an issue, and, Tory says, which they have taken steps to address. These include the hiring of new employees at the 911 dispatch centre.
Tory also highlighted Wednesday the hiring of 80 new police officers, a step announced last August to address staff departures, which are happening at a faster rate than expected.
The move was a backtrack from an original commitment by the Toronto board to enact a three-year hiring freeze.
At the time, the announcement that the force would halt the hiring freeze was heralded as a sign of a renewed partnership between the union and the police service, within the common goal of modernizing policing in Toronto.
But tensions have increased. Police union president Mike McCormack tweeted about the “police staffing crisis,” while Tory called the union’s move Tuesday “ridiculous, bully-type ads.”
“I get it. It’s his position just to (lobby the service to) hire more people and just pay whatever it costs to hire more people,” Tory said.
Asked after last week’s board meeting about McCormack’s claim about low staffing levels, Saunders agreed that the attrition rate has increased more than anticipated and that, in response, the service was looking at strategic hiring.
He said simply hiring more officers “isn’t necessarily the right answer.”
“It’s putting the right resources in the right places and making sure that we are putting police officers where they are needed the most and (doing) what they’re highly trained to do,” Saunders told reporters.
Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca