An Ontario Provincial Police constable with tattoo-covered arms was mistaken for a “gangbanger” by a superior officer at a traffic stop in northwestern Ontario in the spring of 2010.

The Toronto Police Service may be looking at serious cuts in officer numbers.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1023978–layoffs-loom-for-police-and-city-staff

Well over 500 Toronto police officers and thousands of city workers will be issued layoff notices in January if the Ford administration follows through on a pledge to shrink the police budget and the city’s workforce.

On Tuesday, 17,000 city employees were offered a voluntary severance package. Sources say that if the buyout fails to generate significant savings, thousands of municipal staffers will also be let go. A senior city official told the Star the “magic number” is 3,000.

A similar scenario is currently playing out at the Toronto Police Service.

Last week, the police board already offered senior ranking officers an early retirement package in hopes of generating $2.8 million in salary savings. But board vice-chair Michael Thompson said the only way to hit the mayor’s reduction goal of $84 million is to explore layoffs.

In May, Thompson suggested as many as 500 officers will need to be let go to meet that target. Now, the Scarborough councillor admits that number is significantly more.

“That number would be much higher than 500, if in fact we were going to be doing that,” Thompson acknowledged Tuesday.

“No one’s saying this is what we’re going to do. We’re saying: What are the implications and what would it look like if we were to do it?’”

Chief Bill Blair is expected to provide the board with an exact number within the next week.

The Toronto Police Service is already operating well below its official 5,617 deployment strength. Blair has been forced to delay hiring about 200 officers to balance the 2011 budget. If even 600 more police are let go, it would mean one of the biggest service reductions — about 15 per cent — in North America.

Police union president Mike McCormack said he has had no “formal discussions” about officer layoffs, but that the rumoured reduction would be “devastating” to public safety.

Meanwhile, city manager Joe Pennachetti announced Tuesday that all permanent City of Toronto employees, excluding firefighters, are being given an exit option.

Employees of the city’s boards, agencies and commissions — which include TTC workers, library staff and police — are not eligible.

At a news conference, Pennachetti said staff has no set target in mind, but a senior official said 3,000 would be about the needed number. What can’t be achieved through buyouts will be done through layoffs.

This reduction would mean about $180 million in savings for the city on top of the roughly $70 million generated from the police layoff. Combined, this would be the most significant step the Ford administration has taken toward closing the $774 million funding gap.

When asked about the 3,000 target, Pennachetti said he would not be offering any more comment than he gave at the news conference.

Mayor Rob Ford said he hoped “thousands” would take the package. He added that layoffs are not currently planned, but he left the door open, saying: “We have to look at ways of downsizing our workforce. We have too many employees here. Everyone you talk to agrees with that assessment. And it’s eating up a huge chunk of our budget.”

Logistically, a layoff at the city won’t be easy. Both Local 79 and 416, which represent a combined 16,000 permanent employees, have language in their collective agreements preventing permanent staff from being shown the door while temporary workers are still employed.

There are about 16,000 temporary, part-time and seasonal employees working for the city. This would seem to suggest that the Ford administration will be relying on non-unionized staff.

The city employs between 3,700 and 4,000 permanent supervisors and managers.

City staff members have until Sept 9. to fill out the application. From there, management will have the discretion to refuse or accept. Staff will be paid up to six months’ severance based on years of service. It’s an offer 416 president Mark Ferguson characterized as “substandard.”

“We will be recommending our members not to take this offer,” he said. “Every position lost at this point forward is going to impact frontline service. This is just a service reduction in disguise.”

Ford did not respond to a question about the target reduction.

Wendy Gillis

July 9, 2011

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/1022559

Some of the Toronto Police Service’s highest-ranking officers are being offered buyouts in the force’s latest effort to cut costs.

In an internal memo circulated Friday, the civilian board overseeing the force offered voluntary exit packages to a number of senior officers and civilian managers.

The board is hoping 18 employees — who rank from inspectors to staff superintendents, just two ranks below police chief — will take the buyout, trimming $2.8 million from the salary budget.

The move is just the beginning of what police service board chair Alok Mukherjee calls a “comprehensive restructuring to create a leaner organization.” The board aims to slash $84 million from the police budget for 2012.

“We felt it important to start at the top,” he said. “Symbolically it’s important that the first group that we looked at are the senior managers.”

The offer is open to employees free to retire next year, allowing them to leave with a pension by Aug. 31. The positions left vacant will not be filled, and are in addition to previously announced retirements.

Eligible civilian employees include members of the Senior Officers’ Organization who serve in managerial roles.

Mukherjee is hopeful the offer will help avoid other measures, such as layoffs.

“We need to and we are looking at all options, which includes hiring freeze and freeze of promotions, and not replacing people who leave voluntarily through retirement or resignation,” Mukherjee said.

The cuts are also being made higher up because that will have the least impact on front-line policing, Mukherjee said.

The vacancies will be part of a restructuring at the senior level. For example, Mukherjee said the board has not yet decided if it will replace two deputy chiefs leaving the force.

In January, $7.6 million was cut from the police budget by deferring the replacement of all officers and civilian employees who leave the service this year.

OTTAWA—The RCMP has slashed its training of new recruits as it becomes the latest in a string of federal departments and agencies to cope with belt-tightening, the Star has learned.

Even under a self-professed law-and-order government, the budget crunch isn’t sparing the ranks of frontline cops.

The Star has learned training of recruits for federal and contract policing has fallen from a high of nearly 1,800 in 2009 to under 300 this year — an 84 per cent drop.

“It certainly is a concern,” said Staff Sgt. Brian Roach, a member of the executive of the RCMP’s staff relations program, which represents the non-unionized rank and file.

“We, clearly, in the force are not fully up to strength,” said Roach. He said the force’s own resource studies show a demand from provinces and municipalities for more RCMP members.

“We still need more recruits coming in,” and every one of the cadets represents front-line officers, not people headed for administrative desk work, he added.

If the force does not sustain higher recruiting levels, says Roach, it means Mounties will “work longer hours, carry more files, risk the chance of burnout, cases are worked on a highest-priority (basis) and obviously the lesser priorities (are) the less worked.”

The RCMP admitted cuts to the number of cadets being trained, but denies it will affect front-line ranks.

“While reducing discretionary spending, we have not reduced our front-line policing numbers,” RCMP spokesman Sgt. Greg Cox wrote in an email.

In a series of written responses to questions, the RCMP acknowledged that since 2009 it has also moved to limit the “growth” of full-time employees through attrition and retirements, and cut back on “discretionary spending for items such as travel, hospitality, and conferences,” Cox said.

But questions about exact numbers went unanswered.

Instead the RCMP’s replies provide vague descriptions of how the cuts have worked so far.

“Limiting (full-time employee) growth can take many forms including: improving efficiencies by employing new technology, recognizing priority areas across the country and moving personnel to meet those priorities, and through attrition and retirements.”

The Conservatives took power in 2006 promising to increase by 2,500 the number of police officers on Canadian streets, which included 1,000 extra Mounties.

The RCMP had been dealing with manpower shortages of 25 to 30 per cent in some detachments.

Initially, the Conservatives poured money into training new recruits and introduced a pay allowance for RCMP cadets.

The peak of the Mountie hiring frenzy was in 2008-09, when the RCMP’s training division — known as “Depot” — churned 1,760 people through the six-month training course in Regina.

But reductions started in the spring of 2009 as part of an effort “to adjust to the rapidly changing economic climate,” as Cox put it.

Over the same time, the RCMP has undergone a huge demographic shift with a broad sweep of retirements across the force, including at its top ranks.

Sources say there were originally 1,344 cadets slated to enter training in 2009. However, the intake was reduced to 992 cadets.

For last year, 2010-11, the number of cadets was set at 768, but in April 2010, it was reduced to 576 for the year.

This year, the number of cadets slated for training is just 288 new recruits.

The RCMP’s Report on Plans and Priorities 2011-12 forecast a reduction in 1,791 full-time employees over the next two years, and $280 million in spending cuts.

But Cox wrote that those numbers also do not mean actual job cuts.

Rather, he said the numbers reflect the fact that funding for the RCMP’s policing contracts with provinces, territories and municipalities “is not approved beyond 2011-12 as these contracts expire March 31, 2012.”

“The federal government is currently renegotiating these contracts and it is expected that this funding will be restored upon successful completion of these negotiations.”

June 21, 2011

Peter Small

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/1012198–police-under-fire-as-fresh-statistics-show-charges-dropped-in-59-of-g20-cases?bn=1

Darius Mirshahi (green and black T-Shirt) and Chris Bowen, known by their performance names of Testament and Illogik, respectively, were arrested on June 27, 2010, by police on several charges, including conspiracy and wearing a disguise. Their charges were stayed in November 2010.

Peter Small/Toronto Star

Farrah McBride went to the G20 protests in downtown Toronto, upset by news of vandals smashing windows.

But the assistant manager at a restaurant supply store was transformed from spectator to prisoner when police arrested virtually everyone in front of the Hotel Novotel on The Esplanade on the night of Saturday, June 26, 2010.

She says she was held, handcuffed, at the temporary Eastern Ave. detention centre without adequate water, food or her correct anti-anxiety medicine.

She suffered a severe anxiety attack before she was released without charge after 18 hours.

“It opened my eyes. I never imagined this would ever happen in Canada,” says McBride, 29. “I totally lost respect for police. I can’t even look at them now.”

More than 1,100 people were held over the Toronto G20 weekend, the largest mass arrest in Canadian history.

Only 317 people were charged with summit-related criminal offences.

And of those, 187 have seen their charges withdrawn, stayed or dismissed, according to statistics released by the Ontario attorney general’s ministry Monday. Just 24 pleaded guilty.

“It’s a classic example of police overcharging,” says lawyer Clayton Ruby, whose law firm represents three G20 detainees suing police.

It’s a well-known game in Ontario, where defendants are told: “We’ll withdraw the charges that have no foundation if you plead guilty to charges that are in fact defendable (by police),” Ruby says.

One solution is to have Crowns screen charges before they are laid, as occurs in British Columbia, Ruby says.

Normally, 30 per cent of all charges are withdrawn or stayed by the prosecution, says University of Toronto law professor Kent Roach. The fact that the G20 figure is double that raises questions about the arrests, he says.

Nathalie Des Rosiers, General Counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, says demonstrators were targeted while simply exercising their democratic rights.

“Many charges were bogus,” she says.

Charges against 100 demonstrators, mainly from Quebec, sleeping in a University of Toronto gym on Sunday, June 27, were later withdrawn because police barged in without a warrant — an elementary legal error, Des Rosiers says.

In addition, 39 defendants took diversion, in some cases making charitable donations to have their charges dropped even if they felt they did nothing wrong, she says. Eleven entered peace bonds.

Moreover, several defendants endured long delays in their cases because Crowns took hours to review video evidence, she adds. “You don’t arrest people and then say, ‘I’m going to watch video and see if I have any evidence to tie you to this,” she says.

Des Rosiers says the best way to get to the bottom of what went wrong at G20 is to hold a full public inquiry, an option rejected by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Crown spokesperson Brendan Crawley maintains it was the prosecution’s duty to carefully review the “substantial” G20 evidence before deciding whether to proceed.

Toronto police deny they laid too many charges.

They maintain they acted only on reasonable grounds and that they were legally justified in entering U of T without a warrant, “based on information that was received.”

Furthermore, the food and water given prisoners at the Eastern Ave. detention centre was similar to that at any police station, police say.

Emilie Guimond-Bélanger rode on a chartered bus from Montreal to demonstrate peacefully for economic and women’s rights.

Instead, she spent two cold, sleepless nights in custody, struggling to go to the bathroom out of sight of male guards, enduring two strip searches and begging for enough food to counter nausea.

The 21-year-old Laval University student and prominent member of Quebec solidaire, a left-wing political party, was one of the 100 people arrested at the U of T gym.

She was charged with conspiracy to commit an offence before being released and ordered, as a bail condition, to get out of Toronto.

“You are being treated exactly like criminals really, but every time you’re telling yourself in your head: ‘I’ve done nothing wrong,’” she recalls.

The charge was withdrawn four months later.

Kevin Tilley, a lawyer with the Movement Defence Committee, which provided free initial legal advice to defendants, says he was surprised by the large number held for bail hearings — far more than seemed warranted.

The vast majority would normally have been released from the police station on a promise to appear in court, he says.

“It was chaotic,” Tilley says.

“We expected maybe 100 if there was a mass arrest-type situation, but no one ever anticipated anything like this.”

In addition, the Crown seemed to seek far stricter bail conditions than necessary, he says.

The Crown’s Crawley responds that bail terms Ontario prosecutors seek match the facts of each case.

Darius Mirshahi and Chris Bowen were surrounded by police in separate arrests on June 27, and charged with conspiracy.

The anarchist hip-hop performers, who go by the name Testament and Illogik, respectively, think they were arrested mainly for their anti-G20 video, called “Crash the Meeting.” Viewed 55,000 times on YouTube, it depicts vandalism and urges resistance.

They were released on bail conditions barring them from meeting, which meant suspending their performance group, Test Their Logik, until charges were stayed five months later.

“They shut us down,” says Mirshahi.

“Conspiracy charges are basically thought crimes,” says Bowen. “Basically our thoughts and words are enough to throw us in jail.”

Peter Gill, 25, a Vancouver support care worker, says Ontario Provincial Police officers roughly arrested him as he walked away from a peaceful demonstration.

He was handed to two Toronto police officers, who threatened to beat him up and drove fast in their squad car, slamming on the brakes so the handcuffed prisoner banged his head on the transparent divider, he says.

They would say: “We’re going to pull over here and beat the s—t out of you and pretend you were resisting arrest.”

Toronto police, when contacted for a response, would not comment on specific allegations.

Gill was charged with possessing explosives and weapons. But all he carried were harmless items like snacks and ear plugs, he says. Charges were withdrawn five months later.

Osgoode Hall law professor Alan Young says what happened at the G20 is not unusual; it’s “low visibility policing.”

Police hold people then release them with minor or no charges to control the streets, he says.

At the G20, however, it happened to a more affluent demographic, and in the glare of publicity, he says.

“It’s a wake-up call for the middle class, who are rarely targeted for street policing,” he says.

Toronto police maintain, however, they are justified, to preserve the peace, in temporarily holding people they believe are about to engage in criminal activity.

U of T’s Roach says one problem with policing large public events is it’s multi-jurisdictional.

At the G20, the RCMP, OPP, and the Toronto police were involved, assisted by officers from several Canadian cities. “It’s a jurisdictional mess,” Roach says.

There has to be a centralized accountability mechanism like a public inquiry, he says.

“Policing is becoming much more networked, much more interconnected,” he says. “We can’t let the accountability lag behind.”

G20 By The Numbers

1,100: Approximate number of people arrested during last summer’s G20 summit

317: Number of people charged with criminal offences related to the G20 summit

187: Criminal charges withdrawn since the G20 summit

24: Number of people who have pleaded guilty of G20-related crimes since the summit

58: Per cent of G20-related charges withdrawn, stayed or dismissed (187 cases)

39: Defendants who took advantage of diversion programs and had their charges dropped

11: Defendants subject to peace bonds

9: Number of people erroneously listed as charged

Source: Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/06/19/toronto-cops-g20-whipping-boys

Check out the comments for this story.

First posted: Sunday, June 19, 2011 8:50:00 EDT PM Police at last year’s G20.

Introduction:

An 8.5-per-cent pay hike for the Ontario Provincial Police in 2014 is proof the Liberal government’s wage freeze for one million public sector workers is meaningless, the Opposition has charged.

The Liberals have been having a tough time getting arbitrators to freeze public sector wages for two years because they never passed legislation to enforce it.

More related to this story

• Province isn’t driving up costs of policing, Ontario finance minister says
• McGuinty blamed for Toronto Police wage hikes
• Paid duty gets a second look

The 6,100 OPP officers received a 5-per-cent wage hike this year in advance of the freeze, and because of a clause in their contract guaranteeing they’ll be the highest paid cops in Ontario, they will get another 8.5 per cent in 2014.

The Liberals “made a lot of noise about wage restraints” to deal with a $16.3-billion deficit, but the OPP contract shows they didn’t put that talk into practice, deputy Progressive Conservative leader Christine Elliott said on Tuesday.

“I think it was completely irresponsible of this government to negotiate that kind of an agreement at a time when people are losing their jobs, when many people don’t have pension plans, when people are really struggling,” said Ms. Elliott. “It really doesn’t set a good tone for all of the other negotiations.”

Salaries for the OPP “need to remain competitive with other Ontario police services,” said Premier Dalton McGuinty.

“I’m proud of the fact that they’ve decided to take a two-year wage increase of zero in the first year and zero in the second year,” Mr. McGuinty told reporters. “It’s a two-year pay freeze. That’s what we’ve been looking for.”

Police in Toronto recently reached a four-year, tentative agreement calling for a cumulative 11.5-per-cent salary increase, which local officials blamed in part on the lucrative OPP contract.

However, Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said it was the other way around and it was Toronto that was raising salaries for police by being too generous in its contracts.

“We do have to catch up to Toronto as a result of the agreement they signed,” Mr. Duncan said. “We’ve negotiated a deal now that isn’t as generous as the one given by Toronto by any measure.”

He admitted other big public-sector unions, such as teachers, could also end up with healthy raises the year after their wages are supposed to be frozen.

“It depends on what gets negotiated,” he said.

The Liberals are also under fire for a secret 2008 deal to give the Ontario Public Service Employees Union – the province’s largest public sector union – a 3-per-cent pay hike in 2012, a deal that was hidden from the public until a labour relations board hearing this month.

Toronto’s Police Services Board said the OPP deal weakened municipalities’ bargaining position with local police.

“I must say that decisions made at the provincial level are largely responsible for [the Toronto police] deal,” board chair Alok Mukherjee wrote in an open letter to Mr. McGuinty. “The province has repeatedly taken steps to set a pattern of steadily increasing costs in policing.”

The New Democrats said the OPP agreement showed the Liberals’ attempt at a voluntary two-year wage freeze was doomed from the start.

“The government’s wage freeze policy was going nowhere from Day 1,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. “This government, instead of having an honest, up-front discussion about these issues, put forward this wage freeze – and I put quotations around that because it was anything but a wage freeze.”

The government has negotiated some contracts that include a two-year wage freeze with some small union locals, but not with any of its major bargaining units such as teachers or nurses, Mr. Duncan said.

“None of them have been what I would call the really large ones, but we’re not funding any increases beyond zero and zero.”

The Toronto police board also complained about increases in the OPP pension provisions, saying they were “made much more generous than the pension plan” for all other police officers.

“These changes will likely cost millions of public dollars,” wrote Mr. Mukherjee. “Other police associations are trying to bargain for the same treatment.”