Toronto Police Services Board

POLICE OFFICER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

2011-05-20T11:18:00.000-04:00

For me and the Board, one of the highlights of the year for policing in Toronto is the Police Officer of the Year Awards. This award "honours officers of the Toronto Police Service who have demonstrated exceptional skills, bravery, compassion and a deep commitment to making Toronto one of the safest cities in the world." I believe that the vast majority of our police officers are

AN OPEN LETTER TO PREMIER DALTON MCGUINTY

2011-05-10T14:40:00.000-04:00

Dear Premier McGuinty, I have read with great interest your public comments relating to the tentative agreement reached between the Toronto Police Association (TPA) and the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB). With great respect, I must say that decisions made at the provincial level are largely responsible for this deal. The province makes the rules under which municipal police services

TENTATIVE AGREEMENT REACHED

2011-05-02T17:23:00.000-04:00

We are pleased that yesterday we reached a tentative agreement with the Toronto Police Association. You can read our joint statement here.

ELEVEN

2011-04-05T18:36:00.000-04:00

That is how many days we have been in face-to-face contract negotiations with the Association. We exchanged proposals in the context of: • The Board’s accountability to the residents and taxpayers of the City of Toronto (the people who pay for policing), • The fact that the City of Toronto is facing a nearly $800 million budget shortfall in 2012, and • That about 90 percent of the Toronto

MICHIGAN STATE POLICE

2011-03-26T17:21:00.000-04:00

Here is the statement from Director of the Michigan State Police and the USA Today story on the Michigan State Police's plan to close 21 posts across the state.

IN OZ

2011-03-15T10:49:00.001-04:00

Police wages continue to be a topic of conversation in countries around the world, including Australia.

HOW RELUCTANTLY THE MIND CONSENTS TO REALITY

2011-03-13T15:37:00.000-04:00

As the British author Norman Douglas once said, “How reluctantly the mind consents to reality!” As I sit here in my seventh day of face-to-face contract negotiations with the Toronto Police Association, where we have made negligible progress, I cannot help but wonder if they were speaking about Mike McCormack, TPA President. Around the world, communities are adapting to some harsh fiscal

While in England and Wales

2011-03-10T16:33:00.000-05:00

The issue of police wages are top of mind for the British home secretary, Theresa May. She recently said that pay cuts for police officers are essential in order to minimise front line job losses at forces in England and Wales. She went on to say that "There's no question that pay restraint and pay reform must form part of the package. If you are going to find savings, pay is a good place to

THE ARBITRATION TALK CONTINUES

2011-03-08T08:46:00.000-05:00

Today's Toronto Star editorial focuses on Ontario's arbitration system. Here is an excerpt: "Labour relations can be extraordinarily complicated and there are variations on the final offer concept. How it should be applied to essential workers in Ontario’s public sector warrants extensive debate. But Queen’s Park should start that discussion. With 10,000 transit workers about to be declared

ARBITRATION TALK

2011-03-07T10:44:00.000-05:00

Across Ontario's emergency services sector there seems to be increased talk and media coverage on the issue of arbitrated awards. You can read the stories here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

PATIENCE AND FORTITUDE

2011-02-27T13:50:00.000-05:00

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “patience and fortitude conquer all things”. This could not be clearer than in the current round of contract negotiations between the Toronto Police Services Board and the Toronto Police Association. The Bargaining Committees met for four days this past week. In this time, we went back and forth on a number of non-monetary items from our proposals. Anyone who

BUDGETS, SALARIES AND POLICE SERVICE……

2011-02-18T09:56:00.000-05:00

Across the province, municipalities are at various stages of the budget process. For some, the process is complete and, for others, the process is only beginning. What remains consistent is that whether the municipality has its own police service, like Toronto, is part of a regional service, like Mississauga or uses the Ontario Provincial Police, like Thunder Bay, the cost of policing and the

POLICE BARGAINING 101

2011-02-11T15:49:00.000-05:00

Over the last few weeks there has been much discussion throughout the City regarding collective bargaining. The Police, the TTC and the City’s outside workers are all scheduled to be in collective bargaining at some point this year. You can read about it here. The Toronto Police Services Board (the Board) has already commenced collective bargaining with the Toronto Police Association (the

WINDSOR STAR

2011-02-10T16:29:00.000-05:00

An interesting article on police bargaining from the Windsor Star.

THE WORLD’S A TWITTER

2011-02-07T15:48:00.002-05:00

Suddenly, it seems as though all the world's a-twitter. - Newsweek Blogging and Tweeting. In 2007, we launched this blog with the intention of providing readers with information on the Board, what we do and events related to policing. Since then we have posted over 100 blogs ranging from bargaining, to the United Way campaign and to the long gun registry. Today, we join 190 million people

THE GATEHOUSE

2010-11-01T08:23:00.001-04:00

Throughout our city, there are a number of great organizations that you may never have heard of that do important work in partnership with the TPS.These organizations support our community policing model, where the community is a vital partner in our efforts to build safe and healthy neighbourhoods. One of these is The Gatehouse, a Toronto support centre that provides a

BOARD NAMES REVIEWER

2010-09-23T09:18:00.004-04:00

Earlier today, the Toronto Police Services Board approved the retention of The Honourable John W. Morden to conduct the Independent Civilian Review of the policing of the G20 Summit. You can read our news release here.Mr. Morden has vast experience in matters of public law and civil rights. He also spent considerable time on the bench, including as Associate Chief Justice of Ontario.In addition,

LONG-GUN REGISTRY

2010-09-22T18:50:00.002-04:00

This evening, a majority of the Members of the House of Commons voted to maintain the long-gun registry. You can read the stories here, here and here.This is great news.Never before have police boards, police chiefs and police associations come together in such a concerted manner. This cohesiveness has been critical during the drive to educate voters and parliamentarians on why the long-gun

UNPRECEDENTED MEDIA COVERAGE ON CRITICAL ISSUE

2010-09-16T09:55:00.002-04:00

As I read the papers this morning, I was taken by what is a seemingly unprecedented level of media coverage on an issue that has police boards, police services and police associations working together for a common goal.That is, of course, to save the long-gun registry; a critically important tool in both the prevention and investigation of crime.I found this letter from the Halifax Chronicle

NATIONAL DAY IN SUPPORT OF THE LONG-GUN REGISTRY

2010-09-15T11:37:00.006-04:00

It is on a very rare and important occasion that the Board, the Service and the Association issue a joint statement.The National Day in Support of the Gun Registry is one of those occasions.As I have said previously maintaining the long-gun registry is critical to the safety of our officers and our communities.Why, I ask, would anyone be interested in disabling such an effective preventative and

TERMS OF REFERENCE

2010-09-09T21:15:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday, September 14th, 2010 at 4:00PM, the Board will be holding a special meeting to consider the Terms of Reference for our Independent Civilian Review of the Policing of the G20 Summit.These Terms of Reference were drafted by Doug Hunt, who employed an inclusive, consultative process, incorporating the input from the community as well as key stakeholders and will be used by the

NATIONAL DAY IN SUPPORT OF THE LONG GUN REGISTRY

2010-09-03T06:25:00.003-04:00

Over the last two weeks, there has been extensive coverage on a topic of the utmost importance to the Toronto Police Services Board, and the vast majority of organizations related to policing in Canada, including the Canadian Association of Police Boards (CAPB), the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) and the Canadian Police Association.This issue, of course, is the long gun registry

A THOROUGH AND COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING

2010-07-29T13:54:00.003-04:00

There has been a tremendous amount of media coverage related to the G20 Summit and the different reviews that have been established following. On July 23, the Toronto Star ran an editorial No substitutes for full inquiry that stated “[t]he police services board should be commended for stepping into the vacuum and doing what it can.” You can read my letter to the editor regarding this editorial

INDEPENDENT CIVILIAN REVIEW: SEEKING PUBLIC INPUT

2010-07-16T09:22:00.009-04:00

I believe that questions related to the policy, governance and oversight aspects of the policing of the G20 Summit are among some of the most important issues that the Toronto Police Services Board has faced in recent times. In order to better understand and address these issues, at our special Board meeting on July 6, 2010, we established the Independent Civilian Review of the Oversight of G20

INDEPENDENT CIVILIAN REVIEW OF THE OVERSIGHT OF G20 POLICING

2010-07-06T11:07:00.002-04:00

Earlier today at a special Board meeting the Board approved a recommendation to establish an Independent Civilian Review.This is an Independent Civilian Review. It is not a public inquiry nor is it being conducted under The Public Inquiries Act. The Terms of Reference will be developed by the Reviewer in consultation with the Board.Once the Terms of Reference are in place, we expect that this