Toronto councillors vow to end police paid-duty requirements

Many say a system requiring hiring of high-priced off-duty police to direct traffic and the like needs to end.

Thestar.com
April 18, 2016
By David Rider

Fed-up Toronto councillors are vowing to dismantle the system that sees community groups, developers and the city itself forced to hire off-duty Toronto police officers to direct traffic.

Mayor John Tory’s executive committee voted unanimously Monday to ask the province for legislative changes to allow lesser-paid special constables to do the work, and for city staff to develop an “implementation plan” to make that happen.

But there was strikingly tough talk from councillors on and off Tory’s executive, suggesting council next month could vote to not wait for provincial approval, given that city staff say it may not be required, and move to put a knife into the heart of the paid-duty system once and for all.

“Bottom line, it’s a second income - a second salary for police officers, that’s what it is ... ,” said Councillor Michael Thompson, an executive committee member and former police services board member. “We need to stop it.”

Allowing the Toronto Police Association, the union representing rank-and-file officers, to set the paid-duty rate is “a macabre and crazy thing,” he added.

Another executive member, Councillor David Shiner, said the city, community groups and others are needlessly paying uniformed officers $68 per hour for a minimum three hours, plus higher-paid supervisors for multiple officers, plus 15 per cent administration fees, to direct traffic or often just stand there.

“The whole system of paid duty is wrong. The whole system has to be corrected. The time to correct it is now,” Shiner said.

“We are never going to get the union to agree that taking money out of the pockets of their officers is in their best interests,” said Councillor Pam McConnell, a former police board chair who is not on executive but is Tory’s deputy mayor for Toronto-East York.

“Enough is enough, and while we ask for clarification, we should just stop this ridiculous practice,” said McConnell, recalling that, when she was young, Grade 8 students with “patrol belts” ushered classmates across roads.

“People understand that police officers have much more important work than looking down holes and drinking coffee. I think that’s a bad message.”

A city staff report states the province has indicated it sees “no legislative barriers” to the use of special constables, but staff want the province to amend the Highway Traffic Act to explicitly allow non-police officers to “direct traffic and close highways.”

While some councillors blamed staff, the police and the police association for the intransigence, Mayor John Tory said politicians have to shoulder some responsibility for not pushing hard enough in the past.

He noted that city council in 2011 approved wording for a memorandum of understanding with police for new traffic control requirements, but never followed up after then-police chief Bill Blair did not sign it.
“Get on with it, let’s sign” an updated version and make changes to allow people to choose if they want to hire a police officer to direct traffic or a cheaper alternative, the mayor said.

Police association president Mike McCormack defended the paid-duty system in an interview with the Star’s Betsy Powell.

“You can have a highly visible police officer in an intersection on their time off, where there’s no impact on the police budget, and you get the presence of a police officer, which is a public safety issue - that changes driving patterns,” he said.

Singling out McConnell’s comments, McCormack said there is not a lot of love for police at city hall these days.

“She’s saying, ‘Oh well, I directed traffic in Grade 8.’ Well I’m sure she used to put a Band-Aid on her knee in Grade 5, and that doesn’t make her a doctor.”