Toronto Police Service
The Toronto Police Service (TPS), formerly the Metropolitan Toronto Police, is the police force for the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Creation to 1859 reforms
The Toronto Police Service, was founded in 1834 when the City of Toronto was first created from the Town of York. (Prior to that, local able bodied male citizens were required to report for night duty as special constables for a fixed number of nights a year on the pain of fine or imprisonment in a system known as "watch and ward.")
The Toronto Police is one of the English-speaking world’s oldest modern municipal police departments; older than, for example, the legendary New York City Police Department which was formed in 1845 or the Boston Police Department which was established in 1839. The London Metropolitan Police of 1829 is generally recognized as the first modern municipal department. In 1835, Toronto retained five fulltime constables—a ratio of about one officer for every 1,850 citizens. Their daily pay was set at 5 shillings for day duty and 7 shillings, 6 pence, for night duty. In 1837 the constables’ annual pay was fixed at £75 per annum, a lucrative City position when compared to the Mayor’s annual pay of £250 at the time.
From 1834 to 1859, the Toronto Police was a corrupt and notoriously political force with its constables loyal to the local aldermen who personally appointed police officers in their own wards for the duration of their incumbency. Toronto constables on numerous occasions suppressed opposition candidate meetings and took sides during bitter sectarian violence between Orange Order and Irish Catholic radical factions in the city. A Provincial Government report in 1841 described the Toronto Police as “formidable engines of oppression.” Although constables were issued uniforms in 1837, one contemporary recalled that the Toronto Police was "without uniformity, except in one respect—they were uniformly slovenly." After an excessive outbreak of street violence involving Toronto Police misconduct, including an episode where constables brawled with Toronto’s firemen in one incident, and stood by doing nothing in another incident while enraged firemen burned down a visiting circus when its clowns jumped a lineup at a local whorehouse, the entire Toronto Police force, along with its Chief, were fired in 1859.
1859 to 1900
The new force was removed from Toronto City Council jurisdiction (except for the setting of the annual budget and manpower levels) and placed under the control of a provincially mandated Board of Police Commissioners. Under its new Chief, William Stratton Prince, a former infantry captain, standardized training, hiring practices and new strict rules of discipline and professional conduct were introduced. Today's Toronto Police Service directly traces its ethos, constitutional lineage and Police Commission regulatory structure to the 1859 reforms.
In the 19th Century the Toronto Police mostly focused on the suppression of rebellion in the city -- particularly during the Fenian threats of 1860 to 1870. The Toronto Police were probably Canada's first security intelligence agency when they established a network of spies and informants throughout Canada West in 1864 to combat US Army recruiting agents attempting to induce British Army soldiers stationed in Canada to desert to serve in the Union Army in the Civil War. The Toronto Police operatives later turned to spying on the activities of the Fenians and filed reports to the Chief from as far as Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago and New York City. When in December 1864, the Canada West secret frontier police was established under Stipendiary Magistrate Gilbert McMicken, some of the Toronto Police agents were reassigned to this new agency.
In 1863 the Toronto Police were also used as "Indian fighters" during the Manitoulin Island Incident when some fifty natives armed with knives forced the fishery inspector William Gibbard and a fishery operation to withdraw from unceded tribal lands on Lake Huron. Thirteen armed Toronto police officers, along with constables from Barrie, were dispatched to Manitoulin Island to assist the government in retaking the fishery operation, but were forced back when the natives advanced now armed with rifles. The police withdrew but were later reinforced and eventually arrested the entire band but not before William Gibbard was killed by unknown parties. (Sidney L. Harring White Man's Law: Native People in Nineteenth-Century Canadian Jurisprudence Toronto: Osgood Society-University of Toronto Press, 1998. pp. 152-153)
In the 1870s, as the Fenian threat began to gradually wane and the Victorian moral reform movement gained momentum, Toronto police primarily functioned in the role of “urban missionaries” whose function it was to regulate unruly and immoral behaviour among the "lower classes". They were almost entirely focused on arresting drunks, prostitutes, disorderlies, and violators of Toronto’s ultra-strict Sunday "blue law".[HISTORY OF THE TORONTO POLICE PART 4: 1875 - 1920]
In the days before public social services, the force functioned as a social services mega-agency. Prior the creation of the Toronto Humane Society in 1887 and the Children’s Aid Society in 1891, the police oversaw animal and child welfare, including the enforcement of child support payments. They operated the city's ambulance service and acted as the Board of Health. Police stations at the time were designed with space for the housing of homeless, as no other public agency in Toronto dealt with this problem. Shortly before the Great Depression, in 1925, the Toronto Police housed 16,500 homeless people that year.
The Toronto Police regulated street-level business: cab drivers, street vendors, corner grocers, tradesmen, rag men, junk dealers, laundry operators. Under public order provisions, the Toronto Police was responsible for the licensing and regulation of dance halls, pool halls, theatres, and later movie houses. It was responsible for censoring the content of not only theatrical performances and movies, but of all literature in the city ranging from books and magazines to posters and advertising.
The Toronto Police also suppressed labour movements which were perceived as anarchist threats. The establishment of the mounted unit is directly related to the four-month Toronto streetcar strike of 1886, when authorities called on the Governor General's Horse Guard Regiment to assist in suppressing the strike.
20th century
As for serious criminal investigations, the Toronto Police frequently (but not always) contracted with private investigators from the Pinkerton’s Detective Agency until the 20th century when it developed its own internal investigation and intelligence capacity.
During the 1930s and 1940s, the Toronto Police under Chief Dennis "Deny" Draper returned to its function as an agency to suppress political dissent. Its notorious "Red Squad" brutally dispersed demonstrations by labour unions and by unemployed and homeless people during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Suspicious of "foreigners", the police lobbied the City of Toronto to pass legislation banning public speeches in languages other than English, curtailing union organization among Toronto's vast immigrant populations working in sweat shops.
After several scandals, including a call by Chief Draper to have reporters "shot" and his being arrested driving drunk, the City appointed a new Police Chief from its own ranks for the first time in the department's history: John Chisholm, a very able senior police inspector. Unfortunately Chisholm was not up to the politics of the Chief's office, especially in facing off with Fred "Big Daddy" Gardiner who engineered almost single-handedly the formation of Metropolitan Toronto in the 1950s. The Toronto City Police absorbed the surrounding police departments and grew in size and complexity, Chisholm found himself unable to manage the huge agency and its Byzantine politics. In 1958, after a number of conflicts with Gardiner and members of the newly expanded Metropolitan Toronto Board of Police Commissioners, Chief Chisholm drove to High Park on the city's west end, parked his car and committed suicide with his service revolver. The late Staff Superintendent Jack Webster, one of the officers who arrived at the scene of the Chief's death and who would upon his retirement in the 1990s become the Force Historian at the Toronto Police Museum, would later write, “Suicide is a constant partner in every police car.”
With the creation of Metro Toronto in 1954, the Toronto Police was eventually merged on January 1, 1957 with the other municipal forces to form the Metropolitan Toronto Police Force:
 Scarborough Police Department
Etobicoke Police Department
North York Police Department
East York Police Department
Mimico Police Department
Weston Police Department
Forest Hill Police Department
Town of Leaside Police Department
York Township Police Department
New Toronto Police Department
Swansea Police Department
Long Branch Police Department
In November 1995, the agency was renamed the Metropolitan Toronto Police Service which in turn, in 1998, became the Toronto Police Service after the amalgamation of the former municipalities of Metro Toronto.
21st century
Today, the Toronto Police Service is responsible for overall local police service in Toronto and works with the other emergency services (Toronto EMS (TEMS) and Toronto Fire Services (TFS) and other police forces in the GTA including:
York Regional Police
Peel Regional Police
Durham Regional Police Service
Ontario Provincial Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
For most of 2005, the police union and the Toronto Police Services Board (the civilian governing body) were involved in lengthy contract negotiations. The rank and file had been without a contract since the end of 2004, and conducted a work-to-rule campaign in the fall of 2005. The police force is an essential service and are legally prohibited from striking.
A mandatory Coroner's Inquest took place into the police killing of 17-year-old Jeffrey Reodica. Although accounts differ, it is generally accepted that Reodica was part of a group of Filipino teenagers pursuing a group of white teenagers on May 21 2004, following altercations between the two groups. Plainclothes Toronto police officer Det.-Const. Dan Belanger and his partner Det. Allen Love were in the process of arresting Reodica when Reodica reportedly lunged at Love with a knife. Belanger then shot Reodica three times in the back.[Inquest into Jeffrey Reodica shooting begins] The teen died in hospital three days later.[Police killed unarmed teen, family says]
In response to the recommendations of the Coroner's Inquest jury, Chief Blair recommended that all plainclothes police officers be issued arm bands and raid jackets bearing the word 'Police' in an effort to increase their visibility in critical situations. Unmarked cars, which are already equipped with a plug-in police light, will also be supplied with additional emergency equipment, including a siren package. The proposals will be phased in over three years beginning in 2008. Undercover officers will also have to wear, carry or have access to standard police use-of-force options such as pepper spray and batons.[Jeffrey Michael Reodica Inquest Jury Recommendations, Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario][Toronto Police Services Board, Minutes of the Meeting of April 26, 2007, pages 85-90]
In 2004, eight people were shot by Toronto police, and six of them died from their wounds. The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigated each shooting, but found all of them to be justified.
In 2005, the police force was faced with a spike in shootings across Toronto and increased concern among residents. Police Chief William Blair and Mayor David Miller asked for additional resources and asked for diligence from residents to contend with this issue. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty promised to work with Toronto to fight crime.
In July 2007, Toronto Police were involved in an international incident in which their members pepper-sprayed, tasered, and handcuffed members of the Chilean national soccer team in an attempt to keep control of crowds after their semi-final match in the 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup. A police spokesman explained on CBC Radio on the programme Here and Now that police took action against individual members of the Chilean team when they "displayed aggressive behaviour" by vandalizing a bus and arguing with fans. The actions of the police were criticised by the TV and print media in Chile,[Chilean soccer team involved in melee with police][La Nacion.cl] and initially also in Canada, but following a news conference and more detailed description of behaviour by the Chilean team the criticism (outside of Chile) was withdrawn. FIFA president Sepp Blatter later apologized to the Toronto mayor for the incident, and instigated disciplinary action against the officials and players of the Chilean team.[FIFA vows action after U-20 brawl]
Funding
As a division of the municipal government of Toronto, the Toronto Police Service's annual funding level is established by a vote of the Toronto City Council in favour of the year's proposed budget. Provided below are historical gross and net funding levels of the TPS as a part of the city's operating budgets.
Command
The chief of police is the highest ranking officer of the Toronto Police Service. Most chiefs have been chosen amongst the ranks of Toronto force and promoted from the ranks of deputy chief.
Chiefs of the Toronto police force have been:
Toronto Police Department
William Higgins 1834
George Kingsmill 1835
James Stitt 1836
George Kingsmill 1837-1846
George Allen 1847-1852
Samuel Sherwood 1852-1858
William Stratton Prince 1859-1873
Frank C. Draper 1874-1886
H.J. Grasett 1886-1920
Samuel Dickson 1920-1928
Dennis Draper 1928-1946
Toronto Police Department (up to 1953) and Metro Toronto Police (up to 1998)
John Chisholm 1946-1958
James Mackey 1958-1970
Harold Adamson 1970-1980
Jack W. Ackroyd 1980-1984 (died 1992)
Jack Marks 1984-1989 (died 2007)
William J. McCormack 1989-1995
Metro Toronto Police (up to 1998) and Toronto Police Service (1998 onwards)
David Boothby 1995-2000
Julian Fantino 2000-2005
Mike Boyd 2005
Bill Blair 2005-present
The Special Investigations Unit
The actions of the Toronto Police are examined by the Special Investigations Unit, a civilian agency responsible for investigating circumstances involving police and civilians that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault. The SIU is dedicated to maintaining one law, ensuring equal justice before the law among both the police and the public. They assure that the criminal law is applied appropriately to police conduct, as determined through independent investigations, increasing public confidence in the police services. Complaints involving police conduct that do not result in a serious injury or death must be referred to the appropriate police service or to another oversight agency, such as the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services.
Operations
Toronto Police Headquarters is on College Street near Bay Street in the downtown area. The former HQ at Jarvis Street was turned into a museum (and since re-located to current HQ). The current site was once home to the Toronto YMCA. The current sign in over the main entrance still reads "Metropolitan Toronto Police Headquarters" and still has the seal of Metropolitan Toronto, and since 2007 has the current Toronto Police Service crest.[Torontoist: Lazy Avec Le "Metro"]
The Toronto Police Service is divided into 2 field areas and 17 divisions (police stations or precincts):
Central Field, 40 College St. encompasses the central portion of the City of Toronto.
11 Division, 209 Mavety St.
12 Division, 200 Trethewey Dr.
13 Division, 1435 Eglinton Av. W.
14 Division, 150 Harrison St.
51 Division, 51 Parliament St.
52 Division, 255 Dundas St. W.
53 Division, 75 Eglinton Av. W.
54 Division, 41 Cranfield Rd.
55 Division, 101 Coxwell Avenue.
Area Command, 40 College St. encompasses the former Cities of North York, Scarborough and Etobicoke. It also includes portions of the cities of Toronto and York, and the Borough of East York (excluding Leaside).
22 Division, 3699 Bloor St. W
23 Division, 5230 Finch Ave. West
31 Division, 40 Norfinch Dr.
32 Division, 30 Ellerslie Av.
33 Division, 50 Upjohn Rd.
41 Division, 2222 Eglinton Av. E.
42 Division, 242 Milner Av. E.
43 Division 4331 Lawrence Ave. E near Morningside Avenue
Note: Public Safety Unit is located at 4610 Finch Avenue East next to the C.O. Bick Police College
Support units in the Toronto Police Service consists of:
Specialized Operations Command, 40 College Street
Detective Services, 40 College St.
Forensic Investigation Service, 2050 Jane Street. (FIS) - Toronto's answer to CSI
Homicide Squad, 40 College St.
Provincial ROPE Squad, 40 College St.
Drug Squad, 40 College St.
Organized Crime Enforcement , 40 College St.
Fraud Squad, 40 College St.
Hold-Up Squad, 40 College St.
Intelligence Services, 40 College St.
Sex Crimes Unit, 40 College St.
Operational Services, 40 College St.
Communications Services, 40 College St.
Court Services, 40 College St.
* Prisoner Transportation Unit, 9 Hanna Avenue.
Emergency Task Force, 300 Lesmill Rd.
Marine, 259 Queen's Quay W.
Mounted and Police Dog Services, 44 Beechwood Drive (1989) - Mounted Drill Unit
* 25 horses with 45 officers
* 20 officers with 17 general dogs, 4 drug dogs and 1 explosives detector dog
Parking Enforcement, 1500 Don Mills Road.
Public Safety and Emergency Management, 4610 Finch Avenue East
Traffic Services, 9 Hanna Avenue.
Community Mobilization Unit, 40 College St.
Auxiliary, Volunteer and Rover Program
Youth Programs
* Empowered Student Partnership
* Toronto Recreational Outreach Outtripping Program (TROOP)
* Public Education and Crime Eradication (PEACE) project
Policing on most 400-series highways (like King's Highways 401, 400, 427, 404) are in the jurisdiction of the Ontario Provincial Police. Toronto Police is responsible for patrolling on local highways (Allen Road, Don Valley Parkway, F.G. Gardiner Expressway and the Toronto section of Highway 409).
Workforce
The Toronto Police Service has approximately 5,710 uniformed officers and 2,500 civilian employees.
Fleet
Police cars, also known as police cruisers are the standard equipment used by Toronto Police officers for transportation. The vehicles are numbered in regards to their division and car number. For example, 3322 represents that the vehicle is from 33 Division, and the following 22 symbolizes that the car works in Zone 2 for that Division and it is car number 2 for that zone.
e.g. 5421 would be 54 Division, zone 2, car 1.
Unit
The horse unit was formed in 1886 and now stationed at the Horse Palace at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE).
The unit has a strength of 27 horses and 40 officers.
Horses
Honest Ed (2004); named for Ed Mirvish
Sampson
Lady
Keith
Dragoon
Spencer
Winston
Royal
Dundas
Lincoln
Boot ; named after former chief David Boothby
Simcoe
Blue Moon
Horses killed while on duty:
Brigadier (born 1998 near Listowel, Ontario) - 2006 - motor vehicle collision
Lancer - 2002 - motor vehicle collision
Police Dog Services
17 general purpose dogs - Nero, Rony
4 drug enforcement dogs
1 explosives detector dog - Mic
20 officers
Sidearms
Glock 22 Large frame .40 - Regular uniformed officers
Glock 23 Compact frame .40 - Specialized issue
Glock 17 Large frame 9mm - Specialized units
Glock 19 Compact frame 9 mm - Specialized issue
Taser Regular uniformed supervisors and specialized units
pepper spray (OC Spray)
TPS formerly used Smith & Wesson prior to switching over to the Glock.
Weapons used by the ETF include:
MP5A3 9mm submachine gun
Remington 700 bolt-action sniper rifle
Remington 870 shotgun (Can be issued to Regular Uniformed Officers)
Mossberg M500 shotgun (Can be issued to Regular Uniformed Officers)
Diemaco C8 carbine rifle (Can also be employed by member's of PSU when doing Court Security)
Taser International M18 taser
Taser International X26 taser
pepper spray (OC Spray)
tear gas (CS Gas)
rubber bullets or bean bags rounds
ARWEN 37 37mm riot gun (and AR-1 plastic baton rounds, may also be available to crowd/riot control officers)
Uniform
Front line officers wear dark navy blue shirts, cargo pants (with red stripe) and boots. Winter jackets are either dark navy blue jacket design — Eisenhower style, single breasted front closing, 2 patch type breast pockets, shoulder straps, gold buttons, or yellow windbreaker style with the word POLICE in reflective silver and black at the back (Generally worn by the bicycle police). All ranks shall wear dark navy blue clip on ties.
Auxiliary officers (shown to the right) wear light blue shirts, with the badging of auxiliary on the bottom of the crest.
A person of any rank may remove a tie when they are wearing a short sleeved shirt or blouse, as the case may be, and not wearing a uniform jacket, patrol jacket or windbreaker.
Hats can be styled after Baseball caps, Combination caps,or fur trim hats for winter. Motorcycle units have white helmets. Black or reflective yellow gloves are also provided to officers with Traffic Services.
Senior officers wear white shirts and a black dress jacket.
Logo
The components of the TPS logo is similar to the old Metro Toronto Police logo less the name change:
winged wheels of industry on the top part of the shield
crown commemorating the coronation year of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953
two books for education
Caduceus - Roman god of commerce
chevron for housing
beaver from the city of Toronto logo
Ranks
The rank insignia of the Toronto Police Service is similar to that used by police services elsewhere in Canada and in the United Kingdom, except that the usual "pips" are replaced by maple leaves.
Commanding Officers
Besides the Chief of Police, the other command officers are the Deputy Chiefs. They head the command units:
Divisional Policing - Kim Derry (current)
Executive - Jane Dick (current)
Human Resources - Keith Forde (current)
Specialized Policing - Anthony Warr (current)
The Chief Administrative Officer is a civilian post, currently held by Tony Veneziano.
Police Senior Officers
The day-to-day and regional operations are commanded by senior officers:
Staff Superintendent
Superintendent
Staff Inspector
Inspector
Police Officers
Staff Sergeant
Sergeant
Constable - first class, second class, third class, fourth class
Training
New and current officers of the Toronto Police Service train at the Charles O. Bick College ( named for the former Judge and first Metropolitan Toronto Police Commission chair) on Finch Avenue East and Brimley Road. The initial training is 2 weeks, followed by 12 weeks at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer, Ontario and then 6 weeks of final training at C.O. Bick College. Recruits to the TPS are also trained at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer, Ontario. The College is also home to the memorial for slain PC Todd Baylis.
Emergency Services
TPS is part of Toronto's Emergency Services and works along side with:
Toronto Fire Services
Toronto EMS
Heavy Urban Search and Rescue
See also
Auxiliary Constable
Emergency Task Force
History of crime in Toronto
TTC Special Constable Services
Police Recruitment Canada
External links
Toronto Police Offical Site
Toronto Police Services Board
History of the Toronto Police in the 19th Century
Toronto Police History
Toronto Police history 2
22 Division Toronto Police Service Rovers
Inquest into Jeffrey Reodica shooting begins
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