TORONTO POLICE SERVICES BOARD HEARS FROM SUPPORTERS, CRITICS OF PROPOSED $48.3M BUDGET HIKE
Jan 09, 2023
By Bob Komsic
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Mayor John Tory’s proposed nearly $50-million increase is fiscally responsible according to the police chief.
Myron Demkiw also told the Police Services Board that it will improve response times.
”With core service delivery metrics telling us that we can’t adequately meet the demand in a growing city, we have a responsibility to ask for the investment and resources we need to do just that,” the chief told the board.
Activist and broadcaster Desmond Cole explained his opposition to using that money to hire 200 more officers when he appeared before the board and then joined guest host Jane Brown on Zoomer Radio’s ”Fight Back.”
”The only way to actually attack these issues is to invest in people, the police are by their definition … they’re reactive. By the time they’re here, it is too late,” Cole told AM 740.
”You can spend all the money you want reacting and feeling safe … it’s not going to change anything.
”If we lived in a city where more people could afford the rent, instead of paying police to go and violently evict them, we would be getting somewhere,” added Cole.
If City council approves the proposed 4.3% increase, that would bring the total police budget to just over $1.1-billion for this year.