Today, Toronto City Council voted to provide additional funding to support the Toronto Police Service’s immediate response to increased levels of gun violence and to keep communities safe.
Councillors approved a $1.5 million contribution to the Toronto Police Service (TPS) budget, the City of Toronto share of a collective $4.5 million promised by all three orders of government, to assist the police in deploying additional resources to help reduce further violent incidents involving guns.
The contribution will be used to fund the Project Community Space program, which was launched by the Toronto Police Service in August. Chief Mark Saunders provided a midpoint update (http://torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/45359) on the 11-week, intelligence-led project earlier this week that noted a 30 per cent decrease in shooting events compared to the six weeks prior to the start of the project.
The City’s commitment to stopping gun violence includes ensuring that police officers have the resources they need to keep neighbourhoods safe, and working with the federal and provincial governments to obtain additional resources to invest in communities to address gun violence.
As part of today’s decision, Council also agreed to request that the Government of Canada reconsider the City’s 2018 request, as outlined in the Immediate Steps to Address Gun Violence report, to provide funding for the unfunded applications under the National Crime Prevention Grant.
In July 2018, Council adopted the Immediate Steps to Address Gun Violence report, which contained measures to address both immediate violence intervention and long-term prevention. The increased funding of $4.5 million to the TPS by all three orders of government for Project Community Space fits into the immediate violence intervention category.
Last summer, the City applied for $32.6 million in funding. In December 2018, the federal government announced that the City would receive $6.76 million in public safety funding over a five-year period for the Community Healing Project for Crime Prevention and Intervention. At the same time, the federal government also announced that the TPS would receive $400,000 over a two-year period to enhance the Neighbourhood Officers Program in eight priority neighbourhoods in Toronto.
The Immediate Steps to Address Gun Violence report is available at http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2018.CC44.14.
As part of the approval of the police funding, Council also voted to again request that the Federal Government “ban the availability, sale, possession and use of handguns across Canada, with the exception of the Canadian Armed Forces, police services or other entity that is authorized to possess firearms with legal obligations imposed by the municipal, provincial and federal governments.”
A motion was also approved that expressed City Council’s support for the Government of Canada to approve increased bail restrictions and tougher sentences for those charged and convicted of gun offences.
Quotes:
“City Council sent a strong message today that we support our Toronto Police officers as they work to stop gun and gang violence in our city. We also continue to urge the federal and provincial governments to invest in kids and families in our communities to address the roots of violence and to advocate for changes to our gun and bail laws to strengthen penalties for those caught engaging in gun violence and gun trafficking.”
– Mayor John Tory
“It’s our duty to ensure that we provide services and programs that benefit residents, and more importantly, keep communities safe. As Chair of the Budget Committee, I support backing the City’s efforts to curb violence.”
– Councillor Gary Crawford (Ward 20 Scarborough Southwest), Chair of the Budget Committee
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