Police, politicians recall history of conflict on anniversary of civilian oversight board
JENNIFER LEWINGTON
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
GLOBE AND MAIL
As the legendary and first head of the Toronto Police Services Board — a 20-year tenure that began in 1956 — optometrist Charles Bick met daily with the police chief of the day to enforce the policies of his oversight body.
Many of the early chiefs chafed under the scrutiny, illustrating the “creative tension” that marks a half-century of civilian oversight.
As the board, originally formed as the Metropolitan Board of Police Commissioners, celebrates its 50th anniversary with a daylong seminar today and a gala dinner on Monday night, it’s clear the politics of policing a diverse city has changed dramatically over the years.
What hasn’t changed is the debate over who’s the boss — the police, who are responsible for day-to-day operations, or the civilian body, which spells out broad policies and monitors how they are implemented in the public interest.
“It’s always about who’s in charge,” says Judy Sgro. “There is always going to be tension.”
She learned that the hard way. In 1998, then a Toronto city councillor, she was appointed to the police board and almost immediately tangled with Craig Bromell, then the boss of the Toronto Police Association, who was openly hostile to anyone who questioned police practices.
“I did nothing more than what I was supposed to do,” she recalls. “My love and respect of the police was being sidestepped to suggest I was anti-police and disloyal.”
Her experience echoes that of former police board chairwoman Susan Eng, an outspoken advocate of police accountability who clashed openly with former chief William McCormack before he stepped down in 1995.
“The points of friction are times when old meets new,” says Ms. Eng, who says civilian oversight still needs improvement. “Those are the times of opportunity for change.”
Current TPA president Dave Wilson says his members recognize the legitimate role of the board. But “the role of civilian oversight in Toronto has been a rocky path,” accentuated in his view by “confrontational” politics of those who don’t understand the work of front-line officers.
That’s not the view of Jane Doe, the woman who successfully sued the police board and two police officers for negligence after she was raped 20 years ago by a man known by police to be prowling her neighbourhood.
She says the promise of police accountability and a responsive police board remains an illusion. In 1998, a report by the city’s auditor-general, Jeff Griffiths, made 57 recommendations to improve how the police investigate sexual assaults. Aside from some “administrative tinkering,” she says, the police have resisted implementing the report.
But Jane Doe credits former board chairwoman Pam McConnell for her work in the past year — with new Chief Bill Blair in place — to set up a steering committee of top police brass, board members and women’s groups to address implementation of the report.
“Councillor Pam McConnell is a champion of police oversight and has almost single handedly, with [board chairman] Alok Mukherjee, dragged or propelled Toronto policing into a more accountable and community-based model of oversight,” says Jane Doe, who says she still awaits tangible results from the steering committee.
During the past year, Mr. Mukherjee and Chief Blair have redefined the board-police relationship as a partnership of equals, with the community invited to the table. For the most part, the two men speak in solidarity in public and air their differences in private.
Mr. Mukherjee, who took over last year before a tense showdown with the police union over a new contract, says there is “no fixed balance” in the relationship. “What I visualize as a healthy relationship is creative tension,” he says.
For his part, Chief Blair declares that the separation of power is “pretty simple. I have to run the police service but have to be held accountable for how I do it and that is done through the board.”
Police then and now
Number of personnel
1957: 2,291
2006: 7,762
Population served
1957: 1.3 million (old Metropolitan Toronto; same boundaries as present city)
2006: 2.5 million
Annual budget
1957: $12.6-million
2006: $751.5-million
First-class constable’s salary
1957 : $4,200
2006: $66,852
Chief of police’s salary
1957: $12,000-$16,000
2006: $229,405
Police Services Board
chairman’s salary
1956: $12,000
2006 $93,000
Source: Toronto Police Service;
Toronto Police Services Board
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