George Smitherman on Improving Safety and Security

Your City government has a responsibility to ensure that you are safe and secure, as you move freely around the City, and in the neighbourhoods where you live. George Smitherman has a plan to make sure this happens.

Service First: Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS)

George Smitherman will combine Toronto’s firefighters and EMS paramedics in an integrated service to improve life-saving response times for serious emergencies. He wants to combine the quick response of Toronto Fire with the expert paramedical training of Toronto’s EMS services – other cities have found they can save lives by taking these steps and it’s time Toronto does it as well. As Mayor, George will form a task force bringing all of the key stakeholders together to plan the integrated system. In jurisdictions like Winnipeg, an integrated system has reduced response times to life-threatening calls by as much as half.

This integrated emergency response system will be an essential service with no strike option.

George Smitherman will build on the service integration by looking at how to combine not just response, but hiring, training, maintenance, administration and dispatch. The task force of experts will also study bringing some aspects of policing procurement and maintenance into this structure, for further efficiency.

Toronto Police Services

George Smitherman is proud of The Toronto Police Service and the work they do. He will vigourously defend our current police budgets. As an Ontario cabinet minister, George has already supported the expansion of police forces in Toronto and around the province.

Community policing initiatives and programs such as Toronto’s Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) have also been highly successful, and George will support their continuation to reduce violent crime in our city.

At the same time, as Toronto Mayor, George Smitherman will insist that Toronto Police find resources from within, through greater operating efficiencies and existing overtime pay, to hire at least 50 more uniformed officers.

George believes there is at least a $5 million efficiency to be gained by rigourous control of overtime in the police budget. He has looked at the current budget and found that total premium pay ($43 million) is budgeted for 2010 with $14.7 million in shift overtime, $5.1 million in “call back” pay (working on a day off or ‘called back’ after shift ends), $10.9 million in traffic court and $12.3 million related to police work in criminal courts.

The additional 50 or more new officers we hire will target guns and gangs, emphasizing community and youth engagement through the schools and youth activities. Current community policing activities are making a difference, and we should use our budgets more efficiently to help the police do their job.

George Smitherman will also squeeze the City budget to find more efficiencies, by following upon the issue of paid duty.  Paid duty funded by the City each year is approximately $25 million. George will undertake a detailed review of the justification for all types of paid duty funded by the public in order to ensure that it is meeting city priorities and statutory requirements.

Traffic Wardens

We have to get Toronto traffic moving again—getting where you need to be is part of feeling secure and safe in your city.  We need to put an end to days of disruption. George Smitherman will look at using traffic wardens to direct traffic during peak hours in key locations. A system like this works well in Chicago, where traffic wardens move drivers along at key choke-points, making sure they do not block intersections or linger. It would work at busy rush hour points such as Front/University or King/Spadina. Let’s try it and look for results.

George Smitherman’s plan for traffic wardens will be funded from the Transportation Services budget.

Our traffic wardens will also be city ambassadors, aiding those who are physically challenged, older pedestrians, answering questions and much more. With proper training, wardens could also do what is now police “paid duty” at construction sites and some parades/festivals/movie shoots. This would free our real police to do real police work.

A Safer Community

George Smitherman will continue to work to reduce gun-related crimes. As Mayor, George Smitherman will establish an annual Accountability Review and an annual summit for all key agencies involved in reducing gun crime. These will maintain political focus on priority actions, partnership, and initiatives. Participants will include The Toronto Police Service, City agencies dealing with housing, youth and social welfare groups, the Federal and Provincial governments, school boards, Business Improvement Associations, neighbourhood groups and associations, and community organizations with expertise in gang behaviour and best practices in diversion strategies.

With his experience in provincial issues, George Smitherman will also press for improvements in the province’s administration of justice, working with the province on methods to reduce re-offending, including tougher bail restrictions for gun offences.

George Smitherman is tough on crime and the causes of crime. He subscribes to Rudy Giuliani’s  “broken windows” approach – if someone breaks a window, you get it fixed right away and refuse to allow it to become a symbol of a broken city. You also find out who did it, make them pay and make sure it does not happen again.

Torontonians can no longer tolerate the release on bail of anyone alleged to be in possession of a gun illegally or to have committed a crime using a gun. If it is a matter of space in jails we will construct the necessary jails and send the province the bill.

It is no secret that the federal government is spending approximately $1 billion on Toronto’s G20 Summit, with much of this focused  on security—things like closed circuit cameras placed strategically downtown. Toronto should benefit from this. George Smitherman will press the federal government to donate the G20 cameras to Toronto Police Service. They will be sited according to Torontonians’ needs, after consultation with elected officials, citizens and advice from the police. They will be used not to spy on people, but to better protect ourcitizens and visitors and to deter criminal behaviour.

Police resources and cameras will also be allocated for deployment in Toronto Community Housing. Toronto Community Housing is at the forefront of rebuilding neighbourhoods, and it is important to ensure homes are safe and that Toronto Community Housing residents receive the same level of protection as all other Torontonians.