The Toronto Police Service is committed to serving the diverse people of Toronto the way we expect to be treated, with dignity and respect, says Chief Bill Blair. Again the same preaching!

                          My officers go where crime occurs. They go to where the community calls us. They go where our intelligence says there is a greater risk of victimization.                                                                                                                                                           

Canada is a country of heinous crimes of grief and mourning, a land of human misery without any hope. An ocean of human tragedy, that their fierce waves drag millions of shattered lives.
- Nadir Siguencia

“CRIMES THAT CANADA IGNORES AND THE STRUGGLE AGAINST IMPUNITY”

Canada is a police state; a country  of human tragedy and oppression which have so far claimed the destruction of hundreds of thousands of families and the lives of so many underprivileged people. The silences of the Canadian media over the police abuses, brutality, and unjustified killings that occur on daily basis are helping for the perpetuation of the police to commit crimes. Chief Blair has to accept the racist police attitudes against the poor communities, the verbal abuse and ill treatment on detainees by their subordinates and the inexcusable public executions (Sammy Yatim). A high percentage of Torontonians are witnessing the harsh treatment of homeless people, persons of color, and police captives they are subjected to repeated punches, kicks, kneeling, beatings, tasering and assassinations in the streets, parks, shelters…. of this city. The failure of the judiciary system to punish the police for human rights violations create a climate where the Toronto police force can continue to commit all kinds of brutality and assassinate poor people without fear to be reprimand and jailed for their heinous crimes.   

From the Toronto Star; Chief Blair: Racial profiling not tolerated in Toronto police force

The Toronto Police Service is committed to serving the diverse people of Toronto the way we expect to be treated, with dignity and respect, says Chief Bill Blair. Again the same preaching!                                                   We will continue our unrelenting efforts to ensure we deliver bias-free policing services in a fair and impartial way, as well as our commitment to our core values of respect for the people we serve.

Darren Calabrese / THE CANADIAN PRESS                                                                                                                        "We are not racist but we are all human," writes Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair.

By: William Blair Published on Mon Jul 28 2014

Our contacts with the people of Toronto have been the subject of much discussion. I want to take this opportunity to explain what we do, how we do it, how we review what we do and our constant process of self-examination and improvement.                                                                                                                           Our contacts with the public will never be in direct proportion to census figures because poverty and unemployment are disproportional. Opportunity is not equally distributed across all communities. Some groups and neighbourhoods experience higher rates of victimization and violence.                                                 My officers go where crime occurs. They go to where the community calls us. They go where our intelligence says there is a greater risk of victimization.                                                                                               The Toronto Police Service is committed to working in partnership with all communities to address these disparities but, until that is achieved, our community contacts will reflect the disproportion that exists and the conditions that give rise to it.                                                                                                                                 We will continue our unrelenting efforts to ensure we deliver bias-free policing services in a fair and impartial way, as well as our commitment to our core values of respect for the people we serve.                          Project PACER (Police and Community Engagement Review) is our comprehensive review and redesign of our practices, designed to ensure fair and bias-free policing.                                                                                 Dr. Atiba Goff, researcher and professor with the University of California at Los Angeles Centre for Policing Equity, has said: “(PACER) is about as good as you can ask for — even those hating law enforcement can acknowledge that. There always will be, and should be, community concerns because of the incredible power given to law enforcement. But, if you’re looking to get better, this is certainly a recipe for it.”                                                                                                                                                                    Audrey Campbell, immediate past president of the Jamaican Canadian Association, is one of 16 community members representing a wide variety of groups to provide input on the PACER recommendations and is seeing them through. She has said she believes the service is genuine in its ambitions to police fairly and ultimately believes in Project PACER.                                                                             She participated in the Fair and Impartial Policing training alongside me and my senior officers.                            She said, “One of the things I want people to realize, including the police, is that the organizations that are at the table are there because we believe. We believe that TPS is sincere about this initiative. If we did not believe that, we would not be at the table. Because, at the end of the day, we have to go back to our community, we have to give reports and we have to justify whether we want to support the decisions taking place.”                                                                                                                                                                    We do not tolerate racism or racial profiling in the Toronto Police Service.                                                                We are all committed to serving the diverse people of Toronto the way we expect to be treated, with dignity and respect.                                                                                                                                                              We have demonstrated this commitment in many ways.                                                                                                      We have created the most diverse police service in Canada. We speak the languages, have the cultural competencies and possess the diversity of perspectives that reflect the city of Toronto.                                       We have worked in partnership with our Police Services Board, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, our community partners and the people of Toronto, to develop policy on training, recruitment, deployment and services that embrace our pluralism and demonstrate our commitment to a diverse city.                                                                                                                                                                                            We are not racist but we are all human. The science of bias teaches us that even the best-intentioned, most decent and honourable people can be influenced by the implicit bias all people have.                                     As police officers, the decisions we make are important. We make decisions that affect people’s safety and their liberty. We make decisions that determine how a young person or a whole community will see themselves. These decisions can affect their quality of life and their ability to be fully included in a cohesive society.                                                                                                                                                                         It is essential we do everything possible to ensure that bias does not influence our decisions.                                    We must be able to articulate and justify our actions and decisions. This isn’t always easy, but it is what the people of Toronto deserve and expect from us.                                                                                                           We know we can never be complacent. Good enough won’t cut it. What we do is too important. We must always do our best and we must always work to improve.

William Blair is Chief of Police, Toronto Police Service.