Organizational News

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Chief Myron Demkiw 

Good afternoon, everyone.

Chair, thank you for introducing and addressing the issue of social media and communications, something we have been diligently reviewing over the past few weeks.

Approximately 15 years ago, in the interest of increasing engagement with our communities, Toronto Police Service members who successfully completed the social media training, and who were approved by their Unit Commander, were then authorized to use personal accounts as part of their duties.

We have leveraged social media for various initiatives and investigations across the Service, including Project Olive Branch – a podcast that was created as part of a broader outreach effort to continue building relationships with Muslim communities, especially youth.

However, we recognize that the March 10th episode of this podcast caused significant upset and concern in our communities.

On March 11th, we removed the episode, apologized, and suspended all Toronto Police Service podcasts pending the outcome of a review of the Service’s use of social media.

Our Professional Standards Unit referred its internal investigation of the podcast to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency, who declined to take on the investigation as it had received public complaints about the podcast, and those take precedence.

I then requested York Regional Police to conduct an independent investigation.

We have heard from many communities about the podcast being posted, as well as about the removal of the podcast, and I would like to re-affirm our commitment to engaging, respecting, and listening to all of the communities we serve.

When I ordered a comprehensive review of how we use social media, I asked the review team to identify and address the risks associated with the use of social media for community engagement, crime prevention, and public safety, while ensuring that we have effective systems in place for supervision and accountability.

The team assigned to this review will also recommend any necessary changes to governance, training, and supervision of social media usage.

Thank you, I will now pass it over to Deputy Chief Pogue to update the Board on some crime indicators for the past month.

Deputy Chief Lauren Pogue

Thank you, Chief.

Chair, at our last meeting in March, we shared year-to-date Community Safety Indicators, many of them that showed decreases compared to 2024.

Today, we are encouraged to see that some of these trends are still going in the right direction.

So far in 2025, we continue to see decreases in robberies, auto thefts, break & enters, shootings, and intimate partner violence.

Auto thefts have decreased by nearly 41%, and there have been 27 fewer home invasions compared to the same time in 2024.

However, we remain vigilant as we see that carjackings are still up. There have been three more carjackings this year so far compared to the same time in 2024, for a total of 92 this year.

On gun violence, shootings are down by 21% for a total of 27, which is 7 fewer than last year.

Firearm discharges are down 49% for a total of 40, which is 38 fewer than last year.

Persons killed by firearms are down 60% for a total of 4, which is 6 fewer than last year.

Shootings resulting in injuries are up 19% for a total of 37, which is 6 more than last year.

This year so far, we have made nearly 239 arrests relating to firearms. And as of this Monday, we have seized 157 crime guns. 

Chair, when we all met a month ago, we also discussed improvements in our call response time, improvements that have cumulated over several months. 

Last year, at this time, we had a Priority 1 call average response time of 18.3 minutes.

But now, Year-To-Date, we are at 12.4 minutes.

Last month, March 2025, we had an average response time of 11.9 minutes for Priority 1 calls.

We will continue to do everything we can to maintain these averages and improve further through the strategic deployment of new recruits based on call demand, and the management of resources across the city.

Thank you, I will now pass it over to Acting Staff Superintendent Jacqueline Baus.

Acting Staff Superintendent Jacqueline Baus

Thank you, Deputy Chief Pogue.

Chair, this month we mark the 4th anniversary of the release of the report for The Independent Civilian Review into Missing Person Investigations by the Honourable Gloria J. Epstein.

As you know, the Missing and Missed Implementation Team has co-designed, co-developed, and co-delivered business processes that have now become the gold standard for how we engage with our communities.

By considering the unique perspectives and lived experiences of community members, and including them in the implementation, we are better able to deliver policing services that our communities need – and deserve.

Of the 151 recommendations:

-    89 are implemented

-    61 are in progress

-    And two have not yet started, as they are dependent on the completion of other recommendations

I would now like to play a video of last week’s MMIT meeting for you.

I want to thank our Community Representatives and Service Members who have guided this work.

I’m honoured to work with this incredible group of people.

Thank you. I will now pass it back to the Chief.

Chief Myron Demkiw

Chair, you joined us two weeks ago on March 26 when the Service presented the Service Awards to some of our outstanding members.

Some of them arrested suspects in difficult situations, including armed suspects.

They saved lives, worked on prevention, and cracked cases.

They used data to make our operations more efficient, improved our workplace, and strengthened our relationships with various communities.

The recipients went above and beyond, and they represent the very best of our organization.

I want to thank them –

And I want to thank all our members for the incredible work that they do every day.

I also want to highlight the 24 brave and extraordinary individuals who received Community Member Awards two Sundays ago for their courage and compassion.  

Staff Superintendent Shannon Dawson presented these awards to people who have helped apprehend suspects, solve crimes, and in some cases, saved lives.

These community heroes demonstrate that safety is a shared responsibility and, with the hard work of our members, it’s one of the reasons why Toronto was ranked the 3rd safest city in the world for tourists by Forbes last summer.

As Deputy Chief Pogue shared earlier:

So far in 2025, many of the Community Safety Indicators are going in the right direction, in addition to the Call Response times.

Auto thefts are down –

Robberies are down –

Shootings are down –

With the return of warm weather, the return of Canada’s baseball team to the Rogers Centre, the start of the NHL playoffs, tourism, and large events, our commitment remains clear: we are here to keep Toronto one of the safest cities in the world.

We are focused, prepared, and ready.

With the start of Spring, and in the coming days, many Jewish people, their families, and their friends will celebrate Passover.

This weekend, I will be joining members of the Jewish community to share a Seder.

Throughout the week, the Toronto Police will continue to be visible across the city and around places of worship and community centres.

We wish a peaceful and happy Passover to everyone celebrating.

That concludes our remarks, thank you.