*check against delivery*

Chief Myron Demkiw

Thank you Chair.

I want to reiterate that since we last met with the Board, this has been a very difficult time for our Service and for the policing sector.

Whether it is within this Service or another agency, when a police officer dies in the line of duty, it affects all of us. 

Every opportunity I get, whether I am visiting Divisions or Units, or speaking with frontline officers on the road, I listen to them, and I acknowledge these events affect all of us. 

These events add stress to an already demanding profession, and it is important that our members know we are here to support them. 

I would also like to acknowledge the incredible outpouring of support we received from across Canada and Internationally. 

The support helped us all as we navigate these difficult times and is greatly appreciated. 

And on the topic of our members, I want to express my gratitude today for their outstanding work in keeping people safe during FIFA.

We welcomed visitors from around the world to our city.

We saw large crowds gathering at events, and bars and restaurants packed with fans watching the matches. All of this took place without any major FIFA-related public safety incidents.

This success was made possible by the collective efforts of our members, some of whom you could see and some that worked behind the scenes or covertly. 

I want to thank them all for their professionalism, dedication, and resilience, particularly during periods of extreme heat. 

I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to our policing partners across Ontario for their assistance, as well as the national and international policing partners, delegates, and Football Intelligence Officers.

This required an extraordinary amount of coordination and planning, and I am very proud of our Service and our members for the role they played in making it a success.

I will now turn it over to Deputy Johnson to share a little more about FIFA.

Deputy Chief Rob Johnson

Thank you Chief.

Chair, FIFA has been a true example of what collaboration and teamwork look like in practice.

Every contribution mattered.

FIFA represented 6 weeks of continuous operations.

By the end of the tournament, members had completed more than 34,000 assignments.

Members successfully monitored and staffed 17 fan and supporter marches, including the largest march in Toronto, which drew more than 18,000 Portugal supporters.

Throughout those 6 weeks, the overall arrest profile remained relatively low, with a total of 45 arrests and enforcement actions, the majority of which was resolved through Provincial Offences Act processes.

Toronto Police officers intercepted 29 drones.

These enforcement efforts were supported by a communications campaign on social media so that the public was aware of the “no drone zone.”

I also want to acknowledge the partnership with the City and the FIFA control group. 

It was because of the cooperation between all city agencies that helped make crucial decisions in a timely manner when it mattered the most, under the leadership of City manager Paul Johnson, this group helped to make sure that this amazing sporting event was as successful as possible.

Chair, I also want to share some information regarding our 911 and non-emergency Communications Services over the past months.

First, since we have been talking about FIFA, it's worth noting the impact on our call volumes.

During match days, we saw an increase of more than 5% in 9-1-1 calls compared to the average 9-1-1 call volume in June 2026.

And yet, on match days, the average answer time for 9-1-1 calls was only 3 seconds.

Now, if we look at the average 911 answer time for the month of June as a whole, it was 6 seconds.

To give you an idea of the progress we have made, the average answer time for 911 calls in June 2025 last year was 57 seconds. So that’s a decrease of 89%.

In June, we met the NENA standard on 17 of 30 days. As a reminder, the NENA standard requires that 90% of 9-1-1 calls be answered within 15 seconds, and 95% within 20 seconds.

These improvements reflect the cumulative impact of several initiatives.

We have stabilized staffing, improved recruitment and training, introduced new technology, implemented proactive staffing strategies to better match resources to demand, strengthened frontline supervision, and placed a strong operational focus on meeting service level targets every day.

While Priority 1 call response times remain below the peak levels seen in recent years, they have increased to an average of 14.9 minutes. We continue to monitor this trend closely.

Thank you, I will now pass it over to Acting Deputy Brett Nicol.

Acting Deputy Chief Brett Nicol

Thank you.

Chair, since the last Board meeting, the City of Toronto launched its Summer Safety Plan in partnership with Toronto Police.

As part of this Plan, our Neighourhood Community Officers are leading a series of programs and activities ranging from education and sports to community building.

The program is about supporting young people who might not otherwise have access to these kinds of opportunities and activities.

Our goal is to help them stay engaged with trusted mentors and positive experiences that not only keep them active, but also help them build skills, gain confidence, and learn new things.

At the launch event, the Chief spoke about some of the program's success stories, including Power Play, through which a group of youth from the Lawrence Heights community had the opportunity to go treetop trekking with Neighbourhood Community Officers from 32 Division last year.

These are important programs, all rooted in a commitment to crime prevention.

CTO Colin Stairs

Chair, you may recall that over the past several months we have warned the public about scammers using spoofed Toronto Police Service phone numbers to target members of the public.

I want to inform you that we implemented a solution to help address the ongoing issue of external parties spoofing TPS phone numbers.

Through an authentication process in partnership with telecommunications carriers, we are blocking unauthorized calls attempting to use TPS numbers.

In the first month, over 1,500 spoofed calls from external parties have been blocked from reaching members of the public using spoofed TPS numbers.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely and take additional steps as needed to protect the public from these scams.

I also want to take this opportunity to remind the public that it is always important to verify the identity and authenticity of a caller before sharing personal information or engaging in any financial transaction with someone you do not know and trust.

Chair, today the Service is presenting both the Annual Statistical Report and the Chief's Annual Report, two key public-facing reporting products.

The Annual Statistical Report provides a comprehensive statistical account of Toronto Police Service activities and public safety outcomes in 2025.

It includes detailed information on reported crime, victims of crime, searches of persons, firearms, traffic collisions, personnel, budget, communications, public complaints, enforcement activities, and support services.

It also includes annual statistics, year-over-year comparisons, and long-term trends, providing a detailed overview of operational performance across the Service.

For example:

• In 2025, crimes against persons and crimes against property decreased by 5.2 % and 8.6%, respectively.
• For crimes against a person, homicides decreased by 47.1%, from 85 to 45.

The Chief's Annual Report, on the other hand, highlights the Toronto Police Service's efforts to improve public safety, enhance trust and transparency, modernize service delivery, and strengthen organizational effectiveness.

While there is some overlap between the two reports, they are complementary documents that provide information and transparency on the work of the Service.

I will let the Chief speak further about these reports, and we will be pleased to answer any questions from the Board later this afternoon.

Thank you. Back to the Chief.

Chief Myron Demkiw

Chair, these reports are essential because data helps guide our efforts and enables us to manage our limited resources strategically, so that we can respond quickly when we see areas of concern emerge.

For example, when we saw an increase in hate crimes, we expanded the Hate Crime Unit and, more recently, established the Counter-Terrorism Security Unit to address evolving threats and better support public safety.

We use statistics in concert with other tools, such as hotspot analysis and intelligence, to help us identify trends, understand where resources are needed most, and measure the impact of the strategies and initiatives we put in place.

This helps our officers on the road and investigators to focus their efforts in the best way possible and adjust to changing trends.

Yes, in 2025, we saw improvements across a number of community safety indicators.

And so far in 2026, we have seen decreases in shootings, homicides, and other areas.

At the same time, we continue to put our people and our resources where we see challenges, and where we hear concerns from our communities, including increases in hate crimes and home invasions.

When we saw a rise in home invasions earlier this year, we launched Project Aegis in the areas experiencing the greatest increases, particularly in 22, 32 and 53 Divisions.

The data we use is very important.

At the same time, I have been very clear that we know it only takes one shooting to undermine a community's sense of safety, as we saw with Salsa on St. Clair.

We’re working hard to ensure people are and feel safe, with enforcement and prevention initiatives.

So far this year, our officers have recovered over 266 crime guns.

Every time we seize a crime gun, we prevent an untold amount of potential harm and death.

In 2025, we arrested 32,487 individuals, more arrests when compared to 31,889 the previous year.

We have also increased bail compliance checks.

So far this year, bail compliance checks have increased 33% compared to 2025 and have nearly doubled since 2022.

We are deploying more covert assets and visible police officers to strategic locations across the city based on operational and community needs and intelligence, including to festivals and major events. 

These are all efforts aimed at enforcing the law, preventing harm and strengthening trust.

And Chair, in closing, on specifically these three topics:

• Enforcing the law
• Preventing harm
• And strengthening trust

I want to highlight for you today that the Toronto Police Service led an investigation, in partnership with the RCMP, and has charged an individual with a terrorism offence this week. 

This followed a lengthy and complex investigation after alleged actions of this individual at previous demonstrations in downtown Toronto in 2024.

Over the course of this investigation, police seized multiple electronic devices.

A joint investigation by the Toronto Police Service Hate Crime Unit and the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team subsequently gathered evidence supporting the allegation that the accused acted for the benefit of, and in association with, Hamas, a designated terrorist group.

And on Monday of this week, the Attorney General of Ontario and the Government of Canada provided consent to proceed with the charge that is now before the court.

This investigation underscores our strong partnerships with policing agencies and highlights the essential work of our Hate Crime Unit, and the need for the continued development and resourcing of our Counter-Terrorism Security Unit.

It also serves as a reminder that we will hold those who break the law accountable, no matter how long it takes. Thank you.