Video of the TPSB meeting can be found on the TPS YouTube channel.

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Chief Demkiw:

Thank you Chair and good morning everyone.

This morning’s update includes brief updates on several initiatives, and I will be calling on Deputy Johnson and CIO Stairs to assist.

This morning we are excited that you will receive a presentation about our work surrounding missing persons which directly ties into implementing the recommendations stemming from the Independent Civilian Review into Missing Person Investigations as we continue to work with our Missing and Missed Implementation Team (MMIT). We will be joined by co-chair of the MMIT Haran Vijayanathan, a Community Representative who has worked with us from the beginning to implement the 151 recommendations in a way that is meaningful and sustainable.

I would like to thank Haran and all the community representatives for their commitment to working with us. I would like to reiterate my support as Chief to support their ongoing work.

As of June 6th, 97% of the 151 recommendations either have been implemented or are in progress.

Two weeks ago, we marked the National Day against Gun Violence, a day dedicated to acknowledging the devastating impact of gun violence on our communities.

I joined local high school students, residents, and politicians, in a rally and peace walk against gun violence in east Scarborough. Toronto Raptor’s Community Ambassador Jamaal Magloire organized and hosted this event.  I would like to thank Jamal Magloire and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment for including Toronto Police in this important event.

The recent shooting tragedies in 23 Division, 33 Division, and 42 Division that took six lives in total, including the life of a teenager, in addition to other shooting incidents across the city, have left deep wounds in our communities.

On Thursday we arrested a second suspect in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy last weekend. I want to assure Torontonians that every effort is being made to advance these shooting investigations. This is a service priority.

These senseless acts of violence forever change families and I want to express my condolences to the families and loved ones who have experienced loss due to gun violence.

Our city is experiencing an increase in gun violence. The Service prioritizes our response to gun crime because of the impact it has on our communities. Our Gun Violence Strategy takes a whole of service and dynamic approach. We are deploying significant resources to address these violent criminal acts:

• We are prioritizing the response to shooting calls for Service. Last week, in those six shootings I mentioned, our average response time was 2.4 minutes. In a growing city, where we are receiving more and more calls each year, including gun calls, we continue to make improvements in our response times for these top priority calls.
• We are seizing firearms. So far this year, we have made 490 arrests for firearms offences.
• We are conducting more bail compliance checks to ensure firearms offenders are following conditions of their release.
• So far this year, we have conducted approximately 10,000 checks.

Chair, we are committed to doing everything we can with our communities and partners to ensure the safety and well being of all Torontonians.

In the coming days we will be sharing more information about our proactive efforts to get guns and the criminals using them off our streets.

As a city we continue to experience the impact of geopolitical events that are causing stress in our communities.

Community engagement and building public awareness about our response to the stress our communities are experiencing is essential.

We recognize that we police in a city of great diversity and as such we have built cultural competency and are driving a policing model that embeds the community’s perspectives in our operational decision making, whenever we can.

Our Jewish and Muslim Liaison officers continue building relationships with our Jewish and Muslim communities.

Since October 7, our Muslim Liaison officers have been attending and praying at local mosques on a regular basis.

They have delivered 109 school presentations, attended multi-faith meetings, and have engaged with and attended dozens of meetings with Muslim organizations and community groups.

In response to feedback I received from the Muslim community we added a second Muslim Liaison officer in February.

Our Jewish Liaison officer has made 52 synagogue visits, 45 school visits and presentations and has engaged with and attended dozens of meetings with Jewish organizations and community groups since October 7th.

Earlier this year we began a new initiative called Project Olive Branch that aims to create new relationships while building on existing relationships with Toronto’s Muslim community.

We are inspired by feedback from youth who expressed to me the fear and frustration with the hate they are experiencing and guidance from the Canadian Council of Imams we received when meeting with them.

This program was envisioned and developed by two incredible leaders in the Toronto Police Service: Muslim Liaison Officers Haroon Siddiqui and Farhan Ali.

We are building strong connections with Muslim youth, connecting directly with faith leaders at places of worship, addressing the underreporting of hate crimes by increasing education initiatives promoting the importance of reporting, and increasing attendance at community events to foster relationships. 

Since the launch of Project Olive Branch, the Muslim Liaison Officers have attended several outreach events with youth, and liaised and collaborated with Muslim Student Associations across the city, including high schools and post-secondary institutions.

This project and its initiatives are an ongoing effort and will continue for the foreseeable future.

I want to thank all members who are engaging with our communities every day to build relationships, trust and a sense of safety, and security for all.

I want to take a moment now to thank our policing partners who came together to support us with our Project Resolute events this month, including the OPP, and Durham, Hamilton, Niagara, and York Regional police services. We saw this partnership on display two weeks ago for the United Jewish Appeal 'Walk with Israel', which an estimated 50,000 people attended.

We received hundreds of appreciative calls, comments and messages from the community. It was also amazing to see the high degree of inter-operability between all agencies and our private sector partners. I also want to thank Toronto Fire, Toronto Paramedics and the Toronto Transit Commission.

And with that, I turn it over to Deputy Chief Johnson to provide additional updates to the Board.  

Deputy Robert Johnson:

Thank you Chief.

Project Resolute continues to be an all-of-Service response to the impact of the geopolitical unrest in the Middle East, and our Major Incident Command Centre continues to oversee overall operations and to ensure effective handling and coordination of our response.

I’d like to update you on our Hate Crime statistics:

Since October 7th, we have attended 1,378 hate crime calls for service.

We are attending an average of 145 hate crime calls for service a month.

We have confirmed 333 hate crimes since the conflict began.

We have made 107 arrests.

We have laid 268 hate crime occurrence related charges. 

The most common charges are mischief, assault and uttering threats. 

Hate crime occurrences are up 54.9% over the same period last year.

Anti-Semitism continues to account for more reported hate crimes than any other category. Of the 221 hate crimes so far in 2024, 44.8% were anti-Semitic. 88% of these were crimes against property.

We are attending an average of 5 hate crime calls for service every day.

I will now turn it over to Chief Information Officer Colin Stairs.

Chief Information Officer Colin Stairs:

Thank you Deputy,

I am pleased to be here to give you an update on how we are leveraging technology to achieve efficiencies in our work to improve public safety.

This spring we went live with the Automated License Plate Recognition system and its helping us find stolen cars, wanted suspects and missing people.

On June 14th a woman reported that her husband who has Alzheimer's as well as other medical conditions, had left in her vehicle. She provided the plate and his cell phone number. Police determined his general vicinity from the phone. We added his plate into the ALPR system and focused our search in that area. Thanks to the ALPR, the vehicle was located in just 84 minutes and the man was returned home safely.

Two days before that, we received an ALPR hit for a stolen vehicle from York Region. The vehicle was quickly intercepted, the driver arrested and officers recovered the vehicle and a quantity of illicit drugs including fentanyl, which led to several charges.

A few weeks before that a similar hit on a stolen vehicle led to six arrests and the recovery of a loaded handgun, and burglary tools.

Back to you Chief.

Chief Demkiw:

Thanks Colin.

We begin our busy summer event season with two special events. Next week we will celebrate the culmination of the Pride festivities with Toronto’s Pride Parade on Sunday, June 30, followed by Canada Day celebrations on July 1st.

Just last week, on Thursday afternoon, for the second year in a row we held the Board and the Chief’s Pride reception at the Metropolitan Community Church Toronto.

Rather than tell you about it I’d like to show you a short video: Pride Reception Video

It was a great event.

Also on Thursday we gathered to celebrate the stellar career of Staff Superintendent Pauline Gray. A career that spans over 36 years and includes an extensive criminal investigative background including the investigation of over 100 homicides.

Throughout her career, she committed to mentoring, teaching, and advocacy for survivors. Pauline is truly a legend. This is Pauline’s last Board meeting. Pauline, thank you for your remarkable service, and congratulations on your well-deserved retirement.   

I will now take a few minutes to recognize the recent promotions of our newly promoted Staff Superintendents. I will read a brief bio for each before I introduce them. 

Kelly Skinner is a life long investigator who has developed an extensive background in various forms of investigation. As she moved through Major Squads, she honed strengths in, authoring and executing Part VI wiretap affidavits, search warrants, investigation of serious violent crimes, drug investigations, and the gathering of gang intelligence. She was a district commander at 11 and 12 Divisions as well as being second-in-command at 22 and 23 divisions and was a Duty Senior Officer for the Toronto Police Operations Centre.

Kelly’s dedication to fostering strong relationships and collaboration between law enforcement agencies and communities is evident through her involvement in the Service’s Police and Community Engagement Review 2.0 committee and her role as a member of the Board of Directors with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto makes her an exceptional leader. 

I present to you Staff Superintendent Kelly Skinner.

Shannon Dawson brings 29 years of policing experience and has served in the Drug and Homicide Squads, Intelligence Services-Source Management Section and was the 32 Division and Intelligence Services Unit Commander.

She was also the Acting Staff Superintendent of Field Services and the Community Safety Command where she oversaw the Community Partnerships & Engagement Unit, Communications, the Public Safety Response Team and Traffic Services.

Her extensive knowledge and experience in police operations, investigations and community policing has prepared her well for her new position as head of Professionalism & Accountability.

I present to you Staff Superintendent Shannon Dawson.

Joe Matthews brings 32 years of policing experience to his new role as head of Detective Operations.

Joe has extensive experience across various Divisions and specializations including Drug Squad, Hold-Up Squad, Guns & Gangs and Intelligence. He served in 13, 12 and 55 Divisions, and developed a deep understanding of diverse urban landscapes.

Joe worked in Professional Standards, and was also assigned to an international posting with the New York City Police Department where he served as an international liaison focused on national security.

He has led several high-impact corporate initiatives, including PACER, Missing & Missed and was the Acting Staff Superintendent in Strategy Management. Through these initiatives Staff Superintendent Matthews has developed strong ties to the community.

I present to you Staff Superintendent Joe Matthews.

Brett Nicol is a nationally recognized expert on major Gun and Gang investigations and has led teams through complex large-scale investigations and community engagement to improve public safety.

Brett now leads the West Field - Community Safety Command.

Brett was a Court Officer before becoming a Police Officer, starting at 52 Division.

His passion for investigative work led to work with the Hold-Up and Homicide Squads, Gun & Gang Task Force and Organized Crime Enforcement-Major Project Section.

As a Senior Officer, Brett led the Professional Standards Criminal Investigation Section along with 33 and 52 Divisions.

Brett also established important partnerships and networks to achieve successful outcomes on multi-jurisdictional, national and international levels.

I present to you Staff Superintendent Brett Nicol.

Frank Barredo has been with the service 38 years.

He is recognized for his tactical expertise and operational knowledge. His experience within various Public Safety Operations units will serve him well in his new role as head of Public Safety Operations.

Frank served on the Emergency Task Force and was the Duty Desk Senior Officer, was second in command of the Emergency Management & Public Order Unit and was Unit Commander of 43 Division and the Toronto Police College. 

Frank also developed our Public Safety Response Team, an essential unit in our ability to deliver community safety in Toronto.

Over the last few months, he has managed hundreds of dynamic and challenging demonstrations as Incident Commander of Project Resolute.
I present to you Staff Superintendent Frank Barredo.

Thank you Chair.

End of Remarks