Cricket match played in Percy Cummins honour

For the past 25 years, colleagues and friends of late Toronto Police Service officer Percy Cummins have kept his memory alive through an annual limited-overs cricket match.

Cummins, who introduced the sport to the Service after joining on June 16, 1970, was gunned down as he and his partner, Michael Jones, investigated a disturbance call on Symington Ave. It was his first day back in uniform after working in the division’s community response unit and then in the undercover squad.

The seriously wounded officer, along with his injured partner who was shot in the hand, were rushed to St. Joseph’s Health Centre where Cummins died in the operating room from a bullet wound to the neck.

He served almost eight years as a police officer in Barbados before coming to Toronto.

This year’s contest featuring the Toronto Police Community Cricket Club (TPCCC) and the Barbados Ex-Police Association of Toronto which Cummins started and was its President at the time of his death, was played at the Percy Cummins ground in Scarborough.

The Barbadian ex-cops won the 40-overs game by five wickets.

“Even though we lost, our players enjoyed coming out and playing this game in Percy’s memory,” said Const. Amir Butt who is the TPCCC Vice-President. “There was a lot of positive energy out there on the field today in a contest that both teams look forward to in the summer.”

Cummins’s son, Kevin, attended the game and thanked the two teams for keeping his father’s memory alive.

“I know dad was looking down there today and enjoying a sport he really relished,” he said.

Former Toronto Police Services Board Chair Alok Mukherjee has been a regular attendee at the game over the years.

“Percy personified the best in policing by his ethical conduct, integrity, professionalism and commitment to the community and his willingness to do what was right even though it cost him his life,” he said. “He was also one of the pioneers in that he and others laid the foundation for the changes which we now see reflected at all levels of the service. It is because of the contributions and efforts of individuals like Percy that the Police Services Board today attaches great importance to the need to reflect the true face of the city and all the communities it serves.”

Current Chair Jim Hart and 42 Division Inspector Greg Watts also attended the game.