Race and Identity-Based Data Collection Findings

Systemic discrimination in our city deeply impacts the life prospects and opportunities of members of Indigenous, Black and racialized communities, and can lead to disparities in health, social and economic outcomes. For many decades, Indigenous, Black and racialized communities have spoken out about their deep mistrust of public institutions, including the police service. Important discussions on racial injustice, inequity and anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism within police services are happening around the world, and here in Toronto. 

These discussions resulted in the recommendations and actions on changes to policing adopted by City Council in June 2020. At its meeting, which includes the City of Toronto reform recommendations, adopted 36 decisions related to community safety reforms. These decisions included areas of public safety, crisis response and police accountability. 

At its meeting on August 18, 2020, the Toronto Police Services Board approved 81 decisions on policing reform, including the reforms requested by City Council. The recommendations within this report put into place a roadmap for comprehensive policing reform, and include building new community safety response models, initiatives to address systemic racism and concrete steps to strengthening trust with our communities. They followed robust public engagement that occurred over the months of June, July and into August 2020, following thousands of messages that the Board received from members of the public on police reform, accountability, and community safety priorities.

The workplan is multi-faceted and wide-ranging, and includes recommendations with short, medium and long-term implementation timelines, focused on the ever-important objective of building and strengthening trust with members of all of Toronto’s communities. To help inform the public and stakeholders of progress achieved in relation to each recommendation, details relating to each recommendation are reported in a publically available dashboard.

The dashboard below provides the implementation status for each recommendation and other pertinent information including the units responsible for implementation, progress details, the board theme, related recommendations and other relevant links. This dashboard will be updated on a continuous basis, so please check back regularly for progress.

To launch the TPSB Police Reform Implementation Dashboard in full screen mode please click here.

Since 2020, the Toronto Police Service has implemented a number of notable accomplishments including:

  • Expanding the coverage of the Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams, made up of specially trained crisis nurses and police officers, to 14 hours a day. 
  • Launching a one-year Crisis Call Diversion Pilot with the Gerstein Crisis Centre. This pilot will ensure that a person in crisis who does not require a police response can be transferred seamlessly to a crisis worker co-located in our 911 Communications Centre.
  • Implementing the Service’s Know Your Rights campaign, created with members from the Police and Community Engagement Review, which includes videos that help explain a person’s rights and an officer’s responsibilities during different types of interactions.
  • Publishing a line-by-line budget for 2020, 2021, and 2022 providing increased transparency on spending by the Service in previous years. 
  • Signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Toronto Auditor General for the Auditor General to develop and carry out a work plan of independent audits of the Service on behalf of the Board. The Board has also communicated with the provincial government to request that the City of Toronto Act be amended to expand the Auditor General’s legislated authority to include the Toronto Police Service.

In our commitment to increased accountability and transparency, we went further than the 81 recommendations and have proactively moved forward in other areas of police reform, including:

  • The Service’s Gun and Gang Strategy is more robust than ever. The Centralized Shooting Response Teams routinely liaise with other units in the Service, and work collaboratively with our partners at the City of Toronto in its community safety planning.
  • Public Safety Response Teams conduct bail compliance checks to ensure those charged with gun-related offences are abiding by their court-imposed restrictions and they provide referrals to community support services in order to break the cycle of gang violence.
  • TPS officers on the frontline are now equipped with body-worn cameras, providing an unbiased, independent account of police and community interactions. This technology is an investment in the Service’s commitment to delivering accountable and transparent policing services.
  • Reforming the Service’s strip search procedures is ensuring that all strip searches are justified and monitored appropriately, which the Office of Independent Police Review Director (OIRPD) referred to as a ‘best in class’ model.

On April 13, 2021, the Independent Civilian Review into Missing Person Investigations released its report entitled “Missing and Missed” (Report). The Report contained 151 recommendations designed to improve the Service's policies, procedures, training, education, professional development, and culture. This included the creation of the Missing and Missed Implementation Team, a team that will use a modernized community-centric approach to implementing all 151 recommendations.

Whether it’s the Anti-Racism Advisory Panel, the Mental Health and Addictions Advisory Panel, the Missing and Missed Persons Implementation Team, or our many Community Consultative Committees, the Toronto Police Service’s reform journey benefits from the guidance and support of our city partners and communities.



Although there is more work to be done, we will continue to do what is necessary to showcase our commitment to transparency and accountability, and to strengthening trust with all of Toronto’s many communities.

Our Modernization Journey

Mandated to look beyond the way policing was currently being done in Toronto, the Transformational Task Force (TTF) proposed a modernized policing model that was innovative, sustainable, and affordable. The model placed communities at its core, was intelligence-led, optimized the use of resources and technology, and embraced partnerships as a means of enhancing capacity and capability. 

The final report - Action Plan: The Way Forward – contained 32 recommendations and was accepted by the Toronto Police Services Board in February 2017 and adopted as the Service's Business Plan for the following three years.

Way Forward: Our Action Plan

The Toronto Police Service is dedicated to implementing a service delivery model that allows the Service to be where the public needs us the most, embraces partnerships to create safe communitites and stays focused on the complex needs of our large city.

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