“Around three-quarters of Toronto and GTA residents say they want more officers on the streets while at the same time favouring to keep police budgets steady, a new poll finds. The Canada Pulse Insights poll conducted for CityNews found 73 per cent of Torontonians and 76 per cent of GTA residents surveyed agree there needs to be more police officers on the streets.” Brad Bradford, if elected, wants to hire 1,000 more Toronto police officers.
What do police officers do? They investigate crime and lay charges. One Thousand more officers will lay many new criminal charges. Many of those charges will go to an already failing overworked bail court. It will increase the workload of already overworked Crown Attorneys. It will result in more trials in a court system that can’t manage the present backlog of trials which will result in more of those charges being stayed because of delay. It will result in more overcrowding of an already overcrowded jail system.
Is this really what Toronto wants?