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Drivers in Toronto are receiving a lot fewer traffic tickets, and city hall can’t quite figure out why, although theories abound from police and politicians.

The numbers, disclosed at a meeting of Friday’s executive committee, are striking: Toronto police are projected to issue 218,000 tickets for traffic violations this year, more than a third less than the 341,000 issued in 2013.

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It means the city will collect almost $30-million less than it expected. Declining revenues and tickets actually began in 2013, the same year the city froze the police’s nearly billion-dollar budget.

Could there be a connection between the two? “Heck, yes,” said Councillor Michael Thompson, a former vice chair of the police services board who thinks the service is playing a “game.”

“Civilian oversight is not welcome by the organization and quite frankly it’s a collaborative approach to show you that you affect us, we can affect you,” he said.