A visibly frustrated police Chief Mark Saunders said despite arrests in a recent wave of shootings across the city, policing won’t be the solution to ongoing violence.

“We are not going to arrest our way out of this,” Saunders told reporters at police headquarters Friday morning, calling for a “multi-faceted” approach to addressing gun violence in his second news conference about the surge in violence in the past week.

He said of the recent shootings, they “by and large have street gang connotations to them or are street gang related.” He said that doesn’t mean at times innocent people are not impacted and acknowledged it has been traumatic for those people.

There have been 19 incidents since Aug. 3, including a daytime shooting in East York on Friday that killed one man and injured another person.

Saunders said the shootings are a reality for many communities and are primarily located in areas that form a “U” shape of neighbourhoods in the city — parts of northwest Toronto, downtown, and Scarborough — that are stuck in a cycle of poverty and where people lack access to opportunities for education and jobs.

“We need to make sure that we have mechanisms in place for these young men to not want to take up arms as a means of moving on to the next day,” he said. “Those people in those communities — when I go to townhalls — live like this every single day and they’re saying, ‘I put my son or daughter in a bathtub with a mattress so I can sleep at night.’”

Putting people in jail and having them released back into still marginalized communities is not a solution, he said.

“We have seized 536 guns to date. We’re continuing to make arrests. We’ve laid thousands of charges. We’ve arrested hundreds of people. The street gang issue is alive and well,” Saunders said when pressed on a police action plan. “If the expectations are that we’re going to arrest our way out of this, we simply are not. It does not work that way. There are social issues that are related with this.”

In investigations into shootings between Aug. 4 and 5, Saunders highlighted five arrests and the seizure of three guns. In two of three cases he mentioned Friday, he made the point of saying those believed to be responsible are allegedly members of street gangs.

That included, he said, a shooting near Church and Adelaide Sts. on Aug. 5 when police were called for sounds of gunshots and found two victims and one gun. Saunders said there was allegedly an exchange of gunfire and three have been arrested with one more outstanding. A second firearm was also located.

In a statement following the chief’s news conference, Mayor John Tory thanked police for their ongoing efforts and also acknowledged more needs to be done.

“Over the last several days, I have been in discussions with federal and provincial leaders about how our governments can work together to further address gun violence. Those discussions have been positive and I hope that will lead to expanded partnerships between the City, the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada on a number of fronts including investing in addressing the root causes of gun violence,” Tory said. “It is my hope and expectation that we can turn these discussions to further action in the very near future.”

Tory and Saunders both highlighted what they said is an issue of repeat gun offenders getting out on bail. Tory repeated his stance that those accused of such repeat offences should not be eligible for bail and given “no leniency” on sentencing or parole — something that is out of city hall’s jurisdiction.

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Despite Saunders’ comments on solutions to the ongoing violence, in the past year new funding from all three levels of government has focused on policing over community supports.

There was a $3 million commitment from the city to hire 200 new officers; a recent gun buyback program offering between $200-350 per gun turned in; $25 million from the provincial government for policing over four years, of which a large chunk is allocated for legal “SWAT” teams in courthouses; and $11 million from the federal government to the province for guns and gangs initiatives as well as $6.8 million provided to the city for community programs despite a request for more than $30 million. The city itself voted to increase spending in its youth equity strategy by $2.5 million this year.

Premier Doug Ford reiterated Friday he planned to make an announcement soon related to the violence.

Ford also said he continues to oppose a handgun ban, saying legal gun owners are not the problem.

“It’s making sure that we come down hard and heavy on these gangs,” he said. “We’ve put $25 million into fighting guns and gangs in Toronto and I have all the confidence in the world in our police, they're going to make sure that we apprehend these people.”

The Star reported earlier that plans to build a new community hub in Lawrence Heights is now in limbo with the province backing out on funding its $14 million share.

Research on the roots of violence agrees that access to safe spaces and recreation is a key issue among many problems related to racism and marginalization.

The Lawrence Heights community has seen some nine shootings reported in the last month.

“My heart breaks for the people up there. I’m going to be paying them a visit up in Lawrence Heights, and I understand and I know that community extremely, extremely well, so I’m there to support them any way we can,” Ford said Friday, but did not commit to funding the community centre.

While the number of fatal shootings and homicides is down this year compared to recent years, the number of gun-related injuries is at a 10-year high — 128 injured so far this year compared to 105 in the same period in 2018, 100 in 2017 and 96 in 2016.

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