The First Year Performance of Police Chief Mark Saunders: Lowest Rated in 18 Years

Seven in 10 (69%) approve of how police Chief Mark Saunders has performed in his role in the past year. To give this some context, we went back in time with the NewsTalk 1010 polls and looked at predecessors who were measured at the same time during their first-year term, and on that count Chief Saunders has the distinction of being the lowest rated in 18 years when compared to his last three predecessors. In fact, Chief Saunders is five points behind former Chief Boothby (in 1999), seven points back of former Chief Fantino and 11 points back of former Chief Blair.

To be fair, not every chief has remained is highly admired as they have started out in the job. So clearly, as there may be a way down in public esteem there might just as easily be one that travels up. And in that regard, we are still early on in Chief Saunders tenure.

Alternatively, three in 10 (31%) do not approve of the Chiefs performance – which at this time was 26% for Chief Boothby, 22% for Chief Fantino and 20% for Chief Blair.