With the patrolling officer on a quick break, the Masood and Biczyski kids relish one lawless slide down Centennial Park’s forbidden toboggan hill.

They scream and holler, laugh ecstatically and come to a stop after a few careening somersaults.

But by the time they have spit the snow out of their mouths, grabbed their sleds and started to climb back up for a second run, the officer has returned.

No sledding allowed.

The hill is too dangerous.

People have been injured.

He hands the kids a map and directs them to the city-sanctioned “Designated Toboggan Area” on the other side of the park.

“This hill is taller and deeper and goes waaayyy faster,” says 12-year-old Vanessa Biczyski, bummed about having to move to the tamer hill.

The mustachioed cop has no time to be sympathetic. Other children are yanking sleds up the hill.

The outlawed slope — located next to the city-run ski hill in Etobicoke’s Centennial Park — is one of the most popular toboggan spots in the city.

But city officials have deemed it too dangerous after an undisclosed number of injuries.

So the ski hill employs a Toronto police officer on paid duty — officers hired outside of their normal shifts — to enforce the ban.

“[The officer] assists us in educating the public on where they can toboggan safely,” said Rob Mungham, supervisor for the Centennial Park Ski and Snowboard Centre. “It’s simply because we’ve had so many injuries there.”

Mungham also cited a city bylaw.

Uniform Parks Code By-Law 1922-226, Section 190-25 states that “No person shall ski, toboggan, snowboard, ski-bob or sled in any park posted to prohibit same.” The bylaw he cites covered the former city of Etobicoke. Signs at the top of the hill also refer to municipal code 608, which covers Toronto parks.

“We really want people to be safe at Centennial Park. That’s our main concern.”

It’s easy to see why the area is so legendary. It’s essentially the same size as the park’s small ski hill, with which it shares a fence. The steep slopes and snow-fashioned jumps call out to thrill-seeking sledders of all ages.

And it’s clearly being used by sledders regularly, with well-worn patches of mud and grass showing through the snow.

“We’ve been going to that hill for a long time,” said Ryan Stoneburgh, 14, who along with four of his pals from nearby Michael Power/St. Joseph Catholic high school were barred from the hill before they could even squeeze in a single ride. “It just sucks,” said Joey Leitch, also 14.

His friends nodded.

Mungham said paid-duty officers have been patrolling the slope every weekend — from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays — for at least the last five years. There is no weekday patrol.

Toronto police officers on paid duty receive $65 an hour, which in some cases is more than double what they make on their regular shifts.

But Const. G. Kent — who said he was not authorized to give his first name — worked for every penny on Saturday afternoon as he played the role of the fun police, marching from one end of the slope to the other, trying to keep people off the hill.

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“Get down from there!” “You can’t go down that hill!” “I told you already, you can’t toboggan there!”

As he spoke to a renegade slider at one end of the hill, two more marched up behind him on the other side.

bkennedy@thestar.ca