Following through on a campaign promise, Mayor Rob Ford has vowed to hire 100 more police officers as soon as he finds the cash.

But there’s one problem: the Toronto Police Service doesn’t want them.

Police officials are reluctant to publicly refuse additional manpower, but those in high-ranking circles are questioning why the tight-fisted mayor made the costly pledge without consulting the service, its union or its board, about whether more officers are needed.

“Part of the difficulty is the chief hasn’t had any discussions with the mayor yet,” said Chief Bill Blair’s spokesman, Mark Pugash. “The chief has said that he wants to discuss that with the mayor before he comments.”

Since 2005, crime is down across Toronto by about 30 per cent. Over that same period, the force has been struggling to get hold of its worsening financial crisis.

Last year, the police board was left no choice but to defer millions in payments to a reserve fund in order to balance a bare-bones $896 million budget. That number is up $40 million from the previous year due almost entirely to salary commitments.

Wages and benefits account for 90 per cent of the police budget, which is also the largest item in Toronto’s $9.2 billion operating budget.

The mayor and his team have estimated the new officers would cost the city $15 million a year, which includes salaries, training and equipment.

“Adding 100 more officers at this point would only worsen the problem,” said one top official. “There are much better uses for additional funds Mr. Ford could offer.”

For one, in three years the service’s strained budget is already scheduled to take a $4 million hit, when federal funding for 38 recent recruits expires, the official said.

For another, the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy, a community neigbourhood policing initiative credited with the crime drop, survives on intermittent provincial dollars.

Police board Chair Alok Mukherjee said ideally, initiatives such as TAVIS and the School Resource Officers program, which is also propped up by outside funding, would be secured first, but that if additional officers were hired, they would be put to good use.

“My sense is that there can always be use made of police officers. . . . In a city this size, how do you define need? You can always use additional officers,” said Mukherjee.

The number of police officers on the Toronto force is decided by city council.

In late 2005, following a record year of gang homicides, council agreed to increase the complement to 5,510 strong. There are sometimes slight fluctuations due to the lag time between when officers retire and new classes graduate, but the Toronto force is legally required to keep its numbers within that range.

When asked if he felt the current staffing levels to be sufficient, Mukherjee said, “We have obviously felt that the numbers that this council approved were adequate for what we were using police officers for.”

If Ford does decide to hire 100 more police officers — a commitment he reaffirmed to Jerry Agar on Newstalk 1010 in mid-November — council would need to agree.

Once finalized, it would be politically difficult to reduce the complement, creating permanent budget pressure.

Acknowledging financial factors, police association president Mike McCormack said the service is currently conducting a pilot project to evaluate how officer strength is being deployed.

“It will help make the determination if we need more officers,” he said.

That project, which has been ongoing in five divisions for the last 50 weeks, is scheduled to go force-wide in March for another year.

“At this point, I’m not advocating for 100 police officers. I am pleased that the mayor has an interest in adequate staffing levels,” said McCormack.

Ford has still not formally spoken with Chief Blair or board chair Mukherjee since his October victory.



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McCormack spoke with Ford prior to the election about police issues in general and briefly in recent weeks when Ford returned a call of congratulations.

The officer debate is playing out just weeks before the association and board enter contentious bargaining talks. During the last round of bargaining in 2008, the two sides were forced to enlist the help of a provincial arbitrator for the first time in a decade. This followed nine months of negotiating, which ended in a deadlock.

The arbitrator controversially awarded officers a 10 per cent raise by 2010. Critics, including vice-board chair and councillor Pam McConnell, lamented that cash-strapped Toronto could not afford the decision.

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