Peter Sloly, who has said the Toronto Police Service needed a radical overhaul to regain the public’s trust, stepped down as deputy chief on Wednesday.
The exit of its most prominent reformer comes at a time when the police service, like many across North America, is wrestling with major issues involving racial profiling, carding, use of force, treatment of people in mental health crises, a drastic drop in public confidence — and a $1-billion budget whose growth seemingly can’t be curbed.
“Toronto has lost a visionary in policing,” said Audrey Campbell, former president of Jamaican Canadian Association, who co-chaired an intensive review of police policies and practices. “He understood that the Toronto Police Service had to change, and more importantly needed to change the way it interacted with the community.”
“He was a bright light in policing in Toronto,” added former mayor John Sewell, who now leads a police watchdog group.
“He was the first guy from the inside to say carding’s a problem, we gotta deal with it,” said Sewell, referring to the controversial police practice of stopping, questioning and documenting people during non-criminal encounters.
The 27-year veteran stepped down as deputy chief in charge of Operational Support Command. He recently broke ranks, openly criticizing the service’s current direction at a public forum in January. Officers “run around all over the city in the most unfocused way,” he said, making the point that the TPS needs to move beyond the financially unsustainable “reactive enforcement model.”
He also audaciously suggested the police budget could be cut, and jobs shed, through more effective use of existing resources and innovative technology, including smarter use of the Internet.
In recent years, the police service has seen public trust drop precipitously over the racially charged carding issue — since taken over by the province, which has vowed to end the practice of random street checks — the G20 summit response, and the police shooting deaths of people in crisis, particularly the Sammy Yatim slaying that resulted in Const. James Forcillo’s attempted-murder conviction last month.
Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, dismissed Sloly’s critique as sour grapes over not being named top cop last year. The civilian oversight board instead picked Mark Saunders to replace former chief Bill Blair.
McCormack said Wednesday that Sloly’s approach was divisive and distracting.
After packing up his office at 40 College St. on Wednesday, Sloly said he is just one of “many voices” calling for a transformation in policing.
But he stopped short of saying he is confident Saunders and the police s board will implement the bold reforms he has pushed for.
He insisted his decision to leave had nothing to do with the board picking Saunders, nor was he pushed out because of his public criticism.
“Every human being goes through disappointment,” he said, adding that, like others dealing with setbacks, he didn’t curl “into a fetal position” and suck his thumb.
“I was disappointed, I came back into work the next day and I kept contributing every single day after, right up until the very last day,” he told reporters.
A city hall source told the Star that Sloly approached the civilian oversight board last November asking to be let go from his contract, which expires in December 2017.
Sloly didn’t address that, saying, “The time is right, now… there’s a huge amount of opportunities right now. It’s hard to keep saying no to some of this stuff. Believe me, it’s hard to leave. It’s heartbreaking.”
He also heaped superlatives on his “amazing” employer, “that has made me the man I am today.” He used the word “proud” 17 times during his 11-minute news conference at police headquarters.
Sloly was noncommittal on his next career move. In the immediate future, he plans to spend more time with his family, he said.
“Tomorrow I’ll sleep in, but I’m sure by Friday the phone will be ringing, ‘Can you sit on this board, can you sit on that board?’” he said.
“I am not going anywhere. I’m taking a break, but I’ll be back in some form, and I’ll tell ya, I’ll let you know when I’m back.”
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KEY POINTS IN SLOLY’S CAREER
First line of defence: As a staff inspector in corporate communications under former chief Julian Fantino, Sloly was on the front lines between his boss and the media. He was in the job in the early 2000s when the Star first reported revelations of racial profiling in police interactions with the public. At that time, Fantino insisted: “We don’t treat people differently.” Behind the scenes, Sloly was among the senior black officers who told Fantino that racial profiling did indeed exist.
Rising star: Sloly, thought to be a chief prospect, was promoted to deputy chief of executive command in 2009, under then-chief Bill Blair. Blair was known among officers to be helping to groom another deputy, Mark Saunders, to replace him.
Professional standards: During the G20 protests in Toronto in 2010, Sloly was still in charge of executive command, which includes the unit that investigates officer conduct internally. But during the protests, which led to a sometimes violent and illegal response by officers, it was Blair who was the public face of the force. Only many years later have any officers faced discipline. Those tribunals and trials have now been exhausted, with only a handful of officers formally punished.
Boots on the ground: After deadly shootings in the summer of 2012, Sloly and Blair announced that patrols would be stepped up by extending officer shifts. Sloly pitched the increased resources as getting more officers out of their cars and working in their communities. Sloly was in charge of community safety then, a role that included oversight of the controversial Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS), which dedicated heavily armed forces to high-crime areas.
Carding correction: While Sloly joined top brass in defending carding as a valuable investigation tool, he led the internal review of the practice that announced changes to the process in 2013. Critics and community leaders argued the review didn’t go far enough and have continued to push for an end to the practice. Sloly has since said he viewed carding reform as the “single biggest issue in policing,” but that he was removed from the file.
Officer down: When Const. John Zivcic crashed his police cruiser and died after being thrown from the car, it was Sloly who stepped up to the media microphones to announce the junior officer’s passing outside St. Michael’s Hospital in 2013. With Blair out of the country, it fell to Sloly to announce the rare death of an on-duty officer.
Changing times: After he was passed over to replace Blair in the chief’s job, in favour of Saunders, Sloly was vocal about the need for reforms to policing. Speaking to a forum in January, Sloly slammed the ballooning $1.1-billion budget, the “reactive” policing model, and the loss of public trust.
Time for a change: Following his explosive remarks, made public by the Star, Sloly announced he was leaving the force on Feb. 10.
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