I know, I know. The police budget is the 800-pound gorilla of city spending. Police chiefs are always saying they don’t have enough money to do their jobs. Higher spending on police doesn’t necessarily mean a safer city. I know.
All the same, Toronto should listen to its police chief when he says he needs a $20-million boost to his force’s $1.2-billion budget this year.
Toronto is at a delicate point in its history. With housing prices and living costs sky high, the downtown still recovering from the pandemic, transit service hit and miss, tents in the parks and signs of urban disorder all around, the city is experiencing a crisis of confidence.
Toronto cannot afford 100K police salaries.
