When news broke last week of the Toronto Police Service corruption that “facilitated shootings, extortions and a conspiracy to commit murder,” it felt like an escalation of the long and sometimes fraught relationship between the city and its police force.
A difficult time two years ago came to mind. Then, as now, it was municipal budget season and the police were asking for another substantial increase. As public debate swirled with a new mayor in power, the police mounted a bully campaign that the Star’s editorial board called ”emotional blackmail.” Chief Myron Demkiw insinuated calamity would ensue if they didn’t get what they demanded.
