What role should TTC police officers play?
Do transit systems need their own security personnel? That’s the question facing the Toronto Police Services Board and the Toronto Transit Commission. After a grant from the federal government, Toronto police chief Bill Blair created a new Transit Patrol Unit earlier this year. Forty-one uniformed officers are already assigned to the transit system. There are a lot of “logistical” issues to work out, says TTC spokesperson Brad Ross. There wasn’t a lot of police presence on the system when the TTC created its own security force in the 1990s. Former transit chair Howard Moscoe says, “The reason we initially went with our own special constables is they were 100 per cent dedicated to TTC issues.” David Gunn, once chief general manager of the TTC, notes police often do not have time to enforce the “little things that drive riders nuts,” like graffiti, smoking on transit property and fare evasion. Earlier this year the police services board voted to move ahead on a “mutually agreeable transf
