Alok Mukherjee - Excessive Force: Torontos Fight to Reform City Policing

Copyright 2018 Alok Mukherjee and Tim Harper

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Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd.

P.O. Box 219, Madeira Park, BC, V0N 2H0

www.douglas-mcintyre.com

Edited by Silas White

Copyedited by Amanda Growe

Cover design by Sari Naworynski

Text design by Shed Simas / Ona Design

Printed and bound in Canada

Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd. acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. We also gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Government of Canada and from the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Mukherjee, Alok, author

Excessive force : Torontos fight to reform city policing / Alok Mukherjee

with Tim Harper.

Includes index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-77162-183-0 (softcover). --ISBN 978-1-77162-184-7 ( HTML )

1. Police--Ontario--Toronto. 2. Police brutality--Ontario--Toronto.

3. Police misconduct--Ontario--Toronto. I . Harper, Tim, 1955-, author

II . Title.

HV8160.T6M85 2018363.232C2017-907501-2

C2017-907502-0

I could not have told these stories without the help of Tim Harper, my collaborator. Tim is a seasoned reporter, columnist and editor who has done tours of duty in some of the major capitals of the world. Policing was not his beat. However, as he heard my story of a decade with the Toronto police he was fascinated, and a partnership was born. I am forever grateful to Kirk Makin, another respected journalist, for bringing the two of us together.

Tim and I would like to say a sincere thank you to our partners, Tanya Talaga and Arun Mukherjee, for believing in our project, giving us their unstinting support and encouragement, and cheerfully putting up with our absences.

We are thankful to many journalists for their important work on policing. We would like to mention two in particular: Jim Rankin and Wendy Gillis of the Toronto Star. Rankins consistent and probing examination of police interactions with Black and other racialized residents of Toronto dating back to the late 1990s has been groundbreaking. Gillis joined him some years ago and has contributed critically to public awareness of systemic issues that affect public trust and confidence in our system of policing.

I am grateful, also, to Torontos weekly NOW magazine and editor Enzo DiMatteo for giving me space to explore emerging policing issues on a regular basis since I stepped down from the Toronto Police Services Board. This has helped me greatly to clarify my thinking and develop the analysis you see in this book.

I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude to Ryerson University for its strong and generous support. Ryerson invited me to take up an appointment as a distinguished visiting professor after I left the police board in August 2015 and thus provided me with the academic, intellectual and physical environment necessary for writing this book.

Finally, Tim and I are grateful to Silas White and Amanda Growe, our editors, and Howard White, our publisher, at Douglas & McIntyre. Howard believed that the stories here were worth telling. And with their meticulous editing, Silas and Amanda helped make them much better. A special thank you as well to Drew Hayden Taylor, the Indigenous writer and a friend, who suggested that we consider approaching Douglas & McIntyre.

If this book resonates with you, much credit is due to Tim. Any errors or infelicities are, of course, mine.

Alok Mukherjee

AMOAssociation of Municipalities of Ontario; provincial organization representing the interests of municipal governmentsCACPCanadian Association of Chiefs of Police; the collective voice of Canadas police chiefsCAPGCanadian Association of Police Governance; a voluntary national organization representing and promoting the interests of Canadas police boards and commissionsCCLACanadian Civil Liberties AssociationCPACanadian Police Association; the collective voice of Canadas police associationsFCMFederation of Canadian Municipalities; national organization representing the interests of Canadas municipal governmentsMCSCSMinistry of Community Safety and Correctional Services; the Ontario provincial ministry responsible for the PSA and its regulations, and for setting and enforcing adequacy standardsOACPOntario Association of Chiefs of Police; the collective voice of Ontarios police chiefsOAPSBOntario Association of Police Services Boards; a voluntary organization representing and promoting the interests of the provinces police services boards OCPC Ontario Civilian Police Commission; the provincial agency that ensures the delivery of adequate and effective policing, oversees the conduct of members of a police board or the whole board, and adjudicates appeals of penalties imposed on a police officer by a police service due to misconduct under the PSA OHRCOntario Human Rights CommissionOIPRDOffice of the Independent Police Review Director; the provincial agency responsible for the investigation of public complaints against a police officer or a police service related to officer conduct, officer service or policyOPPOntario Provincial PolicePACERPolice and Community Engagement Review; a project of TPS to address public concern about the stopping and carding of people who are not the subject of a police investigation, their personal details being entered in the police databasePAOPolice Association of Ontario; the collective voice of Ontarios police associationsPSAPolice Services Act; the provincial statute in Ontario governing the provision of adequate and effective policing servicesRCMPRoyal Canadian Mounted PoliceSIUSpecial Investigations Unit; an arms-length Ontario provincial agency reporting to the Attorney General that is responsible for investigations of lethal use of force and serious injuries caused during police interactions with the public, as well as allegations of sexual assault against police officersTPAToronto Police Association; organization representing the members of TPS , also their bargaining agentTPSToronto Police Service; Canadas largest municipal police forceTPSBToronto Police Services Board; TPS s civilian governing and oversight body

Force is not just what comes out of the barrel of a police officers gun. It certainly is that, but it also takes many other forms: intimidation; arbitrary actions that criminalize or harass ordinary people, especially if they are Black, brown, Indigenous or poor; use of the collective power of unions and professional associations to resist local and provincial efforts to change or modernize policing; ability to escape or avoid accountability when there has been wrongdoing The list goes on.