Hundreds of automatic speeding and red light tickets issued to the Toronto Police Service appear not to appear in police records or city databases, raising several questions but no answers about the discrepancies discovered in a CTV News investigation.
Ticket records provided by the city of Toronto and the Toronto Police Service, in response to parallel freedom of information requests spanning a 26-month period, did not match, documents showed, and city officials They were quick to explain why.
On the police side, 122 speeding tickets they provided to CTV News could not be found in city records, including, perhaps ironically, a ticket issued to a vehicle with the TPS records management service, which It was clocked at 44 km/h in a 30 km/h zone.
But, on the city side, records for 221 speeding tickets provided to CTV News could not be found in documents provided by Toronto Police, along with 77 red light tickets, raising questions. about how those fines were processed in the TPS.
The mismatch raised some questions among Toronto drivers about whether it could portend a bigger problem in tracking a broader selection of automatic tickets.
“If they don’t find it, should they pay for it?” driver Jason McCafferty asked himself as he filled up with gas at a Spadina gas station. “But they will probably have to pay for it. There is no way, one day they will find it.”
TPS driving has come into the spotlight after a dramatic crash involving a police cruiser on Fort York Boulevard over the weekend knocked down a traffic pole, with video showing pedestrians walking nearby in the moment of collision. Police said the driver lost control of the vehicle and his passenger suffered minor injuries.
In another video from January 10, you can see a police patrol running over a pedestrian. She was not injured, and in her complaint police first refused to consider the interaction a collision, but after the video circulated widely, they said professional standards would investigate.
A cyclist was also seriously injured when a TPS vehicle turned onto Bloor Street, near Castle Frank station, in early February.
More than 1,000 TPS tickets or vehicle ticket records were provided to CTV News after a two-year freedom of information battle. Some show what appear to be officers acting in the course of their duties and would be exempt, although others show parking enforcement vehicles and speeding transport vehicles, which do not normally respond to emergencies.
“There has to be transparency”
In an interview, Toronto councilor and Police Services Board member Jon Burnside said the TPS fleet has more than 1,800 vehicles and, given its large size, there would be problems from time to time.
“Police have a lot of vehicles and people make mistakes,” said Burnside, who was an officer with the Toronto Police Service for 10 years.
However, he said it is important for TPS to deal with fines and road safety issues transparently to ensure public trust is maintained.
“There has to be transparency and people have to trust that the police service is not above the law,” he said.
At a news conference Tuesday, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said she doesn’t lead the police, but she hoped the Toronto Police Board would get the relevant information they need.
“I trust the chief will want to make sure that every officer is held accountable and has a transparent process to tell the public and the council what happened,” Chow said.
Police officers are exempt from certain traffic rules when performing their duties, so some tickets, when issued automatically, may be dismissed when those situations apply, said Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer.
If the officer is found to have violated traffic rules outside of those circumstances, the officer may face disciplinary action, which may include docked pay.
“Our priority is to respond quickly to ensure the safety of communities and to be where the public needs us most. If an investigation determines that there was no justification for exceeding the speed limit, the hours are deducted from the officer’s salary and remain on his personnel file for two years,” Sayer said.
However, it is difficult to provide the public with information about what exactly happened with a given fine, as “Section 95 of the Police Services Act requires the TPS to preserve secrecy in respect of this information unless the matter goes to Court.” Police Disciplinary Officer,” he said. saying.
City workers said they continue to investigate the discrepancy in the number of tickets.
“Each ASE ticket issued with a license plate registered to the City of Toronto is paid for by the city’s Fleet Services division to avoid late payment fees. The fees are then recovered from the respective city division or agency and they recover the fine from the responsible driver,” the spokesperson wrote.
“If Provincial Offenses Officers are unable to determine that an emergency services vehicle qualifies for an exemption from images captured by ASE or red light camera systems (i.e. emergency lights activated, procession of vehicles etc.), a charge will be imposed and it will be up to the respective emergency services agency to provide the relevant details to the prosecutor’s office so that the prosecutor determines whether to withdraw the charge. In the case of charges against a municipally owned vehicle, a prosecutor from another jurisdiction carries out this review to guarantee the integrity of the process.”