The City of Toronto on Tuesday announced a 5-year plan to hire a large number of new officers to the Toronto Police Service (TPS).
The motion was unanimously approved by the Toronto Police Service Board and includes a plan to hire the maximum number of police officers to the force over the next two years.
Coun. Shelley Carroll, of Don Valley North, called the multiyear plan a “commitment to enhancing community safety” that will encourage “a sustainable and impactful investment in frontline response.”
Within the first two years of the hiring plan, the Toronto Police Service Board will allocate the full provincial training budget to graduate four new classes of 90 officers each in 2025 and 2026. This will equal 720 new police officers.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Carroll said the city “agrees in principle” to improve upon the ratio of officers per 100,000 people in the city’s population. She called the move — which will take place over the hiring plan’s last three years and be dependent on available funding — a “cop-to-pop” strategy. She did not establish a benchmark for this ratio.
Carroll said Toronto has one of the lowest “cop-to-pop" ratios when measured against all other North American cities.
Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw said Toronto used to have a ratio of 200 police officers per 100,000 people, but that figure has fallen to the low 160s.
In a statement, Carroll said the 5-year hiring plan will strengthen police capacity to “respond to critical issues like rising hate crimes and auto theft, while also preparing for major events such as the FIFA World Cup 2026.”
Today, I am pleased to announce that the @TPSBoard has unanimously adopted my motion, crafted in collaboration with Chief @TPSMyronDemkiw, for an unprecedented five year Hiring Plan for @TorontoPolice.
— Shelley Carroll (@shelleycarroll) November 12, 2024
READ MORE ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Do3gpXnNdG
Chief Demkiw called the multiyear commitment “unprecedented” and “a historic moment.”
“Today is truly a good day and a step toward building in hiring certainty for our members, and very importantly, for the safety of our city,” he said during Tuesday’s news conference.
"In my entire time as a police officer, I do not recall the time when we had this level of certainty going toward the end of a budget cycle and particularly having certainty beyond one year,” he said. “We typically budget year-to-year.”
I am very pleased we have agreed in principle to a 5 year hiring plan that will bring certainty to our ability to continue to hire police officers to help us keep our great city safe. This level of multi-year commitment is unprecedented. Staff from TPS and the City are continuing… https://t.co/0PUwnzyVUr
— Chief Myron Demkiw (@TPSMyronDemkiw) November 12, 2024
The surge in police hiring is meant to cover an already aging force, as many officers are headed for retirement, as well as to account for Toronto’s overall population growth, Carroll said.
At City Hall on Wednesday, Mayor Olivia Chow said the new hiring plan “offers stability for police and for the city budget — it makes it more predictable.”
“As you know, we have an aging population of police — just like the fire department — facing a record number of retirements, so stability matters,” she said. “We need other levels of government to step up and help out; help us implement this plan.”
The Toronto Police Service Board budget subcommittee will meet on Nov. 27 to allocate specific funds. The full budget will be presented to the board in December.
