More gravy found! This time, it’s $2 million per year in the Toronto Police payroll
Somehow, we suspect this won’t set quite as many heads rolling as the ongoing Toronto Community Housing fiasco: the Toronto Star is reporting that Toronto’s auditor general has another large, multimillion-dollar agency in his sights for lax policies that are wasting millions of taxpayers’ dollars. In this case, it’s the Toronto Police. Cue Rob Ford’s gravy hate.
According to the Star:
Unnecessarily strict rules for employing paid duty police officers are costing Toronto taxpayers as much as $2 million each year, a city audit has found …
“When construction takes place close to a signalized intersection, there are certainly situations where a paid duty officer would be needed to direct traffic,” the report says. “However, there are also situations where the use of warning signs, barriers and other devices … would be sufficient.”
The auditor’s findings mirror those of a December 2009 Star investigation that found private companies, taxpayers and community groups were forced to waste millions of dollars hiring paid duty officers for jobs that could be done by crossing guards or even pylons.
The levels of waste are a bit smaller than what the auditor found going down the drain at TCHC, but it’s still a lot of taxpayer money being spent on using police as glorified traffic cones. The auditor general found lax policies, questionable spending and at least one case of “paid duty” work interfering with an officer’s court appearance (priorities, much?).
Here’s the thing: we suspect that while it pays well, “paid duty” work might not actually be that fun for officers—especially when they’re standing in the cold, waving traffic by. This sounds like the kind of thing that the city and police ought to be able to hash out a solution to with better policies and lower wages—perhaps wages that are more in line with other G.T.A. municipalities.
That’s right, sometimes constructive engagement might be better than head-bashing. Not that there’s a wider lesson here at all.
• Paid duty policing costs taxpayers millions: audit report [Toronto Star]
The report indicates that efficiencies might be found. These efficiencies/improvements mostly surround conflicts between Paid Duty and Regular Duty, and are easily fixed, and do not equate to the reported $2 million dollars. And, let us all remember that the policies which are responsible, and that should be examined are the by-laws that our elected officials have passed, and which outline the situations that require a Paid Duty Officer.
Police officers are not to be blamed. They work hard, earn their money, and deserve ‘double time’ for overtime worked. Remember, employers are required to pay employees (For every hour you work over 44 hours a week) at least 1½ times your regular rate of pay (Employment Standards Act, 2000). Many employees negotiate ‘double time’ rates.
However terrible this issue may seem on the surface, think about the following:
•The 2011 Budget includes $3 million to be spent on consultants to find efficiencies
oSo… aren’t these the duties performed by the Ombudsman and Auditor General?
•Mayor Ford promised to hire 100 more officers,…to increase police presence?
oPaid duty is one way that police presence has already been increased and which isn’t entirely funded by the taxpayer….private businesses, the province, and private contractors pay off a large portion of the bill….partially subsidized police service (by the private industry) for the public ? and public safety?
•The estimated $2 million dollar cost in this situation doesn’t nearly account for the estimated $774 million budget shortfall for 2012.
•It’s hard to compare the Toronto Police Service to other police services in other municipalities.
oAnd by the way… is it a race to the bottom?
It’s interesting that not long ago we remembered the value of the life of a police officer… and today the public is demanding a better deal….
David.
Great post David, yes it’s a race to the bottom strip away workers rights (ttc) blame them for the city’s financial situation (all unionized employees) and privatize everything so everyone can work for minimum wage. Better hope the pcs don’t come into provincial power too because this will turn out way worse than the Harris years