Chief Bill Blair wants to bring back photo radar and expand the red-light camera program to help keep police costs down.

He told Newstalk 1010's John Tory Tuesday afternoon that technology is the most efficient way to enforce the speed laws.

"Why are we tying up expensive, well-trained police resources doing this kind of static traffic enforcement where you have tie up the officer to do the ticketing and then pay him to go to court," Blair says. "If you use technology to do it, then you save an enormous amount of that cost."

By using technology, Blair says police can free up money to keep communities safer.

"I don't want to waste valuable police resources," he says.

The police budget still has a $8.7-million hole this year. The board has frozen hiring in 2013 to keep costs down.

"We're going to have fewer [resources] with the new budget constraints imposed upon us," Blair says. "We want to make sure that we're using the officers we have to the best possible effect. I need them in the neighbourhoods. I need them in the cars. I need them to respond to people's calls for service and emergencies."

Toronto has almost 90 red-light cameras, but provincial legislation does not allow photo radar to catch speeders.