Mayoral candidate Jennifer Keesmaat is laying out her five-point community safety plan, if elected next month.
She's vowing to bring neighbourhood-based policing to each of Toronto's 140 neighbourhoods within four years. "We need to implement the recommendations of the Transformational Task Force and in implementing those recommendations we need to be ensuring we have community-based policing and that community-based policing, in some instances, involves those overnight officers."
Keesmaat describes her plans as preventative rather than reactionary. "My plan also addresses the root causes that lead people down violent paths. I will focus support for at-risk communities to work with community policing teams, help social service professionals and community agencies to identify at-risk youth, and develop a customized approach to intervention. A key part of this will be leveraging community benefits agreements on every major infrastructure project to create job opportunities for at-risk youth."
Improving response times when people call 9-1-1 is also part of Keesmaat's plan. The national standard is for 90 per cent of call to be answered within 10 seconds and she's pledging to bring the city up-to-code. It's an issue that hits home for her. "Several months ago, I was a victim of a crime. I came to my house with my young son and approached my house, the door had been broken in. I called 9-1-1, handed the phone to my son, and we were put on hold. Unfortunately, because we were put on hold, we waited and encountered the robber in the house.
Also included in the plan is to double the number of mental health workers who are paired with police officers.
Keesmaat accuses Mayor John Tory of dithering and delaying on the community safety challenges facing Toronto.
In an emailed statement, Tory's campaign spokesperson Keerthana Kamalavasan says "We're glad Ms. Keesmaat supports Mayor Tory's efforts, working with the Toronto Police Services Board and Chief Mark Saunders, to modernize policing in this city.
To keep Toronto safe, the city needs a strong, experienced leader who has shown they can work with the police and the other governments to get things done. That's what Mayor Tory has proven over the last four years. What we don't need is more empty talk and second-guessing."