Mayor John Tory and Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti took part in police ride alongs Friday evening, both with differing opinions on how to connect police with the neighbourhoods they patrol.
Around the dinner hour, Tory departed with several 41 Division officers on bicycles to tour the Warden and St. Clair area.
"It's interesting, because people respond very well to the police officers on the bikes," Tory told CP24 after he returned. "Not just because they're there protecting and keeping the safety of the neighbourhood, but also because people on bikes - and maybe I dare say wearing shorts and so on - are more approachable."
But Mammoliti, touring his own Ward 7 - and specifically, the Jane and Finch neighbourhood - put on a bulletproof vest before getting into a squad car with officers.
The councillor said he was doing so to show his support for new MPP and provincial community safety and corrections minister Michael Tibollo, who participated in a ride along in the same area Tuesday evening and was widely criticized for wearing a bulletproof vest.
“At least Minister Tibollo has come up here and tried to figure out what the problem might be and wants to resolve the issues,” Mammoliti told CP24. "You can't keep hugging the thugs. It doesn't work."
"I've been doing these rides for 28 years as a politician regularly and this is a must if you're riding with the police. They require you to wear the vest on these night patrols," he said. "It's a safety feature."
But Tory disagreed, saying he has never donned a bulletproof vest in any of the ride alongs he's done before.
"I didn't feel in any sense of the word at any time - whether it's [at Warden and St. Clair] or in some of the other neighbourhoods - insecure at any time," Tory said, adding that people were happy to see him, and they were happy to see the police Friday evening.
Mammoliti said he believes in carding and wants to see the return of police officers in Toronto's schools, while Tory said it's about making police officers our friends - something he felt when he was growing up.
"Police officers have a difficult job to do but they are to be a source of help and support and strength for people while they enforce the law," he said. "I think we've got to, sort of, take a number of steps to make sure that they're allowed to do their job and given the resources to do it, but we can get back to that kind of relationship between all of the community and the police."
- With files from CP24