CASJ deputation at Police Services Board meeting

CASJ deputation at Police Services Board meeting

(Following is the text of the deputation speech of Mithi Esguerra on behalf of the Community Alliance for Social Justice at the meeting of the Toronto Police Services Board on Monday, November 29, 2004, 5:30pm at the Toronto Police Services Headquarters, 40 College Street, Toronto. Esguerra is a founding director of CASJ and is a member of the Filipino Canadian Youth Network.)

Thank you for giving us this opportunity to speak with you regarding our concerns about policing and community safety at this time that you are deliberating the police budgets and how the services will impact our communities. My name is Mithi Esguerra. I am a board member of the Community Alliance for Social Justice. The Alliance, CASJ for short, is composed of 80 Filipino Canadian individuals and 20 Filipino Canadian organizations advocating for social justice through education and advocacy.

Our community is still grieving and struggling to find justice for the death of 17-year old Jeffrey Reodica, whose brother, Joel, is here with us tonight. The Filipino community is the fourth largest visible minority community in Canada, following the Chinese, South Asian and Black communities.
Like other communities of colour, CASJ wants to see changes in Police Services delivery in Toronto. We want to see a more responsive police service that is sensitive to the needs of the diverse communities of Toronto, so that the tragic death of Jeffrey and other civilians in the hands of Toronto police officers will not happen again.

We are very surprised to know that the POLICE budget is enormously bigger than other services in the city of Toronto, specifically social programs and services. This does not make sense to us since statistics show a decrease in crimes.

We are happy that you made the right decision not to purchase more taser guns, but we have several other suggestions about what we would like to see in the Toronto Police Service. These recommendations came out of our conference held on October 30 at Metro Hall, which was attended by 200 people from the Filipino community and other communities.

1. We want to see that you are committed to ongoing diversity and equity training for all police personnel and especially for police officers.

2. We want the Police Services Board to establish a system of accountability for the actions of its members.

Document and monitor the status of officers who have a history of violence, and provide appropriate disciplinary action.

Examine the practice of allowing plainclothes police officers to respond to 911 calls. Det. Dan Belanger, who confronted Jeffrey Reodica, was in plainclothes during the confrontation and this was said to have caused confusion among the youth involved in the incident.
Most large police forces in North America wear name badges. Toronto Police should be in line with this practice since for many it is easier to remember names than numbers.

3. We want the Toronto Police and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) to reflect our communities especially in its composition. We recommend that the SIU be composed of civilians, and not ex-police officers. Just like other services in the city, we want the Police Services Board to listen to civilian complaints with the common goal of improving its services.

4. We want Toronto Police Services to demonstrate equality in dealing with crimes committed by the police and those committed by civilians.

We want to see more appropriate and sensitive community policing – one that improves your relationship with us – your community.

Thank you.