WARMINGTON: Defunding police would come at a cost
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Toronto City Councillor Josh Matlow was tweeting about a new art installation.
Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam tweeted “on policing, Ontario could try something radical — like democracy.”
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What neither tweeted, or commented about, was the two terrifying shooting incidents the city woke up to Wednesday in which four people were shot — one of whom is dead.
Not a word from them so far.
Of course, in the days previous, they were all over the idea of defunding the Toronto Police Service.
“It’s time to defund the police budget and re-balance our use of public funds towards ensuring that our communities are supported in ways that avoid having to have the police show up to the door in the first place,” Matlow told reporters.
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He and Wong-Tam are putting forward a 10% budget cut motion.
“Police budget cuts are always met with aggressive resistance. Politicians get cautioned by police bosses, work slowdowns take place and other ways to send us a message,” tweeted Wong-Tam. “This time things are different. Thousands have emailed, marched and if this is to happen — please don’t stop.”
Even though the popular thing to do these days is to kneel to the protesters, it’s important to ask these councillors how a defunded police service will deal with another record year of shootings?
Perhaps Mayor John Tory will ask them how a defunded police service would get to work on who killed the kid next to Leonard Linton Park near Eglinton Ave. and Laird Dr., or the two men shot up on Beverly Hills Dr., which is near Jane and Wilson Sts., during a vigil to Dimarjio Jenkins, a rapper known as Houdini.
Tory was tweeting about “Community Worker Recognition Week,” which is also very important.
But before City Council entertains the idea of turning Toronto Police into a giant social experiment, with 36 more shootings and four more homicides than the city had endured at this time last year, somebody should challenge those pushing to defund.
How could this ever make Toronto safer?
Other than to say they want to change it, the two councillors and mayor are not addressing Toronto’s deadly reality of gang gunplay that wounds and kills so many.
Matlow and Wong-Tam are two very good councillors and well-meaning people. But the meat of their agenda is as invisible as their response to more shootings in the heart of the city where kids play.
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