EDITORIAL: The death of ‘Toronto the Good’

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There was a time when eight shootings in 24 hours, two of them fatal, would have been big news in what used to be called “Toronto the Good.”

The city actor Peter Ustinov once approvingly described as “New York run by the Swiss.”

But today, as the TorontoSun’s Joe Warmington wrote on Thursday, this level of violence is Toronto’s new normal.

The two murders raised the number of homicide victims to 95 this year — six more than the previous record of 89 in 1991 — with 10 days to go in 2018.

Gun deaths, shootings and stabbings are all up dramatically, coinciding with an increase in gang and gun-related violence following the abandonment of police street checks.

In street checks (aka carding), police question and record information obtained from people during interviews where no arrest is imminent. They are a basic tool of intelligence gathering.

But they were killed by the former provincial Liberal government over concerns police were unfairly targeting blacks.

The province replaced carding with new rules that are so restrictive, police have abandoned them.

The force’s Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) —  created in 2006 in response to growing gun violence — was also scrapped.

Sun reporter Chris Doucette has documented the rise in violent crime since carding and TAVIS ended.

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Retired staff-inspector Mike Earl, head of Toronto’s Hold Up Squad until last year, told Doucette:

“The city is in crisis and I don’t understand how anyone can deny it. The bad guys are running the streets. The provincial regulations need to be revised. The longer they wait, the worse it’s going to be.”

On Thursday, federal Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair, Toronto’s former police chief, announced $7.1 million over five years to combat gang and gun violence.

Premier Doug Ford and Mayor John Tory have each pledged $25 million over four years to do the same.

Council has asked Ottawa to toughen gun laws, although its call for a national handgun ban isn’t going to solve the problem.

Without a return to a workable street check policy that protects the rights of minorities, police will continue to fight crime with one hand tied behind their backs.

And the carnage will continue. Welcome to the new normal, Toronto.