Police Board to hold Hybrid Meeting on March 4, 2025

TORONTO:  The next scheduled meeting of the Toronto Police Service Board will take place on March 4, 2025 at 9:00AM. It should be noted that the Board will commence in public at 9AM before moving in camera for its confidential meeting, which will now take place prior to attending to the held public agenda items.  It is estimated that the regular public meeting will resume at 1PM.

The agenda is available on the Board’s website at: https://www.tpsb.ca/meetings.

Members of the public who wish to make a deputation on an item included in the agenda may register using the regular process, at https://www.tpsb.ca/meetings/making-a-deputation.  The request must be received no later than 12:00PM on Monday March 3, 2025. 

The Board’s meeting will proceed as a hybrid meeting. 

Sign-up to make a deputation

If you wish to sign up to make a deputation on an item, please use our Making a Deputation sign-up form: https://www.tpsb.ca/meetings/making-a-deputation.  Registered deputants will have the option of making their deputation in-person or virtually. Virtual deputations would be available either by video via WebEx, or audio-only by phone. Please note deputations on items not appearing on the agenda will not be accepted.

In addition, members of the public and media are welcome and encouraged to attend the meeting as an observer through our livestream at: https://youtube.com/live/Ww2QcsOkrjE?feature=share

Items of Interest at this Board meeting include:

UPDATE FROM BOARD’S MENTAL HEALTH AND ADDICTIONS ADVISORY PANEL

The Board will consider a report from the Co-Chairs of its Mental Health and Addictions Advisory Panel (M.H.A.A.P.) containing an update on its activities for 2024.  The report discusses the themes of focus over the past year, including collaboration with community partners, input into the expansion of the Toronto Community Crisis Service program and its relationship to the Toronto Police Service, data analysis, input into the development of the Mental Health Data Portal and other public-facing dashboards, Service Member wellness, and training at the Toronto Police College, among others. The report notes that central to many of M.H.A.A.P.’s discussions is a recognition that any work being done to improve police response to those dealing with mental health and addictions issues should be seen within the broader, and changing, context of all of the community partners and sectors dealing with these issues.

MOBILE CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAM – UPDATED MEMORANDA OF UNDERSTANDING

The Board will consider a report from Chief Demkiw regarding the Mobile Crisis Intervention Team (M.C.I.T.) program.  As the report notes, in August 2020, the Board approved 81 Police Reform recommendations. One of these directed the Chief “to prioritize and create a plan to implement, as soon as feasible, an immediate expansion of the M.C.I.T. program in partnership with existing community-based crisis services…to meet current demands for mental health-related service calls.” As a result, a strategic plan to improve and expand the M.C.I.T. Program was executed. Part of this expansion plan included updating existing Memoranda of Understanding (M.O.U.s) with local partner hospitals to reflect modernized changes in the M.C.I.T. Program, which are detailed in this report. As is noted, this report recommends that the Board authorize the Chair to execute two M.O.U. between the Board and Humber River Health and Toronto East Health Network (Michael Garron Hospital) in relation to the M.C.I.T. Program.

As the report emphasizes, the M.C.I.T. Program aligns with, and reaffirms, the Service’s commitment to our Mental Health and Addictions Strategy of zero deaths, while ensuring the well-being, safety, rights and dignity of both individuals and communities. The report states that the Service is committed to learning from past interactions, and takes into account the views, expectations, and contributions of the community to guide future responses.

FACIAL RECOGNITION SYSTEM AUDIT

The Board will consider a report from Dubi Kanengisser, Executive Director, regarding the Facial Recognition System Audit for 2023.  As the report notes, the Facial Recognition System (F.R.S.) is technology being utilized by personnel at Forensic Identification Services (F.I.S.) that accomplishes facial matching. This technology uses an algorithm that maps the facial image of unknown suspects (probe image) and then compares it to the facial images belonging to known identities contained within IntelliBook.  The repot notes that the results are only to be treated as an investigative aid, which still requires the corroboration of evidence and a thorough investigation.  The report states that Information Security conducted a Privacy Impact Assessment on the F.R.S. in October 2017, which included a recommendation that Audit & Quality Assurance (A.&Q.A.) conduct an audit on F.R.S.' internal controls after it has been in use for over a year.  The report notes that, overall, the findings of the audit represent a moderate risk to the Service. The report contains 13 recommendations and 10 compliance issues.

As with all meetings, a recording of this meeting will be posted and archived to the Toronto Police Service YouTube account at https://www.youtube.com/TorontoPolice for members of the public to access later at their convenience.

 
Contact:          Sandy Murray
                        sandy.murray@tpsb.ca 
                        416-808-8090


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