Mark Saunders, 57, the first Black person to become Toronto's top cop, says the service has diversified substantively since he joined in 1982 - 22 years after its first Black officer was hired.
Tackling systemic racism requires a multi-faceted approach, he says. For one thing, police cameras are now ubiquitous in booking halls and cruisers, while officers wear microphones. Body cameras are the next step, he says.
While politicians such as Mayor John Tory have praised his five-year tenure, Saunders has come under fire from members of the Black community. They maintain he failed to deal effectively with discriminatory policing and excessive force. The chief also faced criticism over the force’s handling of a series of disappearances and killings of men who frequented the city’s gay village. He appeared to suggest, in a Globe and Mail report, that the community’s lack of co-operation played a role in how long it took to arrest a suspect.The comments struck an already raw nerve but Saunders bristles.
Otherwise, he says, he has little reason to second-guess himself as he leaves his office. He has, he says, guided the force through a rapidly changing world in which an increasingly diverse population has grown louder in demanding accountability and responsiveness.
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