PLAN APPROVED FOR HOT-SPOT POLICE PATROLS

Some councillors want force to revisit need for overtime

Toronto council has approved Mayor Mel Lastman's $2 million plan to
increase police patrols in high-crime areas, but not without some
reservations from councillors.

As part of a project that Lastman has dubbed Community Action Policing,
uniformed officers will be offered overtime pay over the next 11 weeks to
patrol 19 of the so-called hot spots across Toronto.

Police Chief David Boothby has promised to crack down on vandals, drug
dealers, prostitutes, squeegee kids and anybody else who annoys the
law-abiding public in those areas.

While the initiative was endorsed by a 53-1 margin yesterday, some
councillors said they want Toronto police to work on the scheduling of
officers' shifts to try to ensure overtime pay is not needed for the patrols.

Toronto's 5,000 police officers earn an average of about $28 an hour, but
will be paid time and a half, about $42 an hour, to patrol the targeted
areas at the end of regular shifts or on days off.

The money to pay overtime for these patrols is needed because many officers
are on summer vacation, and an extra incentive was needed to get them to do
the work.

Councillor Olivia Chow, a member of the police services board, noted that
the force got an extra $12 million during the city's budgeting process, and
cannot keep coming back for more.

``Their overtime bill was $27 million last year,'' said Chow (Downtown),
noting that it's almost impossible to comprehensively track the overtime
billings of all the force's officers.

``The question we have to ask is why we don't have flexibility in the
system now.''

Councillor Tom Jakobek, who chairs city council's policy and finance
committee, clashed again yesterday with Councillor Norm Gardner, who chairs
the police services board, on the overtime issue.

Jakobek (East Toronto) has drawn the line with overtime and other police
pet projects, saying he will oppose any more money for police this year.

Gardner told council that the force is ``grossly underfunded'' in terms of
what is expected from them. ``I just had to address some of these comments
because they are so outlandish and far from the truth.''

Councillor Ila Bossons (Midtown) was the lone vote against the plan.

``We cut everything else, and now we're spending another $2 million for
police and it's all spent on overtime. That's very expensive policing,''
she said later yesterday.