SOME T.O. YOUTH 'OUT OF CONTROL': CHIEF

Crack Down On Gangs, Guns, Drugs

Following a weekend of bloody gun play in the city that left several
people dead, the chief of Canada's largest police service said
yesterday he will redeploy officers to crack down on "the enemy of
society" -- violence -- as well as gangs, drugs and guns.

Julian Fantino said there has been a 70 per cent increase in shooting
homicides so far this year over the same period last year, and an
alarming rise in violence against his own officers.

Fantino said crime in his city had peaked as a result of young people
who are "obviously out of control" and "accountable to no one."

He said in his experience, including eight years on the homicide
squad, he has never seen so much violence.

"It wasn't like this at all, nor did we have this infusion of gangs
and guns and the drugs to this degree," he said.

Toronto police have become targets in a large part because of racial
profiling allegations made against the force in a series of stories
published by the Toronto Star, Fantino said in the latest salvo
directed at the newspaper.

"These accusations have been made, and it has escalated to
confrontation that we seem to be facing more and more out there all
the time," he said. He denied police practices were consistent with
racial profiling, as the Star said in articles that won many
journalistic prizes, including a National Newspaper Award and a
Michener for meritorious public service.

Fantino said he is concerned about recent incidents where officers
were shot at and verbally abused.

"We had cases within the last week where police officers were shot at.
They returned fire, wounded the suspect, only to then be called
murderers by elements in the community.

"I can't explain it, but something has crept into how we, as a
society, look at law and order and those who go about putting their
lives on the line." According to Statistics Canada there has been a
downward trend in overall crime across Canada for a decade plus, with
violent and youth crime dropping last year. Per capita, Vancouver and
Winnipeg had higher crime rates than Toronto, which had one of the
lowest crime rates among major cities.

Rosemary Gartner, a criminology professor at the University of
Toronto, said whether crime rates are actually up or down, police
often exaggerate their figures and say they're overburdened.

"It stems from the fact that they feel they're underappreciated.
There's probably something to be said for that."

Fantino said he'll redeploy officers and draw on existing units to
stem the tide of violence, and added that crowd management at the
massive Rolling Stones concert last week cut into his resources and
annual budget. He also called for more security cameras to be
installed in the city's entertainment district.

So far this year there have been 31 homicides, compared to 18 over the
same period last year. According to Toronto police statistics,
homicides have hovered annually for the past three years at about 60.