It might work, but it might not. The proponents of the potent but rather sketchy recommendations on how to save money by slimming down the police service say it will be just fine. Don’t worry. Fewer police stations, fewer police in cars, less intrusive anti-crime activity in high crime areas — the cops will get the job done digitally it seems. A slew of divisional stations will be eliminated. The task force report tabled with the police commission today says zero about what if anything might replace them. One of the stations set to vanish is 53 Division at Eglinton Ave and Duplex Avenue. Some at City Hall — like the mayor — are quite dismissive of the divisional concept. Maybe. But there is really no denying these buildings are well-used meeting places. Maybe they’re big but perhaps they’re too big to just vanish. University of Toronto criminologist Scot Wortley told the Star “there is a big difference between the vision that is outlined in this report and practically implementing it.” We would add that the vision is quite fragmentary too. And the optimistic talk downtown is not specific. Co-author of the report Andy Pringle speaks of “more community-centric policing.” Sounds nice but it could mean anything.
