TORONTO – Security guards at Toronto city hall failed to respond proactively to incidents and did not follow normal procedures or practices on several occasions while Rob Ford was mayor, according to a report released by the city’s ombudsman Thursday.
The report titled, “An Investigation into Toronto City Hall Security,” Ombudsman Fiona Crean found that, beginning in the spring of 2013, security staff faced unprecedented demands on their services, due to the public and media attention that was focused on the former mayor.
“While this was not an investigation into the former Mayor or his office, I could not ignore the impact their actions had on security,” Crean said in a media release.
“While we have a new Mayor and Council, the problems I discovered could crop up again in the future unless action is taken.”
Crean launched an investigation last year into security staff conduct after they came under fire for aggressive behaviour while escorting Ford through city hall premises.
The report found security allowed the Mayor’s office to choose which guard was going to escort Ford, which ran “contrary to existing practices, which called for a rotation of guards.”
Furthermore, those actions “led to the mistaken public impression the mayor had his own personal security.”
Crean, in her investigation, interviewed security staff and management who said it was difficult to say “no” to the mayor.
In one incident, a member of Toronto’s security staff helped cover a security video camera recording of the mayor while he walked, reportedly intoxicated, to his car at city hall.
Crean also said guards failed to intervene in council chambers in 2013 when a shouting match began between members of the public and Ford.
The mayor was later caught on camera famously bowling over Councillor Pam McConnell.
The report states guards only received additional training a year after the increased media and public attention and there was an 18-month delay in establishing a new protocol on briefing senior staff on serious incidents.
Crean also blamed security for not thoroughly investigating complaints that resulted from these incidents.
A document released in 2014 revealed the former mayor allegedly threatened a guard after a report was filed about a raucous St. Patrick’s Day party at city hall in 2012.
During the 2012 incident, the mayor was allegedly intoxicated when he showed up to city hall in the early morning hours of March 18.
As a result of the investigation, six recommendations have been proposed including giving security staff proper and supplemental training, ensure that personnel take direction from management, and not elected officials, and consider establishing a procedure for providing escorts if security services are not adequate.
A letter directed to the ombudsman, and included in the report by City Manager Joe Pennachetti, says the security failures were a result of an “unprecedented time” at city hall and that the recommendations will be fully supported and implemented.
You can read the ombudsman’s full report here.
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