WATCH ABOVE: Mukherjee stepping down from Police Services board
Alok Mukherjee, chairman of the Toronto Police Services Board, has confirmed he is stepping down from his post.
Mukherjee said Thursday that the meeting marked a decade of service since he was first appointed to the chair position in July 2005 and that he had informed provincial Community Safety Minister Yasir Naqvi of his intention to leave the board earlier this month.
“There are other projects that I have shelved in order to dedicate my full time and attention to the task of chairing this board,” he said in his resignation speech Thursday. “It is time to turn my attention to those unfinished or pending projects.”
READ MORE: Outgoing Toronto Police Services Board Chair Alok Mukherjee on reimagining Toronto cops
Mukherjee said he was extremely grateful for the privilege of working on the board and with mayors, counsellors and citizen members of the board, but said there was “much that remains to be done.”
“We must continue to work with the community and the police service to make sure that we provide the best possible service to people experiencing mental illness,” he said.
“And finally, we have to come to terms with the troubling issue of carding … we now await the direction that the province has promised to provide.”
READ MORE: Ontario set to standardize police carding policy
Andy Pringle, a close friend and colleague of Mayor John Tory, will reportedly fill the vacancy and Mukherjee is expected to assume a teaching position at Ryerson University, according to the Toronto Star.
Any move to install Pringle as chair must face a vote by the police board. That could happen as early as next month.
Andy Pringle is Tory’s former chief of staff from the days when the mayor was the provincial Conservative leader.
*With files from Paul Tadich
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