Toronto police funding cut by province for preventative crime unit TAVIS

WATCH ABOVE: The province says it is taking a new approach to funding municipal police forces. Mark Carcasole reports.

TORONTO — The way Toronto police officers approach the prevention of violent crime in this city is set to change thanks to an announcement by the province that it is pulling half of its dedicated funding for the force’s TAVIS initiative.

Known formally as the Toronto Anti Violence Intervention Strategy, the program was launched in 2006 — a year after the Summer of the Gun saw a massive spike in the rate of firearms-related homicides.

It focuses on deploying teams of specialized officers to areas with high violent crime rates. The officers are tasked with the goals of responding to and preventing violent crimes.

“It’s a very effective unit,” said Toronto Police Association President Mike McCormack.

“It’s what we call hotspot policing … which is a proven technique that works.”

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But TAVIS may not last much longer.

Ontario’s Minister of Community Safety, Yasir Naqvi, is cutting the program’s direct funding in half in favour of a new approach.

“We believe that the best way to prevent crime and keep our communities safe is to work with local groups and prioritize community-based crime prevention and youth engagement,” a ministry spokesperson told Global News in a statement.

The statement goes on to say “we are also working with our municipal and policing partners to develop a new funding model that will end specific grant programs and develop a proactive, collaborative, and community-based model of policing.”

McCormack says he’s “shocked” to hear the news, worrying that Naqvi’s decision will hurt the force’s ability to be proactive in stopping major crimes.

“We’re going to have some discussions with the chief about how this program should be maintained and should continue,” he said.

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In general, the force will get about $4.7 million more in provincial funding next year than it has this year.

A police spokesperson told Global News they’re still deciding what to do with the TAVIS program; whether to scrap it and spend the money elsewhere or keep it operating in some form.

Part of the aim of TAVIS is to be proactive and preventative; gathering intel and rooting out criminals.

That sometimes involved the controversial practice of carding, though, which earned it several critics.

“Violating charter rights and bullying people and demanding things out of them isn’t good policing, and unfortunately TAVIS is attached to that type of procedure,” said Knia Singh, president of the Osgoode Society Against Institutional Injustice, who said he had been carded several times in the past.

Former Toronto mayor John Sewell celebrated the province’s decision as a “good move,” welcoming a more community-driven approach to crime prevention.

“If you actually had community officers who were there eight hours a day, five days a week, getting to know everybody in the community and allowing the community to know them, that would really help,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If you actually had community officers who were there eight hours a day, five days a week, getting to know everybody in the community and allowing the community to know them, that would really help," he said.

The Police Services Board has sent a letter expressing some concerns about the decision to the province.

As of Thursday afternoon, Board Chair Andy Pringle told Global News it is still awaiting a response.