Toronto's police union has "crossed the line" by instructing officers to sit idle between calls as part of their ongoing job action, the city's police services board alleged yesterday.
Police last week began wearing baseball caps to protest the city's contract demands. The Toronto Police Association ramped up the job action starting at midnight yesterday.
"Our officers are responding to all calls for service, not just emergency calls, but all calls for service. But between calls, they are parking their cars and reviewing policies," said union president Dave Wilson. "They are spending that discretionary time by parking their cars."
Board chairman Alok Mukerjee responded to the escalated job action with a sternly worded statement contending the union is interfering with "the lawful delivery of police services."
"The board will take all steps available to ensure that members of the Toronto Police Service perform their lawful duties without qualification," Mr. Mukerjee said.
Councillor Pam McConnell, the board's vice-chairwoman, said members have discussed seeking a court injunction, but the message yesterday was simply meant to remind officers of their duties.
"We don't think it's in the spirit or the letter of the law for police officers not to patrol," she said. "And instructions from the association to leave their car parked are unlawful.
"The association has no right in law to instruct anyone. They only have the right to negotiate a contract."
Bill Blair, the Police Chief, issued a memo warning officers of possible sanctions.
"I have absolutely no desire to see matters escalate in a disciplinary context. But I have my lawful responsibilities, namely to act lawfully and to enforce the law," Chief Blair wrote.
The Chief added the Police Association cannot legally instruct officers to withhold their services.
"I'm not giving this information to you in any way as a threat. I am reminding you of what the law is," he wrote.
"I expect you to perform the duties assigned to you by your supervisors, free of interference from persons outside the chain of command. The association plays an important role in labour relations. The association has no legal role to play in law enforcement or the management of this organization."But Mr. Wilson contends public safety has not been jeopardized by the protest. Officers continue to write traffic tickets and perform other routine functions, he added.
"The public shouldn't think there are no tickets being written. There are parking enforcement officers out there, traffic officers out there who have certain responsibilities that they'll be looking after," he said.
Talks between the two parties broke off at the end of September. The union will not return to the table until the city drops its demands for scheduling changes and a scaling back of seniority pay.
"If there's an invite that has action to it and an invite that says we will get rid of these outrageous demands and that we are willing to work towards positioning your officers as best-paid, then we will come back to the table," Mr. Wilson said.
David Miller, the Mayor, said the police board is willing to negotiate or move into arbitration.
"We're available to talk. But you can't have a conversation if there's only one side there," Mr. Miller said.