‘Proud to serve:’ Interim Police Chief James Ramer reflects on 2021

After facing another year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Toronto Police Service has dealt with gun violence, controversy over encampment clearings, gun violence and high-profile investigations.

Interim Police Chief James Ramer sat down with CityNews to reflect on the year and look ahead to 2022, the last of his career he says.

COVID-19 Pandemic

The Toronto Police Service is putting together contingency plans in case up to 30 per cent of their members catch COVID-19 in the next coming months.

“The Omicron variant has really changed the game … it’s some things that we haven’t experienced in the pandemic so far because we’ve managed to pretty well within the organization and not seeing the potential for really significant numbers,” said Ramer.

Shortly after his interview with CityNews, it was announced Ramer had tested positive for COVID-19.

Ramer said they’ve had to make some difficult choices over the last few months as well, including enforcing a vaccine mandate. As a result of the mandate, 117 officers were placed on unpaid leave due to either not being vaccinated or not disclosing their vaccination status.

“At the end of the day it’s about public safety and member health and safety, we’ve got a responsibility to keep the membership safe and provide a safe work environment,” said Ramer.

Because of those on unpaid leave and the potential of many more being off work sick with COVID-19, Ramer said they are currently working on a contingency plan.

This includes the redeployment of plainclothes personnel, along with the closure of police stations to the public, which has already been done, and ensuring everyone is wearing full personal protective equipment when dealing with the public.

“We’re doing all of that work as well and the main emphasis is to protect our people and keep everybody safe and well look at how I move people around to meet the needs depending on where the shortage is,” said Ramer.

He says along with public health they are working to make sure all their members have access to booster shots. He adds of the 160 who are on unpaid leave, if they choose to get vaccinated, they will be welcomed back onto the force.

“We, in policing, along with everyone else, we’re hoping that 2022, early 2022, is going to see us come out of this pandemic.”

Encampment clearings

The last year has also seen a bit of controversy and the service has been under the microscope, specifically when it came to the clearing of homeless encampments from city parks.

The removal of people from Lamport Stadium, Alexander Park and Trinity Bellwoods Park drew criticisms as clashes between Toronto Police and protesters led to over 30 people being arrested.

When asked about what went wrong at Lamport Stadium where some of the more violent clashes took place, he said it was the fact that they had reduced the deployment of police officers to this clearing because of some success at other encampments.

“What we were confronted with there was a very large activist crowd and not homeless people. An activist crowd. And they were throwing cans at our officers, full bottles of water, a noxious substance,” said Ramer. “So, we found ourselves confronted with a position where we were trying to get resources in there to address it and then they overwhelmed the city staff, overwhelmed their security teams and we had to get involved.”

He said as an organization they are using this incident to “debrief and see what they can do better.”

When asked about the use of force by police officers at the incident, Ramer said they have been investigating the complaints. One officer has been disciplined and some others have gone through counselling.

“We look to whether people need counselling or discipline and if there are ways if we can do it better and we’ve done that in this case as well,” said Ramer.

The police chief added he was glad there was no significant injuries suffered by police officers or the protestors. “When people want to protest peacefully, we don’t have any problems with it. But if they’re going to get involved in violence, there’s going to be, inevitably it’s going to lead to interaction,” explained Ramer.

Anti-Black racism initiatives

This year, an external review found that the Toronto Police Service had erred when they did not notify the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) about off-duty police officer Michael Theriault seriously injuring Dafonte Miller in an attack in Hamilton five years ago.

Theriault was found guilty of assaulting Miller in 2020 and was sentenced to nine months in prison. His brother, Christian, was acquitted.

“First of all, let me speak to Dafonte Miller and what he’s gone through. An incredible situation that he’s been faced with. This young person and I’ve apologized for that,” Ramer told CityNews.

Ramer acknowledged the police service made mistakes that day and the police chief should have been notified of the incident. They have since nominated a SIU designate that is a “very experienced individual in professional standards matter.”

“Superintendent Christopher Kirkpatrick is working very, very closely with the SIU to make sure that we are engaged with them all the time so that they are being involved in these investigations and as a result we’ve seen an increase in terms of the SIU being involved in matters which is a good thing. Because I think that provides community confidence,” said Ramer.

Theriault has exhausted his appeals as of November when the Supreme Court decline to hear his case and as a result, Ramer said they will be moving forward with his police tribunal hearing.

Recommendations on anti-Black racism initiatives were also implemented this year by Toronto police. Ramer says of the 81 recommendations made by the board, 51 have been implemented and they are working to enact the other 30 in 2022, and 2023.

“It’s a big organization and you’re going to have to train people to change all of that to make sure that were meeting those requirements. But it’s important work and we’re going to do it,” said Ramer. “It’s really important that we do that because it’s really going to help the community relationships and trust.”

When asked if he things they have gained any trust with the community this year, Ramer said slowly, yes. “When you look at the implementation team it’s a combination of our members. We have three members from other police services as well and then we have a number of community members and a community co-chair.”

Gun violence

With nearly 400 shootings and almost 40 shooting deaths, it was another deadly year on the streets of Toronto, but Ramer says overall they have actually seen a reduction in the number of shootings overall, about 16 per cent.

Ramer said they’ve been doing a lot more on the prevention and on conversion programs, but it has been difficult to keep people out of gang culture. “The reality is where the third biggest city in North America. We’ve got a rapidly increasing population. And we have a significant gang membership here in the city.”

“We see it on social media, disrespecting and calling out each other. It’s a culture of retribution,” explained Ramer.  “And we’re seeing them go into areas and just shoot people because they happen to reside in the areas. And that’s what’s particularly concerning for me.”

He said the increase in shootings where innocent bystanders are being injured or killed is extremely concerning.

Ramer adds they have been doing work to identify these instances on social media to identify and potentially try to predict when and where the violence will occur and who might be involved. “If you can predict it, you can prevent it.”

“What I’m really optimistic about is that all my time on the job I’ve never seen the collaboration and cooperation between all the city agencies and social agencies with the police trying to work towards the same goal,” said Ramer. “It’s a lot of work and there’s no simple answers.”

New police chief

Chief Ramer says he plans to retire in Dec. 2022 and believes the board will select an outstanding chief to replace him.

“I’ve been proud to serve. It’s been a great opportunity and a great organization … so the prospect for the future I think is very bright and I think the board will be thoughtful in the process [of picking a new chief].”