TPA ads use stark imagery to fight for larger police budget

The Toronto Police Association (TPA) has released an ad campaign that uses anxiety-inducing imagery to highlight how slower emergency response times due to budgetary constraints are putting lives at peril.

The social media ads direct users to a website with the headline How Long Can You Afford To Wait alongside a slideshow of frightening images, including a gunpoint carjacking, a child abduction from a playground, a student struck by a vehicle and a night-time home invasion. Each photo is accompanied by the caption “…an officer will be arriving in 22 mins.”

According to the Toronto Police Service, 22 minutes is now the average response time when a citizen of Toronto dials 911 for an emergency.

“If you dial 911, we want to be there. Fast,” the TPA site states. “Since 2010, response times for Toronto Police have increased by 92 per cent to a staggering 22 minutes. When seconds count, help us get there faster.”

The site then links users to a map of the city where they can click on their ward and find the contact information for their city councillor, prompting them to contact their representative and “let them know that safety is your priority.”

The bold ad campaign comes after Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow’s first proposed budget included a smaller increase to the police budget than the service asked for.

The Toronto Police Service put forward what Police Chief Myron Demkiw called a “modest” 1.7 per cent ($20 million) increase, amounting to a total of $1.186 billion.

But in her first proposed budget, Chow trimmed off $12 million.

Chow objected to the suggestion that it was a “cut.”

“Let me set the record straight,” Chow told reporters. “The Toronto Police are receiving millions of dollars more in the budget. There’s no cuts.”

Addressing the city’s budget committee in late January, Demkiw said the smaller proposed police budget will further imperil public safety, specifically using 911 call response times as an example.

“As response times to emergency 911 calls continue to increase and the service often has no cars available to attend as it stands now, a cut of this magnitude will further degrade our capacity to respond quickly to protect our residents.”

“Our response times to priority one emergency calls is an unprecedented and dangerous high of 22 minutes. I hope you agree that our city’s residents deserve better.”

In an FAQ on the TPA website, it addresses whether the ad campaign is fear-mongering.

“Absolutely not,” the TPA said. “The statistics we are sharing are based on facts and evidence provided by the Toronto Police Service. Ask anyone who has called police for assistance over the last several months; the reality is that people are waiting more than 22 minutes for police to respond to the most urgent of emergencies.

“This is because the demand for police is going up, while the number of officers available to respond is going down. Without money to hire more officers, this gap will continue to grow.”