EDITORIAL

Cop-bashing Star at it again

December 1, 2003

… "Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino is at it again." (First line of Toronto Star editorial, Nov. 26, 2003.)

Can you imagine a self-respecting publication beginning an editorial in this fashion?

The carping Star was lamenting that Fantino had dispatched a letter to Justice Minister Martin Cauchon, formally requesting a public inquiry into Canada’s justice system.

The Cauchon missive followed an earlier call by the chief for an inquiry in the aftermath of his claims about a "gun-crazed" gang mentality prevailing in Toronto streets.

During the past year, the Star has been relentless in attacking local police, leaving room for publications such as this one to write editorial leads: "The Toronto Star is at it again."

This time, Star editorial writers were quick off the mark in throwing statistics at the problem.

Overall crime, they claim, has dropped by more than 35 percent since 1992.

With crime down, the chief’s inquiry is not needed, the newspaper concludes.

Never mind, that in the very weekend after their editorial, three separate shootings claimed three individual lives, in three different locations within the City of Toronto.

"A level of violence that would have been unknown five years ago is now depressingly common-place," says Fantino. "The criminal justice system is broken. It does not work. We have the victims to prove it."

According to the Star, "Toronto’s streets are safer than a decade ago. Yet residents are more frightened than ever before. That’s because violent crime still happens with alarming regularity and, disturbingly, in public places such as the gunplay (Monday) outside a Scarborough school.

"Public worry sparked by such incidents is readily fanned into full-blown fear by lurid media coverage and police claims that crime is out of control."

The public at large can indeed attest to "the lurid media coverage" of the mainline media. It recognizes, too that the police and not the media are best qualified to know when crime is getting out of control.

States the Star: "True, gang-related violence is a serious issue in Toronto. But Toronto police were battling gangs, guns and drugs back in 1991, when the city suffered a record 89 homicides. This year’s grim tally stands at 58. That’s hardly "a level of violence unknown five years ago," as Fantino claims."

There’s only a difference of 31 homicides between 1991 and 2003 statistics. And it could be argued that without the vigilance of the police, the number of homicides could climb.

Nor do Star editorial writers seem to take into account the sophistication of crime. John and Josephine Q. Public are growing uneasy about the number of home and car invasions. Months later there is still no word on the whereabouts of an abducted child. A murdered 12-year-old was one of what could be 15 intended victims on an unearthed teenagers’ hit list.

Activists, liberally quoted in Star news features have even tried to link the well-attended funerals of slain policemen with deliberate attempts to get more money for police budgets.

Incredibly, in its latest claims, Canada’s largest daily is linking Fantino’s proposed crime inquiry to more money for the current police budget: "Maybe it’s just a coincidence that the chief’s dire warnings of rampant crime come as the force seeks approval for a $690 million budget--eight percent higher than the previous year. But Toronto taxpayers already spend more on policing than on fire and ambulance services, the TTC and children’s services combined."

The Star’s answer for the dilemma?

"Rather than unduly frightening the public with calls for an inquiry, Fantino should concentrate on better deploying his more than 5,000 uniformed officers to better fight gangs and guns."

The Star is, in effect saying that our police do not do a good job protecting us, and goes a step further in stating that "rather than being panicked by an imagined crime wave, city council should give the police budget a long hard look for badly needed savings."

Newspaper hype notwith-standing, it should go without saying that the mandate of the police is ensuring public safety, while the more mercenary mission of the Toronto Star is to sell newspapers.

Most of the "victims" written up by the Star are political victims, while Toronto’s hardworking thin blue line must deal with the tragic victims of crime.