shockedcanadian
Diamond Member
- Aug 6, 2012
- 37,722
- 36,242
- 2,905
This is why Canada continues to fail and will be bankrupt soon. $500 For a 5 minute call. You think America has it bad with boondoggles?
If Trumps tariff kick in, it's over in Ontario and the powers that be know it. The Security Industrial Complex from the creepy TPS to Peel Region Police and the OPP, the S.I.C have decimated the province already and a tariff would speed up the collapse.
Toronto is the same place that didn't place a charge on the former mayor who was videotaped smoking crack. Would they do the same to a poor kid in Toronto? Hell no.
Rules for thee, not for me indeed.
www.thestar.com
Crown attorneys have been told to help rein in skyrocketing overtime inside the Toronto Police Service by limiting their contact with officers at a time when criminal cases are at risk of being tossed due to the slow disclosure of evidence, according to emails obtained by the Star.
In an email sent to colleagues last month, the director of the Ministry of the Attorney General’s guns and gangs unit warned that Toronto police are in a “budget crunch,” and that one “pressing concern” is the practice that lets officers bill three to four hours of overtime for having to work when not on shift, such as taking a call from a Crown attorney — no matter the length of the call.
The cost to police for “enhanced overtime” — what the service calls premium pay for callbacks — has almost tripled, Fred Braley told his colleagues.
“Therefore, after-hours calls to officers or requests for them to assist on their days off have to be significantly reduced,” he wrote on Nov. 5.
“Many officers accept such calls without charge, but based on the huge amount spent so far this year, many do not.”
The instructions have provoked anger from all sides.
The head of the Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association emphasized that her members should be able to contact police when the need arises to keep cases running smoothly, and not be faced with yet another obstacle to do their jobs; defence lawyers criticized the overtime provisions as “absurd” and “outrageous.”
Meanwhile, the president of the Toronto Police Association blasted the police service for “attempting to circumvent” officers’ collective agreement by asking over-worked Crown attorneys to add “babysitting” to their already busy schedules. (It is relatively common for collective agreements to have clauses mandating a minimum amount of overtime for off-duty callbacks — at least on paper.)
The directive comes at a time when Crowns are already struggling to get police to respond promptly to their requests to hand over key pieces of evidence in criminal cases, according to other emails. And slow disclosure by police has led to serious criminal cases being thrown out by the courts for delay.
Crown attorneys are now “requested” to email or text the officer first to confirm that they are on shift before calling them, Braley explained.
“I know that some officers tell you to ‘call me anytime,’ but you must resist the urge to do so unless it is urgent or you know that they are on shift.”
In a separate email obtained by the Star, a senior Crown told assistant Crown attorneys: “It is outrageous that an officer would pick up a brief phone call from a Crown when they are not on shift and then draw three or four hours of pay as a result. Please do your part to prevent this behaviour.”
Should a Crown still need to call an officer outside of their usual shift and the officer wishes to claim premium pay, they will now need to fill out a form first with the name of the prosecutor.
If Trumps tariff kick in, it's over in Ontario and the powers that be know it. The Security Industrial Complex from the creepy TPS to Peel Region Police and the OPP, the S.I.C have decimated the province already and a tariff would speed up the collapse.
Toronto is the same place that didn't place a charge on the former mayor who was videotaped smoking crack. Would they do the same to a poor kid in Toronto? Hell no.
Rules for thee, not for me indeed.
Four hours of OT for a five-minute call: Crown attorneys told to stop calling Toronto police officers to help curb overtime ‘insanity’
The president of the Toronto Police Association blasted the police service for “attempting to circumvent” the officers’ collective agreement, which dictates overtime rules.
www.thestar.com
Crown attorneys have been told to help rein in skyrocketing overtime inside the Toronto Police Service by limiting their contact with officers at a time when criminal cases are at risk of being tossed due to the slow disclosure of evidence, according to emails obtained by the Star.
In an email sent to colleagues last month, the director of the Ministry of the Attorney General’s guns and gangs unit warned that Toronto police are in a “budget crunch,” and that one “pressing concern” is the practice that lets officers bill three to four hours of overtime for having to work when not on shift, such as taking a call from a Crown attorney — no matter the length of the call.
The cost to police for “enhanced overtime” — what the service calls premium pay for callbacks — has almost tripled, Fred Braley told his colleagues.
“Therefore, after-hours calls to officers or requests for them to assist on their days off have to be significantly reduced,” he wrote on Nov. 5.
“Many officers accept such calls without charge, but based on the huge amount spent so far this year, many do not.”
The instructions have provoked anger from all sides.
The head of the Ontario Crown Attorneys’ Association emphasized that her members should be able to contact police when the need arises to keep cases running smoothly, and not be faced with yet another obstacle to do their jobs; defence lawyers criticized the overtime provisions as “absurd” and “outrageous.”
Meanwhile, the president of the Toronto Police Association blasted the police service for “attempting to circumvent” officers’ collective agreement by asking over-worked Crown attorneys to add “babysitting” to their already busy schedules. (It is relatively common for collective agreements to have clauses mandating a minimum amount of overtime for off-duty callbacks — at least on paper.)
The directive comes at a time when Crowns are already struggling to get police to respond promptly to their requests to hand over key pieces of evidence in criminal cases, according to other emails. And slow disclosure by police has led to serious criminal cases being thrown out by the courts for delay.
Crown attorneys are now “requested” to email or text the officer first to confirm that they are on shift before calling them, Braley explained.
“I know that some officers tell you to ‘call me anytime,’ but you must resist the urge to do so unless it is urgent or you know that they are on shift.”
In a separate email obtained by the Star, a senior Crown told assistant Crown attorneys: “It is outrageous that an officer would pick up a brief phone call from a Crown when they are not on shift and then draw three or four hours of pay as a result. Please do your part to prevent this behaviour.”
Should a Crown still need to call an officer outside of their usual shift and the officer wishes to claim premium pay, they will now need to fill out a form first with the name of the prosecutor.
