Toronto Police Association members vote “no confidence” in Chief Mark Saunders

Members of the Toronto Police Association (TPA) have voted “no confidence” on the leadership of Chief Mark Saunders.

Results of the online vote released on Thursday shows 86 per cent of TPA members voted no confidence while 14 per cent voted in support of the chief.

The TPA told Global News that 47.3 per cent of its members participated in the vote. This represents just under half of the 8,000 uniform and civilian members of the TPA.

“Do you want to dismiss over 2,600 people saying, ‘We’ve lost confidence. We feel that the direction is wrong.’? You can’t dismiss that,” TPA President Mike McCormack told reporters ahead of the Toronto Police Services Board meeting on Thursday.

The TPA said last week in an internal memo to its members that the chief is jeopardizing their safety by implementing cost-cutting measures which have reduced the number of officers on the streets.