Deputy Chief Mark Saunders, a 32-year veteran of the Toronto Police Service, was named Monday as the city’s next chief of police.The former homicide and drug squad officer, who currently heads the force’s Specialized Operations Command, will succeed Bill Blair, whose second five-year term ends this spring.The Police Services Board chose Saunders after an extensive international search, board chair Alok Mukherjee said Monday. He called Saunders “a creative problem solver” who will bring “real change” to a force plagued by rising costs and soured community relations.
He will face immediate pressure to address the contentious issue of carding. But asked about the policy Monday, Saunders would only pledge to limit “collateral damage” while vowing that public safety was his number one concern.
Asked specifically if he was open to eliminating carding, Saunders said he was “open to what’s going to be best to the city.”
Saunders was chosen from a short list of six, three internal and three external candidates, said Mayor John Tory Monday. He was the unanimous choice of the board, Tory said.
He is the first black police chief, and indeed the first chief of colour, in Canada’s largest, most multicultural metropolis.
Saunders has four children, ranging in age from 10 to 26 years. He said the significance of his appointment didn’t kick in until he told his youngest son.
“He said to me, ‘Dad, that’s history and that’s something they can never take away from you,’” he said. “I didn’t realize it until my 10-year-old told me.”
Still, Saunders said his appointment alone would not solve the force’s sometimes contentious relationship with the black community. “Being black is fantastic,” he said. “It doesn’t give me super powers.”
Saunders was widely seen as the preferred choice of rank and file officers on the force. He was chosen over, among others, Deputy Chief Peter Sloly, considered the most reform oriented of the internal candidates.
Mike McCormack, the chair of the Toronto Police Association, praised the choice Monday and called on Saunders to immediately address the issue of declining police morale.
