|
This is ONE of the reasons why we can't have 19,000+ Parties in Toronto EVER AGAIN!
Do cops extort paid jobs from rave promoters?
Police threaten to close events unless officers are hired
Toronto police are ignoring city council and demanding that rave promoters hire dozens of extra officers to work the lucrative all-night circuit, dance community sources say.
The choice is simple -- pay up or shut it down. Promoters of an event last Saturday were forced to hire 70 officers at a minimum $528 a pop, for a total of about $40,000. Two weeks ago, another event was cancelled when promoters refused to meet police demands to triple the number of paid-duty jobs.
Kim Stanford, chair of the Safe Dance Committee, says police forced Goin' Deep Productions to hire more than 50 extra officers -- for at least $44 an hour -- to work last Saturday's event at the city-owned Better Living Centre.
"They're essentially pricing out legal raves," says Stanford, who was part of a task force of city officials and dance promoters that drafted a list of guidelines for Toronto raves last year. The protocol, which was passed unanimously by city council, dictate that a rave should be in a building that's properly zoned for such an event. There are also guidelines for capacity, fire exits, ventilation and water supply, as well as requirements for the number of ambulance workers and police officers on hand.
According to the city protocol, one paid-duty officer (PDO) is required for every 500 ravers.
Goin' Deep had planned a party for about 8,000, which would have meant hiring 16 to 20 officers for the night. But Stanford says police demanded that promoters bring the total to 70.
"There really isn't violence at raves," she says. "There isn't a great need for paid-duty officers. We're augmenting their budgets for PDOs in uniform that are in the parking lot drinking coffee."
Stanford says promoters are also being required to pay for the presence of undercover officers. "That is a dangerous precedent," she says. "When that type of thing becomes required for people to congregate -- whoa."
Stanford's comments follow two recent monster raves downtown that resulted in scores of drug-related charges.
In March, 19 people were arrested at the Better Living Centre during what was described as Toronto's biggest-ever rave raid. Reports of additional arrests at Goin' Deep's event began filtering out hours after the 8pm start time at the same venue last Saturday, eventually totalling 57 drug-related charges against 24 people.
Attempts to reach Goin' Deep honchos were unsuccessful.
Police spokesperson Constable Devin Kealey says police don't release the number of paid-duty officers working any given party. But he agrees that an estimate of 70 would be accurate for Saturday's rave.
"It was significant," he says. "I can tell you that. There was definitely high police visibility.... That would be a fair number. It would be in that neighbourhood."
Kealey denies that police ignored the city's guidelines in requiring that promoters hire 70 officers for the night.
"My understanding is that they were using the protocol. The problem was the numbers given were all guesstimates of what the total number would be."
Sources agree that the police have more or less followed the protocols -- until recently.
City councillor and Police Services Board member Olivia Chow wants to know why cops are suddenly throwing them out.
"The protocols, after a lot of work from all city departments, were recommended and adopted by the city," she says.
Chow notes that city police helped set the protocols. "These are the folks that said using this number would be appropriate," says Chow. "Those guidelines should be followed. If they're not, then why do we bother having a protocol? We went through a whole process with 14 Division and other folks from the police. They said this is what's most appropriate. If they want to change it, let's just say it up front and we'll work on it. But don't just ignore it."
Stanford says police forced the cancellation of an April 15 rave at the Docks by ordering the promoter, Hullabaloo, to triple the number of paid-duty officers required by the protocol.
Since Hullabaloo had been expecting 2,600 people, only five or six paid-duty officers were needed. According to various sources, police demanded that as many as 15 be put on the payroll.
"The promoter, the head of the security company and the owner of the docks went to police, as per city protocol, to request paid-duty officers," Stanford says. The three were brought into a room with 16 police officers and told that if PDOs or undercover officers found any evidence of illegal activity -- like a single joint -- they would shut the party down, arrest the Docks' security chief and take away the club's liquor licence.
Hullabaloo pulled the plug.
For the moment, promoters aren't talking, and neither are Docks' crewmen. Stanford says that has everything to do with recent crackdowns on just about anything open after last call.
"They're afraid of the police," she says. "They fear repercussions. Promoters are feeling harassed, they're feeling like they can't make comments to the press, because they're being targeted already."
A Hullabaloo source who requested anonymity said, "I can confirm that they were asking for three times as many police as we had for our event at the Docks two months earlier. Same promoters, same venue, nothing bad happened at the Docks, yet they were asking for three times as many cops. They wanted enough police to shut the party down should they need to do so.
"They told me that they don't recognize the protocols."
NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
The Police Services Board has asked Chief Julian Fantino to come up with a policy on paid-duty work. In the meantime, it seems to be open season.
At 51 Division, Superintendent Don Mantle has expressed concern about the amount of paid-duty time being put in at raves. His statement came during the 51 Division community forum with Fantino on April 18. "Our foot-patrol officers on several occasions were asked to work in other divisions," said Mantle. "This was because of several raves and special events being carried out in the downtown core. This became a concern because the community wants foot-patrol officers from 51 Division to address 51 Division concerns."
Officers on paid duty make a standard hourly wage of $44, a figure that rises with rank. If more than three cops are hired, a commander must also be put on the payroll at $48 an hour and up. When 10 paid-duty officers are hired, a second commander has to be signed on, and so on.
Typical paid-duty gigs include rock concerts, baseball games, society weddings and bingos. Corporate Communications Staff Sergeant Fred Ellarby says there is no formula for calculating the number of paid-duty officers required for these events.
"It would depend on the group," he says. "If Lawrence Welk is coming, you'll need one guy at the door. When Ozzy Osbourne was in during his bat-biting stage, it was a lot. It really is going to depend on what your target audience is, what the activity is and a million different variables."
Ellarby says there are no figures on the number of person hours Toronto cops put in each year. Same for the average cop's paid-duty take.
"There is no average officer. I think I've done two or three paid duties in my career, as opposed to some guys who do them every time they're off. The last time I was on shift, there was one guy on my platoon that did most of the paid duties. Other people never did them, so there really isn't an average."
Ellarby says some officers "want to do it as a full-time job and will spend as much of their off-duty time as they can."
http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_04.27.00/news/cops.html
Last edited by E2EK1EL on Jul-08-2005 at 10:29
|
and it is this, that makes me ashamed of our system. I'm sure life in Amsterdam is way better than this crap, even if the homes are cramped and tiny and the work is tight....it can't be worse than the direction Toronto has been heading for over the past few years (Tiny little condo's at mega prices. Being taxed for everything except the air we breathe....which is probably their next target)
