Toronto police chief sees slight dip in approval rating, new poll suggests

Toronto: Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders’ approval rating has dropped slightly since last year, according to a new poll released Monday.

The DART Insight poll, which was conducted on behalf of the Toronto Sun/ National Post, found that 66 per cent of Torontonians believe that Saunders is doing a good job, down about three percentage points from last year.

“At the end of the day, do I understand? Yes, I do. I’ve got a primary function. That function is to try to keep the community as safe as possible utilizing the tools and the skills of the men and women of the Toronto Police Service. And we are moving in the right direction,” Saunders told CP24 on Monday morning.

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“If I ever took this job personally… I would have a hard time. I don’t do it for the glory. I do it because it is the right thing to do and I have a great team working with me.”

The new numbers come amid a spike in gun violence in the city the city. So far this year in Toronto there have been 88 homicides, including 45 fatal shootings.

According to the poll, more than three quarters of respondents believe gangs are to blame for the violence.

“I think we’ve shifted the narrative right now where I think everyone in general thinks that whenever there is crime, police come in and fix it. Now we are starting a new conversation,” Saunders said. “Now we are looking at moving toward doing it right. And it is going to take a little while to see those outcomes but I can tell you all levels of government have participated in this process.”

He added that the police service is doing “everything we can to solve these crimes.”

“Crime is still happening, there is a great concern,” Saunders said.

The poll, which surveyed 669 Toronto adults who are members of the National Maru/ Blue Online panel, was conducted between Oct. 12 and 15.

It has a margin of error of 4.3 per cent, 19 times out of 20.