Toronto police Deputy Chief Peter Sloly 'surprised' by uproar over budget comments

Toronto police deputy chief Peter Sloly said Wednesday he was 'surprised' by the reaction to his criticisms of the current state of police operations and budgeting.

On January 15,Sloly told attendeesat an event at the MaRS Discovery Districtthat policing will be "exponentially costly" until it stops "being focused and driven on that reactive enforcement model."

Slolyalsosaid the force could "drop ourselves by several hundred police officers, which represents tens of millions of dollars" by leveraging technology and "big data," the Toronto Star reported.

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Sloly, who had been on vacation since making the comments, said, "Last week,my furnace blew up and my roof was leaking and so I had to take a few days to get my house sorted out."

Sloly's comments about the police budget came under fire fromToronto Police Association President Mike McCormack, who called them"inflammatory" and "self-serving."

"To me, (Sloly's comments) are very suspect," McCormack told CBC News on January 19. "Why would he be making those comments now when he was the deputy chief in charge of field operations for the last six years? Not once have we heard from him about possible reductions or options in reducing the size of the force.

"And that's why it appeared to be nothing more than sour grapes or an agenda."

Last year, the TorontoPolice Services Board passed over Slolyand hired Mark Saunders insteadas the replacement for Chief Bill Blair, whose contract wasn't renewed.