Pubdate: Tue, 06 Jun 2000
Source: South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
Copyright: 2000 South China Morning Post Publishers Limited.
Contact:  http://www.scmp.com/
Author: Murray Campbell In Toronto

GUNG HO POLICE CHIEF ON WARPATH

Julian Fantino is a man on a mission to reduce crime in Canada's
largest city. The fact that the city's crime rate is going down
without his efforts doesn't dissuade him, but it certainly makes him a
controversial figure.

Mr Fantino, 57, has rarely been out of the headlines since he took
over as chief of Toronto's police department in early March. He has
had one bare-knuckled theme - he doesn't intend to let Toronto go to
seed on his watch.

"I'm tough on crime," he said in one typical interview recently. "If
people expect me to have compassion for murderers and rapists and
thieves, forget it."

He appeared to take a step back from his aggressive stance last week
when he suggested criminal sanctions against the possession and use of
small amounts of marijuana should be dropped.

But his justification was entirely in keeping with his earlier stance.
He argued that the move was demanded not because of any sudden switch
to liberal views but rather because his 7,000-member force is
stretched thin and he needs officers to fight crime on other fronts.

Mr Fantino dismissed as a demographic illusion statistics showing
crime has been declining for seven years. The number of young people
aged 18 to 30 has declined but he predicted that "the worst is yet to
come".

"Once we get through this cycle, we're going to get to a different
milieu and things are expected to percolate again," he said. He wants
to bring in the helicopters used by US police forces and has suggested
the duties of a civilian oversight panel be narrowed.

Such bluntness has forced Toronto, which had become accustomed to
soft-spoken, conciliatory police chiefs in recent years, to take notice.

"We hope his musings are not a throwback to the not-so-distant past
when police brass shamelessly used crime statistics to fatten their
budgets," the liberal Toronto Star newspaper said.

More critically, Mr Fantino's critics worry his 31-year career
suggests he will not treat all people equally.

"My view is that Julian Fantino has a chance to show us what he can
do," Urban Alliance on Race Relations president Robert Katz said. "But
he also has a chance to make a mess of it."

Kyle Rae, a gay Toronto city councillor, said people "see Fantino as
an authoritative, no-nonsense black-and-white politician and they are
concerned that he will play into people's fears".
- ---
MAP posted-by: greg