Exposed: Toronto police parking officers costing taxpayers millions by clocking out early
Do you remember the 1981 movie, Time Bandits? This Terry Gilliam-directed flick was a time travel fantasy.
But in the here and now, there are real-life time bandits amongst us. And get this: these time bandits happen to be members of law enforcement!
That’s what we observed (and video recorded) when we paid a visit to the Toronto Police Service Central Parking Enforcement Unit headquarters in north Toronto.
By way of background, parking enforcement is quite the revenue generator for the city. Almost 400 parking enforcement officers (a.k.a., “meter maids”) write some 2.8 million tickets per year. That works out to more than $80 million per year going into the city’s coffers.
Each officer is mandated to work a 10-hour shift. They get paid about $40 per hour. Or at least they are supposed to work 10 hours.
But we discovered that such is not the case. Jay Bannister, a former Toronto cop who now runs Mad Lab Press, was tipped off by an insider that for several years now, parking enforcement officers are routinely NOT putting in a full shift’s work.
And yes, we have evidence.
Bannister went to the Central Parking Enforcement Unit just after 5 a.m. to observe officers arriving for duty in their civilian cars for the morning shift. At 6 a.m., the officers, now in their uniforms, left HQ in their marked cars. They are meant to be writing parking tickets until 4 p.m. Of note: each officer has a quota of 60 tickets per day, which is a goal that can easily be achieved in about two hours.
In any event, these officers should be back at headquarters no sooner than 3:45. That way they can change out of their uniforms and leave at 4 p.m.
But this is NOT the case. Instead, they routinely return to HQ by around 2 p.m. Indeed, the day we observed their comings and goings, some “early birds” had returned by 1:30 p.m. – yet keep in mind they are being paid until 4 p.m.!
Translation: every officer is paid for a 10-hour shift even though they are barely working an eight-hour shift. This is called time theft. And it is costing the taxpayer almost $6 million per year thanks to all these officers going home hours early as opposed to working a full shift.
It should be noted that the head honcho at parking enforcement, Michael Harrison, makes almost $187,000 per year plus benefits. And get this: last year, Harrison received a whopping 41% raise! But why? For turning a blind eye to time theft? Surely he knows what is going on.
Last Monday afternoon, we paid a visit to the Central Parking Enforcement Unit. Sure enough, beginning as early as 1:30 p.m., officers began returning to headquarters.
We scrummed the returnees. Our questions included:
- Why are you off-shift – you’re supposed to be working until 4 p.m.?
- We calculate that this time theft is costing the taxpayer almost $6 million per year. What do you have to say to the taxpayer about this?
- As a member of law enforcement, shouldn’t you be setting a good example as opposed to defrauding the taxpayer?
Those who did offer an answer said either “no comment” or “reach out to TPS Corporate Communications.” Alas, just one hitch: the policy of TPS Corporate Communications is to NOT communicate with Rebel News. So much for transparency…
But now that the cat is out of the bag, the question arises: will the Chief of Police lay down the gauntlet and demand that parking enforcement officers put in a full shift? Or will time banditry simply be tolerated for whatever reason?
Stay tuned. In the days ahead we shall bring you an update to see if these time bandits have modified their behaviour.
REPORT by @TheMenzoid:
English
