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Julian Fantino

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Julian Fantino, O.Ont
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Julian Fantino, O.Ont

Julian Fantino O.Ont (born 1942 in Vendoglio, Italy) was Toronto's Chief of Police from 2000 to 2005, and is currently Ontario's Commissioner of Emergency Management. He was previously chief of police in London, Ontario from 1991 to 1998, and in York Region from 1998 until 2000. Previous to his London appointment, he had been a Toronto police officer since 1969.

Fantino was born in Italy and immigrated to Canada with his family when he was 11 years old. Prior to policing, Fantino worked as a security guard at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto. In 2003, he was awarded the Order of Ontario. On April 14, 2005 he was presented the Key to the City of Toronto by Mayor David Miller.

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Policing controversies

As a regular Toronto police officer, Fantino was central in one of the city's first major racial profiling scandals, when he released race-based crime statistics to the media.

Fantino generated some controversy in London, where he instituted a child pornography investigation, Project Guardian. The investigation ended up with the arrest of numerous gay men who had committed no criminal activity whatsoever, and did not successfully find any evidence of child pornography, resulting in Gerald Hannon's allegation that the investigation was merely an exercise in homophobia. (However, Hannon's media reports on the controversy were also widely interpreted as an actual endorsement of child pornography, and he was fired from his teaching post at Ryerson University.)

The announcement of Fantino's appointment as Toronto's chief of police was controversial because because Fantino hadn't even officially applied for the job. It was widely alleged by community activists that Fantino had been selected by conservative members of Toronto City Council (including mayor Mel Lastman) before the process even began. By the end of Fantino's tenure in Toronto, many councillors, including those who initially tried to block him, praised his abilities and accomplishments.

Fantino made an attempt to reach out to the gay community in Toronto, primarily by appearing on the cover of fab in a photo which featured him posing in his police uniform with five other models dressed as the Village People standing behind him.

Fantino's term as Toronto police chief saw further controversy. Fantino responded to a Toronto Star series on racial profiling by denying the practice exists in Toronto — despite the Star's statistical analysis of arrests which show that a disproportionate number of Black Canadians are stopped by the police — and lashing out at critics of the police, calling them "police haters". He has also been seen to blame the black community for police shootings of black youth, blaming "certain elements" in the black community for not reining in violence. However, statistics did show that gun-related violence was proportionately the highest in black community, validating the "disproportional number of arrests". The Toronto Star later admitted to omitting certain statistics. Fantino also received strong support from black councillors Rob Davis and Michael Thompson, the latter who later advocated racial profiling.

He was generally seen as cool or even hostile to oversight of the police by external (i.e. non-police) authorities, putting him on a collision course with new Mayor David Miller and the police services board. He also opposed the proposal of external review of complaints against the police, insisting that the Toronto police should investigate complaints against themselves without any supervision by elected authorities. He has also been criticised for not living in the city of Toronto.

Supporters saw Fantino's tactics as effective since Toronto's crime rate dropped significantly during his tenure despite its growing population. In addition, they noted that Fantino's methods were not anywhere as extreme as other famous anti-crime crusaders such as Daryl Gates and Rudy Giuliani, and argued that most of the litigation suits were "frivolous". Because official oversight of the police force was increased after Fantino left, supporters argued that an increase in violent crime rates was due to criminals "taking advantage" of complaints to hamper "legitimate" police efforts.

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Corruption scandals

Fantino came under increasing scrutiny due to three corruption scandals which broke out during his tenure and his handling of those incidents. Fantino was accused of having tried to deal with these cases out of public view and attempting to shield them from investigation by outside police forces.

In one case, drug squad officers are alleged to have beaten and robbed suspected drug dealers. In another, plainclothes officers were charged with accepting bribes to help bars dodge liquor inspections. In the third, a group of officers who advocated on behalf of a drug-addicted car thief faced internal charges.

Two of these cases involve the sons of former police chief William McCormack, and came to light not as a result of investigations by Toronto police, but due to an RCMP investigation into gangster activity which inadvertently uncovered evidence of wrongdoing by Toronto police officers. Mike McCormack was later cleared of all wrongdoing due to a lack of evidence[1].

Fantino was also criticized for his handling of Operation True Blue, a fundraising campaign led by Toronto police association president Craig Bromell. The campaign offered donors windshield stickers for their cars, opening the force to allegations that officers could potentially offer illegal favours (eg. disregarding minor traffic infractions, etc.) to people whose cars bore the stickers, though such allegations would obviously be difficult to prove.

In March 2005, the CBC announced that they had obtained documents via the Access to Information Act showing that between 1998 and 2005 Toronto had spent $30,633,303.63 settling lawsuits against police.

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Contract expiry

Fantino's contract as police chief expired on February 28, 2005. On June 24, 2004, the police services board announced that it would not be reappointing Fantino due to a 2-2 tie. This was controversial since chair Norm Gardner had been suspended from the five-man board due to a conflict of interest ruling, but as he refused to vacate his seat the three required votes for renewal were far more difficult to obtain. Conservative politicians on Toronto City Council responded with a "Save Fantino" campaign, and the board was deadlocked on the issue of beginning the search for Fantino's replacement.

Many Fantino supporters claimed that Miller was openly hostile to Fantino. Miller had ignored calls to pressure the police board after it voted against Fantino's renewal, yet Miller subsequently contacted the board looking for a role in hiring the next police chief, although the latter request was not granted.

On February 8, 2005, Fantino was appointed Ontario's commissioner of emergency management by Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty. This move was criticized by the opposition parties in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, both for the lack of transparency in the hiring process and for the perception that the appointment was primarily motivated by the desire to avoid having Fantino run as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the 2007 provincial election against Finance Minister Greg Sorbara. However, Sorbara had also blamed Miller for failing to renew Fantino's contract, so this appointment could have also been seen as the Ontario Liberals' show of support for Fantino.

Former deputy police chief Mike Boyd took over as interim chief of police on March 1, 2005. On April 6, another former deputy chief, Bill Blair, was named Fantino's permanent successor.

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Career

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External links