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Toronto mayoral candidate Brad Bradford promised Thursday to hire 1,000 more police officers during his first four years in office if elected in October.
The Beaches-East York councillor’s pledge appears to exceed the five-year hiring plan launched in 2025 by Mayor Olivia Chow, who is seeking re-election. Chow’s plan will see an estimated 720 officers added to the ranks in the next two years, with potentially more after that, and also calls for 90 more 911 operators to be hired.
Bradford said that’s not enough.
“The current plan is not catching up. It is falling behind more slowly,” said Bradford in a news release.
He said the number of TPS officers have remained the same, despite the city’s population increasing by 21 per cent since 2010.
Bradford has not put a price tag on the campaign promise, despite fielding multiple questions from reporters.
In response, Chow’s office issued a statement defending the mayor’s hiring plan, saying it was developed with the police chief, the service’s board and the Toronto Police Association.
Chow “has made her hiring plan possible through her city budgets,” spokesperson Shirven Rezvany said in an email, adding the plan “uses every space at the police college available to Toronto.”
Policing still one of the biggest line items in city’s budget
Toronto’s police budget for 2026 is $1.43 billion. It’s the second largest line item on Torontonians property tax bill, trailing only funding for the transit system.
The Toronto Police Association, which represents some 8,700 members of the Toronto Police Service, welcomed the campaign pledge.
“We’re glad to see that police and public safety are taking top priority during this municipal election. We will continue to review the platforms of all candidates for council and mayor to ensure that the needs of our members and our communities are addressed,” it said in an email.
While Bradford said “a city that is not safe is not free” in his statement, recent data from Statistics Canada showed crime rates and severity dropped nationally, provincially and in Toronto in 2025.
Toronto police data also shows shootings are at their lowest point in five years.
There are 32 candidates vying to be Toronto’s next mayor. You can find a full list on here.