{"id":888806,"date":"2026-09-09T04:54:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/888806\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T04:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T04:54:21","slug":"toronto-increasing-police-presence-during-jewish-holiday-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/888806\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto increasing police presence during Jewish holiday weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Toronto police are increasing their presence throughout the city, as members of the Jewish community prepare to observe the High Holidays.<\/p>\n<p>With Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur approaching, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw says authorities are taking additional steps to help keep people safe as they gather to observe the holidays.<\/p>\n<p>At a press conference on Tuesday, Demkiw said officers will be deployed at Jewish places of worship, community gathering spaces and other locations where people are expected to gather.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have seen an alarming increase in hate-motivated incidents targeting the Jewish community in Toronto and indeed in cities around the world,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cTo address this, Toronto police have implanted a range of plans and strategies and deployed additional resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll have command posts deployed in strategic areas, including one at Bathurst and Sheppard. Task Force Guardian will also be deployed,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a reminder, Task Force Guardian will consist of officers with specialized tactical training and capabilities, including having access to patrol rifles,\u201d Demkiw added.<\/p>\n<p>The heightened security comes months after a series of <a href=\"https:\/\/toronto.citynews.ca\/2026\/08\/10\/toronto-vaughan-synagogue-shootings-arrests\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">shootings targeting Toronto-area synagogues<\/a>. In March, three synagogues were targeted by gunfire within the span of about a week. And in July, two locations of the <a href=\"https:\/\/toronto.citynews.ca\/2026\/07\/26\/police-investigate-two-incidents-targeting-jewish-owned-businesses\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jewish-owned Kiva\u2019s Bagel Bar were targeted<\/a> in overnight vandalism and shooting incidents.<\/p>\n<p>Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow joined Demkiw to address what she described as an \u201cunacceptable rise in antisemitic incidents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a more visible police presence in communities,\u201d she added. \u201cWe have created safety grants for faith-based institutions, and we have launched widespread anti-hate public education campaigns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tuesday\u2019s press conference came ahead of a\u00a0mayoral debate hosted by the group, Jewish Lawyers of Canada later that evening.<\/p>\n<p>Mayoral candidates Brad Bradford and Chris Alexander participated, but Chow opted to skip the debate, citing her no-event stance before her campaign launch on September 9. She is expected at the Daily Bread Food Bank debate on Sept. 14.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the enhanced police presence will be deployed in time for Rosh Hashanah from Sept. 11 to 13 and will remain until the anniversary of the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1024\" height=\"560\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Demkiw-Chow-1024x560.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" ratio=\"16x9\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tPhoto shows Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw and Mayor Olivia Chow at a press conference on Tues. Sept. 8, 2026. <\/p>\n<p>\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n<p>Add CityNews Toronto as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=toronto.citynews.ca\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"add-trusted-source-badge\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788929661_152_google-trusted-badge.png\" alt=\"Add as a preferred source on Google\" width=\"198\" height=\"63\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto police are increasing their presence throughout the city, as members of the Jewish community prepare to observe&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-888806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}