![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790886849_537_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA series of high-profile, visually shocking crimes grabbed headlines in Toronto over the past year, even as data from police shows serious crime is down and the city is broadly getting safer.<\/p>\n
Now, public safety is emerging as a key consideration for voters ahead of the Oct. 26 election.<\/p>\n
Public opinion polling appears to indicate that, even if Toronto is statistically safer, they are still concerned about the issue ahead of voting day. <\/p>\n
There was a shooting at the Salsa on St. Clair street festival in July, two at the United States Consulate in downtown Toronto in March and July, as well as a slew of videos released by police showing cars being stolen. <\/p>\n
Quito Maggi, CEO of Mainstreet Research, said the number of people recording incidents on their devices and posting them to social media only makes the perception of violence worse.<\/p>\n
“There might be one incident on a subway, but you\u2019re going to see it from 18 different angles,” he said. <\/p>\n
His company released a survey earlier this month that found 52 per cent of people polled felt crime and safety was extremely or very important in the election. Almost 70 per cent of respondents said they were extremely or very worried about the issue.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Is Toronto broken or thriving? Leading mayoral candidates disagree:<\/p>\n
Is Toronto broken or thriving? Candidates can\u2019t agree<\/p>\n
Two of the front-runners in Toronto’s mayoral race are presenting two drastically different versions of the kind of city we live in. CBC’s Dale Manucdoc breaks it down, and asks residents for their take.<\/p>\n
But most statistics show crime is down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Data from Toronto police shows the vast majority of safety indicators are trending in the right direction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2024, Olivia Chow\u2019s first full year in office, total incidents were down 3.6 per cent year-over-year \u2014 driven by a 23 per cent drop in auto thefts, and 10 per cent drop in break and enters. The other 5 categories increased. <\/p>\n
For 2025, assault was down three per cent, auto theft dropped 23 per cent and break and enters were down 11 per cent, according to police data. <\/p>\n
Sexual violation crimes fell around 11 per cent, homicide dropped almost 50 per cent \u2014 with theft over the only category creeping up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A divide over Toronto\u2019s crime and safety<\/p>\n
Jeffrey Dvorkin, former journalism professor at the University of Toronto, said he felt social media and news coverage of crimes distorted the public\u2019s view of how safe the city is.<\/p>\n
“News organizations are being stripped of their resources and that forces [them] \u2014\u00a0 both print, broadcast and online \u2014 to concentrate on the low hanging fruit of local news which is weather, traffic, crime,” he said in an interview with CBC News.<\/p>\n
“I think the combination of the internet feeding us the stuff we don\u2019t need and the politicians terrifying us … that’s the difficulty we\u2019re finding ourselves in now.”<\/p>\n
Jones Santiago, a Toronto resident, agreed people may be scared by reporting of other people\u2019s experiences, rather than their own.<\/p>\n
“I think people are scared of what everything looks like, but not actually interacting with it and seeing if it is something dangerous,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
WATCH | Public safety emerging as a key debate in Toronto’s mayoral race:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790886850_777_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Public safety emerging as a key debate in Toronto’s mayoral race<\/p>\n
The municipal election is still about three months away. But some themes are already starting to emerge in the campaigns for Toronto’s top job. As Lane Harrison explains, public safety is emerging as a central debate in the race for mayor.Bradford leans into public concerns\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the incumbent, Chow\u2019s campaign is treading a fine line, trying to tout the success of the past three years, and promise things will get better still.<\/p>\n
Bradford, the challenger, has cast a city that is struggling \u2014 even regressing \u2014 and failing to live up to its potential.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Come here to Union Station, take a walk down Bay Street under the underpass, visit Yonge and Dundas Square,” one video posted to his social media says. “It\u2019s dirty, it\u2019s unsafe.”<\/p>\n
Asked about the mismatch between perception and Toronto police\u2019s statistics, Bradford said people in Toronto continue to feel unsafe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Community safety indicators across the board are not going down. There are some files where we have seen year-over-year improvement, but trends over the past decade are still up,” he said at a recent campaign event. <\/p>\n
“I think people feel less safe because they experience it in their day-to-day lives, they experience it in the transit system, they see it in the community centres, they see it in the parks \u2026 we have a lot of room to improve safety in the city.”<\/p>\n
![\"City](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790886852_314_default.jpg\")
Brad Bradford says people in Toronto still feel unsafe, despite stats that say crime is improving. (CBC)<\/p>\n
Chow, who has been mayor for the past three years, touted her record, while acknowledging there are those who still feel unsafe.<\/p>\n
“It is important to feel safe,” she told reporters in Scarborough Monday. “Yes, the numbers have trended downwards, we have the lowest murder rate in 50 years, but if you just had a car stolen \u2026 you will feel not so safe.”<\/p>\n
Alex Barker, who stopped to speak to CBC News in the Leslieville area, said feelings of safety depends on where you are.<\/p>\n
“There\u2019s so many dangers in the city \u2026 it\u2019s all a matter of perspective,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“If you\u2019re walking down Yonge Street you\u2019re going to see [trouble] a lot more often than not, or down Queen Street. Down by Greenwood or Jones and Gerrard you won\u2019t see it as often \u2026 but safety in the city is kind of here and there.” <\/p>\n
Candidates spar over auto theft<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Bradford\u2019s campaign pushed a news release pointing to statistics for some crimes in Toronto that slipped in 2026.<\/p>\n
So far this year, police data says assault is up by around one per cent, while auto thefts have risen by six per cent. As of September, 323 more vehicles have been stolen this year than the year before.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Ask anyone who has walked out to an empty driveway what it feels like. It isn’t a statistic. It’s a violation,” Bradford wrote in the news release.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Your car is how you get to work, how you get your kids to daycare, how you get your parents to their appointments,” he said. “Someone came onto your property in the night and took it. Then come the weeks on the phone with the insurance company, the rental you can’t afford, and premiums that go up for every driver on your street. The Mayor’s response to all of that is to tell you the numbers are down. They aren’t.”<\/p>\n
Hours later, the Chow campaign pushed back \u2014 pointing out auto theft is down since her election, even if it is up this year.<\/p>\n
“In the five years after Brad Bradford was elected to Toronto City Council, auto thefts skyrocketed by 157 per cent. He did nothing about it,” according to a statement from the incumbent\u2019s campaign. <\/p>\n
“Since Olivia Chow was elected Mayor in 2023, they\u2019ve gone down by 41 per cent.”<\/p>\n