Police violating name tag policy, U of T student claims

The Toronto Police Service is violating its policy requiring officers to wear name badges, the force’s civilian board will be told.

University of Toronto student Vikram Mulligan says he was so troubled by police failing to identify themselves at last summer’s G20 summit he began photographing officers without proper name tags.

On-duty officers have been required to wear name tags since Dec. 31, 2006. But Mulligan said he’s witnessed officers obscuring or failing to wear a name tag on eight occasions since January.

He will take his photographs and concerns to the Toronto Police Services Board on Thursday, arguing it must crack down on nameless officers.

“When the board is failing to enforce the name badge policy on ordinary days, it’s hardly surprising that over 100 officers removed or obscured their badges during the G20,” he said.

Mulligan is particularly upset about exceptions he learned of after complaining to the Office of the Independent Police Review Director. Earlier this year, he sent in two photos of nameless officers wearing bicycle jackets, saying they were violating the regulation.

But an investigation determined the officers would not be disciplined since they were wearing the old style of jacket that doesn’t have the required Velcro strip for a name badge (jackets issued after 2009 have the strip).

Mulligan was also told rainwear is exempt from the policy.

Harvey Simmons, a former York University professor who helped establish the name badge rule, will also speak Thursday.

“Once the principal is that police should identify themselves, every reasonable person would understand that to mean you have that (name tag) on every item of your uniform. Otherwise, why are we doing this?” he said.

Board chair Alok Mukherjee said he was not aware of any exceptions.

“Our clear intention when we directed the service to provide name badges was that it was mandatory and to be worn at all times,” he said.

The police board will speak to Chief Bill Blair following the meeting to clarify the policy and, if there are exceptions, decide if they are legitimate, Mukherjee said.

Origin
Source: Toronto Star