Every year during the first big snowfall of the season, the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB) media officer Trevor Moore gets on TV and tells all of us tax-paying civilians to be responsible and put winter tires on our vehicles.  It’s a good message and one that I agree with.  I’ve driven with winter’s on and off in the snow, slush, and ice, and I can tell you that there is a massive difference in how your vehicle brakes and generally operates when properly equipped to deal with the weather.

HOWEVER,

The TPSB’s promotion of safety in relation to winter tires is steeped in hypocrisy, for the simple reason that the board refuses to shell out for winter tires for their own fleet, thereby, endangering the lives of their police officers, parking officers, and the general public.

Telling us to find the funds to equip our vehicles with winter tires in the winter, and all-seasons for the rest of the year, plus the costs of switching them when the season changes, balancing, rotating, etc. is one thing, but then not doing it yourself?

C’MON MAN!

Especially when our tax dollars fund your operation.  I for one would like the men and women who serve and protect our city to be able to do so while being safe themselves.  Imagine an emergency situation where officers have to rush to a scene in poor driving conditions, only to cause another emergency situation en route because they slid out, potentially endangering their own lives and the lives of other motorists and pedestrians.

The TPSB states that the costs of purchasing winter tires for their fleet, switching the tires every season, as well as storage, make it not feasible in the city where they find the streets are cleared fairly quickly.

YOUR OFFICERS ARE THE ONES THAT MAY HAVE TO GO FAST IN HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS!

Other Police services do provide winter tires for their officers I.e. Durham Regional, York Regional, and Peel Regional Police.

The OPP does as well.

Don’t be cheap with the lives of our officers.

Don’t be cheap with the lives of Torontonians.

We are literally paying you to serve and PROTECT us.

How are you supposed to do your job, like this?