In his 13 years as a parking enforcement officer in Toronto, Steven Loder has seen his share of frustrated drivers while issuing tickets — but perhaps none more so than the cab driver who hit him with his car about eight years ago.
“Instead of rolling his window down or staying put, he decided to try to peel off and hit me with his vehicle,” Loder said, which left him with a leg injury.
Loder, along with Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw and Toronto Police Association (TPA) President Jon Reid, drew attention to violence against parking officers Tuesday, saying more and more of them are getting assaulted while just trying to do their jobs.
“This is unacceptable behaviour. This has a huge impact on their personal and professional lives,” Demkiw said at a news conference.
“I know that some people get frustrated while trying to find parking in the city, but violence is never the answer.”
Toronto police are raising the alarm about the increase of assaults on parking enforcement officers in the city. Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw said there have been 27 assaults so far this year, which he described as a “disturbing trend.” CBC’s Chris Glover spoke to parking enforcement officers about their experiences with violence on the job.
According to statistics provided by Toronto police, there were six assaults against parking enforcement officers in the city in 2021, followed by 15 in 2022.
That number jumped again to 46 last year — and as of July 18 there have been 27 assaults so far this year, police say, compared to just four over the same time period last year.
Loder told CBC Toronto he has definitely seen an increase in anger and frustration from the public over the last couple of years while out on the roads.
Increased congestion is likely playing a part in the problem, he said. While long travel times in Toronto are nothing new, those issues have been exacerbated in recent years with construction happening on key thoroughfares like the Gardiner Expressway, or for large-scale projects like the Ontario Line subway.
Things have gotten so bad that a recent survey commissioned by the Toronto Region Board of Trade shows a majority of respondents considered moving away from the city due to traffic congestion.
Speaking at Tuesday’s news conference, Reid similarly mentioned “city-wide gridlock” as a problem — but the TPA president said residents need to remember that parking officers are doing what they can to keep the city safe and moving.
“They do not deserve to be cursed at, pushed, punched — let alone have to jump out of the way of a moving vehicle,” Reid said.
“They deserve to go home to their families and feel safe and unscathed.”
Demkiw also cautioned that anyone charged with assaulting a parking enforcement officer would face a charge of assaulting a peace officer, which the courts consider the same as assault on any uniformed cop.
A conviction on that charge means a criminal record and could lead to fines and imprisonment, he said.