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Toronto's police union has been working hard to frighten the city. It has been saying for months that cuts have left the force so overstretched, its officers so burned out, that public safety is at risk.

Its campaign has been pointed, personal and often overwrought. One union ad showed a laughing Mayor John Tory in front of the numbers 911 in blood red. He was flanked by Police Chief Mark Saunders and police board chair Andrew Pringle. The caption read: "These guys are putting your safety on hold."

Now the union has taken its drive to a new level. On Thursday it released the results of an online vote aimed to pressure Chief Saunders. Members of the Toronto Police Association were asked: "Do you have confidence in the Chief's leadership?" Only about half responded. Eighty-six per cent said no.

That is hardly surprising, considering the union had proclaimed its lack of confidence in the chief and was looking to its members for support. Union head Mike McCormack said the turnout was better than you would see in a municipal election, but that is a pretty low bar.

The vote was damaging all the same. Police voting no-confidence in their chief is like soldiers voting no-confidence in their general. It's an extreme measure – bad for the force and bad for the people it is sworn to defend.

What did Chief Saunders do to deserve such a show of disrespect? Was he caught in a corruption scandal? Has he fired officers without cause? Has he slashed the force to the bone? He has done nothing of the sort. Chief Saunders is a three-decade veteran with rich experience of day-to-day policing in squads ranging from homicide to drugs to street gangs. To say he is deaf to the demands being placed on the ordinary cop is absurd.

What he has done is lead a much-needed modernization of the force. The aim is to make it a better-equipped, more flexible and, yes, leaner organization. The high cost of policing is a problem for cities across Canada. Toronto, to its credit, is wrestling with those costs. Chief Saunders wants his officers to spend less time on low-priority tasks such as guarding broken water mains and more on fighting crime. That should improve, not threaten, public safety.

There is no evidence that the modest streamlining carried out so far has left the force incapable of protecting the public. After the union complained about a crisis in staffing, the force hired 80 new officers. It is beefing up the 911 staff, too. As Mr. Tory points out, Toronto is a safe place. Despite the recent headlines over two grisly murder cases, one apparently involving a serial killer, Toronto's crime rate is low compared with that of many Canadian cities, not to mention American ones.

Fortunately, the police union's scaremongering appears to be falling flat. In fact, it may be strengthening the resolve of city leaders to forge ahead with reform. As soon as the union came out with the results of its no-confidence vote, the police board issued a statement saying it supports the chief "fully and unequivocally." If that were not clear enough, it added: "The Board stands behind Chief Saunders."

Mr. Tory added that the chief is doing a very hard thing: trying to force change on a big organization. Many people much prefer the status quo. "People don't like change." But, the mayor said, "I have news for people. It's the 21st century. Policing has to come into the 21st century."

Quite right. It is silly to single out the chief as the bad guy here. The whole of the city's leadership is behind the modernization push.

They would love the police rank and file to join in. As the board statement put it, "We are keenly aware of the challenges this substantial change poses for our members, both uniform and civilian, as well as their families. But we also believe that the organization will emerge from this transformation stronger, more effective and more responsive to, and trusted by, the community. We believe, too, that it will ultimately be a better place to work for all of our members."

What a shame, then, that the union chose to conduct this petulant vote. Mr. McCormack said the union didn't want to go that way; it was forced to act because authorities failed to act on its complaints. "This isn't a great day in policing," he conceded. He can say that again.

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