Toronto police crack down on social distancing with ticket blitz — up to $1,000

People caught within two metres of each other in parks and public squares - with very few exceptions - will now be ticketed in Toronto, police Chief Mark Saunders said Saturday.

While offences will be judged on a case-by-case basis - people from the same household and contact deemed accidental are exempt - officers will issue fines of up to $1,000 for social distancing infractions effective immediately, Saunders said Saturday afternoon.

"What we're going to be doing is moving towards a zero tolerance, with some common sense factors to it, effective today," he said at a High Park press conference broadcast on CP24.

Saunders said officers had issued about 2,500 cautions, but only 88 tickets since social distancing bylaws and directives came into effect at the beginning of the month in response to the spread of COVID-19.

"That was for the education and awareness piece. We're moving past the education piece," he said.

The announcement came in the wake of Mayor John Tory's call for a tougher stance on social distancing scoffers. Tory told CP24 that people still seem mystified by the need for distancing: "We can't have people being mystified anymore."

Saunders said the current blitz, with 160 dedicated officers, is supposed to end Monday but could be extended indefinitely.

"At the end of the day, health is the number one issue why we're doing this," Saunders said. "We know that we have a role to play in trying to flatten that curve for COVID-19 and we are going to use the necessary steps to do just that."

He added that the crackdown is especially important as the weather gets warmer.

"What we've noticed is, whenever it gets extremely warm or nice the social distancing rule is breached quite a bit more," he said. "You can see the high numbers of cautions we've issued. They've been primarily during the very warm days."

Saunders said in addition to Tory's comments, the harsher measures are in response to observations by local officers.

He said no tickets would be issued to members of the same household, or if small children stray within the two-metre limit and have to be retrieved.

"We have seen (however) on numerous occasions where we have multiple families that are together, they don't get it," Saunders said. "Or we'll see people that are playing soccer games or things along those lines, still to this day, and we have to do everything we can to make the message loud and clear."

Joseph Hall is a Toronto-based reporter and feature writer. Reach him on email: gjhall@thestar.ca