'It's not going to be safe without them': What losing a police station would mean to a Toronto community

Residents of a west-end Toronto community could soon lose their local police station and are anxious their neighbourhoods will be even less safe as a result.

The proposed change is part of a report released Thursday on the future of the Toronto Police Service drawn up by a high-profile task force struck by Toronto Mayor John Tory this year.

 Among the recommendations is the merger of several divisions based on redrawn boundaries, beginning with 54 and 55 divisions in 2017. Divisions 12, 13, 33, 41, 52, 53 could see a similar fate in 2018 if the recommendations are approved.

Samantha Brown is a resident of 12 Division, bordered to the north by Highway 401, south by St. Clair Avenue West, east by the West-Humber River and west by the Canadian National Railway line. She says she has long relied on the area station to voice her concerns.

• 'It has to be done': Mayor Tory says police task force overhaul non-negotiable

• Toronto police stations to close, programs to disband in task force proposals: document

• Toronto police association head hints at job action over task force recommendations

"I really hope that they change their mind and stay here because it's not going to be safe without them here," Brown told CBC News Thursday.  "I don't really feel safe around here."

'I'm shocked'

"There's a lot of booze cans here and drug dealing and we try and get the cops involved," adding that she regularly attends meetings at the station to talk about problems in the area.

"If we need them to respond to some kind of crime, how long will they take? This is our concern," said Steve Tasses owner of a store called Variety of Video in the Keele and Eglinton area.

Besides, Tasses says, losing the police station would also mean losing a large part of the community.

"Every year they do the police picnic for kids that are less fortunate they do the barbecues, burgers, hotdogs, jumping castle, face painting and this is all put on by 12 Division," said Tasses. "I'm shocked."

He said the picnic has helped residents become more trusting of police over the years.

In fact, the station held its 17th annual community and family fun day just this past Sunday. Now residents are learning that might have been one of its last.

But it's those kinds of events that area resident Ivy Batisse says are so important to keeping crime in the area down.

"Since I've moved up here I've seen in the past five years that they are reaching out to the community, and the community is slowly responding," she said.

"If they take it away, they're taking away that bridge that they just started building"