^Would you stand at a construction site for minimum wage? Maybe if you're an illegal Mexican alien, you would.
I betcha there would be a LOT of people willing to get trained to do this, for $20+ an hour.
Answer: It's required by law.
The laws need to be changed.
Furthermore, the article has already informed us that paid duty police in other jurisdictions get paid about half what they do in Toronto, which makes sense, since normal police pay even in Toronto is about half what paid duty officers in Toronto make.
There is absolutely no reason why they should be paid twice as much as the going rate. My initial suspicions are correct. It's basically a racket, that exists only because people in power have turned a blind eye.
As for construction companies wanting them, there are several in that article who say it's an unnecessary expense. Same goes for private event organizers.
And yes it does cost us. It costs us for construction costs. It costs us to host events. It costs us for government contracts. Etc.
$65 an hour is about what they would make on overtime while on duty anyways, probably less when benefits and pension are included. If the police service where to send officers who are on duty to do what would otherwise be 'paid duty' work then they would incur overtime costs anyways.
That's a lame argument IMO. Paid duty work is not a requirement of policing jobs. It is basically a perk. If they
want to do the extra hours they can. Give them time, not double-time. I betcha there would be no shortage of police still wanting to do it.
And like I said before, not all paid duty type jobs
require a policeman. Some construction companies and event organizers have already said they would rather not hire paid duty policemen, because of the cost, and the fact there is no control of who is involved. Police often come to the events knowing absolutely nothing about the event.
