Safety concerns at Toronto park that averages 1 police call a day

Some residents living near Barbara Hall Park in Toronto's Church-Wellesley neighbourhood are calling for action from the city over what they say has become an unsafe and unusable public space. 

The small park, located on Church Street, features a splash pad, off-leash dog area and an AIDS memorial. Over the last several years, neighbours say it has also become home to dirty needles, open drug use and violence, even being used at times as a public toilet. 

Data analyzed by CBC Toronto shows police calls for service — which include 911 calls — are made to the park's address on a near daily basis. 

"It's loud, it's dirty," said Daniel Perozzo, who lives nearby and goes to the dog park most days. 

"The other day the City of Toronto came through and cleaned it up in the morning, and then by the afternoon it was already looking like they hadn't done anything."

CBC Toronto has reviewed Toronto Police Service data showing calls to 519 Church St. — the address of the park as well as the adjacent community centre, The 519 —  from January 2019 to April of this year.

The 519 is a charity and a city agency that serves the 2SLGBTQ+ community, providing services that include a focus on poverty reduction, programs for people who use drugs and supports for other marginalized groups. 

Police call logs show there were 1,831 calls for service from Jan. 1, 2019 through April 4, 2024, an average of about one call per day. 

The data was obtained by a Toronto resident through a freedom of information request.

CBC Toronto went through those call logs, categorizing and analyzing them by date and call type. The most common call type was for medical complaints, with 185 calls categorized that way. Medical complaint calls reached a high during this period in 2023, with 60 such calls. The second most common event type listed in the call logs was "disorderlies." 

The most calls made to the location by year happened in 2020, when there were a total of 428 calls, while 2023 saw the second most, with 399 calls.

Last year also saw the highest number of "priority one" calls, which are the most serious and potentially life-threatening, with 73 such calls. 

Stephanie Sayers, a spokesperson for Toronto police, said the service has four community officers dedicated to the neighbourhood "who attend the park daily and work proactively with community stakeholders," including holding community meetings on a regular basis.  

The city says it has made efforts to improve safety in the area, including by increasing police patrols. But some neighbours say the continued issues at the park are a sign that not enough is being done to address the root causes of poverty and crime and improve safety in the area.