Summer Of The Gun - Part 2: The City Of Toronto's Approach To Addressing Gun Violence.

Research Questions - Why does gun violence in the City of Toronto continue to increase? How are gun violence intervention policies being designed, implemented, and evaluated in the City of Toronto? How are funding decisions being influenced and made in the City of Toronto in response to gun violence? Design/Methodology/Approach – This research paper utilizes qualitative interview and data triangulation strategies to respond to the research questions. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with civil servants, politicians, and researchers who have experience in gun violence intervention policy. The Policy Analytical Capacity and Punctuated Equilibrium theories were used as the primary frameworks in interpreting and analyzing the qualitative interview data. The Policy Window theory was also considered but its ultimate use was limited. Interview data was analyzed, coded, and then explained through identification of common themes. Upon identification of common themes, research data was juxtaposed with other data sources (quantitative statistics, briefing notes, reports, academic journals, literature reviews, jurisdictional evaluations, etc.). Results – The rise of income and social inequality in the City of Toronto is a major contributor to the rise in gun violence. Youth living in marginalized communities do not feel safe and are obtaining and using guns as a form of protection and for a sense of safety. Poor community-police relations and the frequency and severity of violence in marginalized communities are contributing to the reduced feelings of safety. Funding allocations and political decision-making is being heavily influenced by the Toronto Police Service and Toronto Police Service Association. Research findings revealed characteristics of an ‘Iron Triangle’ relationship between the Mayor, the Toronto Police Service, and Toronto Police Service Association. The organization, resources, and inside access of the Toronto Police Service relative to community actors maintains the enforcement-centric policy-approach. The City of Toronto has a strong capacity for evidence- based decision making in the area of gun violence intervention policy. The Toronto Public Service has demonstrated application of best-practice contemporary policy-design approaches in formulating the Toronto Youth Equity Strategies. The short-term nature of funding cycles presents challenges in the implementation stage. Limited resources allocated to program evaluation, the trade-offs involved, high-cost of external evaluations, limited internal capacity for research, and under-utilization of reports prevent the institutionalization of the policy evaluation stage. Recommendations – Opportunities for further research include examining the role of social media in gun violence and the impact for policy-making, the applicability of effective public-health approaches (Ceasefire) for local adoption, longitudinal empirical studies using the policy-windows theory, and social return on investment studies of effective gun violence intervention initiatives. Establishment of new cooperative research partnerships with graduate programs with a focus on program evaluation to build internal capacity for evaluation. Development of an organization to unify the voice of community actors is recommended to balance the power imbalance policy-influence with respect to gun violence intervention policy-making. Research Limitations: The major research paper is a qualitative-focused research study on individual interviewee participants perceptions augmented by data triangulation strategies. This study was conducted at a specific point of time. A larger sample would increase confidence of the study’s findings. As the sample is not a probability-based sample, it is not intended to be used as representative of what is happening in other jurisdictions. Originality/Value: This paper presents insights into the perceptions of policy actors within the field of gun violence intervention policy in the City of Toronto. This local-perspective provides a unique examination of how policies are being formulated, implemented, and evaluated during a time of record-breaking levels of gun violence.