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The Toronto Star.
Sunday, October 11, 2009 Toronto Edition
<span style="font-weight: bold">New deputy Peter Sloly a rising star</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">Peter Sloly's rise through the ranks of the Toronto police has been described as "meteoric" by one officer.</span>
ROBYN DOOLITTLE/TORONTO STAR
<span style="font-weight: bold">JUST THE FACTS</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">PETER SLOLY</span>
Age: 43
Years on the force: 21
Appointment: Deputy chief, executive command
Training: Includes U.S. FBI National Academy; also has an MBA from York University
<span style="font-weight: bold">Childhood: Immigrated from Jamaica just before his 10th birthday</span>
Principles: This believer in community building helped found sports teams for youth in at-risk neighbourhoods.
Lesson learned while serving in Kosovo: Force alone will not keep peace.
His supporters – and there are a lot of them – say he is destined to be the city's first police chief of colour. His detractors – and yes, he has a number – criticize his rapid ascension through the ranks.
Love him or resent him, Peter Sloly is a rising star in the Toronto Police Service.
This week, with only 21 years on the force, Sloly will assume the rank of deputy chief, one of four deputies just one rung below Chief Bill Blair. At 43 years old, Sloly is believed to be the youngest officer in the country to achieve such heights – an accomplishment that is both remarkable and a liability, said one high-ranking official, who did not want to be named.
"The traditional culture of policing is you come in and do your time. Now here's a young a man, in his early 40s, who has become youngest deputy ever. It's a rank more typical of someone who has been around 30-35 years."
Police board chair Alok Mukherjee said the promotion is consistent with an ongoing shift within the force, where talented young officers are moving quickly up the ladder.
When asked about the critics, Sloly answers with a little humour, then thoughtful observation.
"Well, for one, I think I'm only a couple of years younger than the most powerful man in the free world," Sloly said recently of U.S. President Barack Obama, who is 48. "If you're required to be in a place for a certain amount of time, I guess I don't hit that benchmark. If it's about experiences, and adding value to help build the police service into the best it can be, then I think I hit that benchmark."
<span style="font-weight: bold">Sloly was just days shy of his 10th birthday when he moved to Toronto from Kingston, Jamaica. The intelligent student was also an athlete.</span> In high school, he had his first real interaction with a police officer – John Knox: constable by day, coach by night – while trying out for a soccer team.
"When we had the tryouts, Peter was a stand out and we signed him right away. But I knew right away I wouldn't get to keep him very long – he was too good a player," said Knox, now 66. "Even then he was a leader on the team. The others looked up to him. When tempers were getting frayed, Peter would be there calming things down."
Sloly did move on quickly, first to the provincial team, and eventually the Canadian national team. His success in athletics has been duplicated in the police force.
"His rise can only be described as meteoric. And I couldn't be more proud. I think the world of Peter Sloly," said Knox. "And I think he would be a fantastic chief of police."
Sloly went on to earn a master's in business administration and marry a woman he met while in Turkey. They have one child.
He has remained connected to the sports world. Throughout the 1990s, Sloly and other officers established sports teams for youth in at-risk neighbourhoods.
"Some people have criticized my sports programs. There are those that feel police officers shouldn't be social workers and that money should be spent on enforcement," he said. "But I believe in community building."
In 2001, Sloly – then an inspector – was sent to Kosovo on a UN peacekeeping mission. It was one of the most memorable periods of his career – chiefly the events that followed the war-torn region's first national elections, in 2001.
Sloly was in a command position during deadly riots between Serbian Orthodox and Albanian Muslims in Mitrovica. "We had 40,000 NATO personnel on the ground. There were 10,000 police officers there from 53 countries. It was the most heavily militarized zone in the world. And even with that force capacity, we couldn't prevent the violence," he said.
It was an important lesson: Force alone will not keep the peace.
Perhaps Sloly drew from this experience when he managed the force's approach to tens of thousands of Tamil protestors, who commandeered downtown streets for days this year.
Sloly has also helped shape this shift within the force, helping to change the way Toronto police recruits new officers: about one-third of recent recruits are non-white.
It's this kind of leadership that has people around the city excited, says city councillor Michael Thompson, who counts the deputy a friend. "If you think of all the qualities you would hope for in a police chief, Peter has them in spades," he said. "I really think it's not a matter of if, but when."
Sunday, October 11, 2009 Toronto Edition
<span style="font-weight: bold">New deputy Peter Sloly a rising star</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">Peter Sloly's rise through the ranks of the Toronto police has been described as "meteoric" by one officer.</span>
ROBYN DOOLITTLE/TORONTO STAR
<span style="font-weight: bold">JUST THE FACTS</span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">PETER SLOLY</span>
Age: 43
Years on the force: 21
Appointment: Deputy chief, executive command
Training: Includes U.S. FBI National Academy; also has an MBA from York University
<span style="font-weight: bold">Childhood: Immigrated from Jamaica just before his 10th birthday</span>
Principles: This believer in community building helped found sports teams for youth in at-risk neighbourhoods.
Lesson learned while serving in Kosovo: Force alone will not keep peace.
His supporters – and there are a lot of them – say he is destined to be the city's first police chief of colour. His detractors – and yes, he has a number – criticize his rapid ascension through the ranks.
Love him or resent him, Peter Sloly is a rising star in the Toronto Police Service.
This week, with only 21 years on the force, Sloly will assume the rank of deputy chief, one of four deputies just one rung below Chief Bill Blair. At 43 years old, Sloly is believed to be the youngest officer in the country to achieve such heights – an accomplishment that is both remarkable and a liability, said one high-ranking official, who did not want to be named.
"The traditional culture of policing is you come in and do your time. Now here's a young a man, in his early 40s, who has become youngest deputy ever. It's a rank more typical of someone who has been around 30-35 years."
Police board chair Alok Mukherjee said the promotion is consistent with an ongoing shift within the force, where talented young officers are moving quickly up the ladder.
When asked about the critics, Sloly answers with a little humour, then thoughtful observation.
"Well, for one, I think I'm only a couple of years younger than the most powerful man in the free world," Sloly said recently of U.S. President Barack Obama, who is 48. "If you're required to be in a place for a certain amount of time, I guess I don't hit that benchmark. If it's about experiences, and adding value to help build the police service into the best it can be, then I think I hit that benchmark."
<span style="font-weight: bold">Sloly was just days shy of his 10th birthday when he moved to Toronto from Kingston, Jamaica. The intelligent student was also an athlete.</span> In high school, he had his first real interaction with a police officer – John Knox: constable by day, coach by night – while trying out for a soccer team.
"When we had the tryouts, Peter was a stand out and we signed him right away. But I knew right away I wouldn't get to keep him very long – he was too good a player," said Knox, now 66. "Even then he was a leader on the team. The others looked up to him. When tempers were getting frayed, Peter would be there calming things down."
Sloly did move on quickly, first to the provincial team, and eventually the Canadian national team. His success in athletics has been duplicated in the police force.
"His rise can only be described as meteoric. And I couldn't be more proud. I think the world of Peter Sloly," said Knox. "And I think he would be a fantastic chief of police."
Sloly went on to earn a master's in business administration and marry a woman he met while in Turkey. They have one child.
He has remained connected to the sports world. Throughout the 1990s, Sloly and other officers established sports teams for youth in at-risk neighbourhoods.
"Some people have criticized my sports programs. There are those that feel police officers shouldn't be social workers and that money should be spent on enforcement," he said. "But I believe in community building."
In 2001, Sloly – then an inspector – was sent to Kosovo on a UN peacekeeping mission. It was one of the most memorable periods of his career – chiefly the events that followed the war-torn region's first national elections, in 2001.
Sloly was in a command position during deadly riots between Serbian Orthodox and Albanian Muslims in Mitrovica. "We had 40,000 NATO personnel on the ground. There were 10,000 police officers there from 53 countries. It was the most heavily militarized zone in the world. And even with that force capacity, we couldn't prevent the violence," he said.
It was an important lesson: Force alone will not keep the peace.
Perhaps Sloly drew from this experience when he managed the force's approach to tens of thousands of Tamil protestors, who commandeered downtown streets for days this year.
Sloly has also helped shape this shift within the force, helping to change the way Toronto police recruits new officers: about one-third of recent recruits are non-white.
It's this kind of leadership that has people around the city excited, says city councillor Michael Thompson, who counts the deputy a friend. "If you think of all the qualities you would hope for in a police chief, Peter has them in spades," he said. "I really think it's not a matter of if, but when."
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