Further Information Regarding Nov 4, 2011 St. George Garage Incident

To: PDAD&C
Professional and Managerial Staff

From: Angela Hildyard, Vice-President, Human Resources & Equity

Date: November 10, 2011

Subject: Further Information Regarding Nov 4, 2011 St. George Garage Incident

As many may have heard, on Friday, November 4, 2011 at approximately 11:40 a.m., University of Toronto Campus Community Police received a call from a University employee alleging that a woman had been heard calling for help in the garage at 107 St. George Street and had been forced into a car. Toronto Police were called, attended immediately, and have been conducting an investigation.

Some media outlets subsequently reported that a woman was physically forced into the trunk of a car and that a University of Toronto special constable witnessed the incident and failed to do anything to assist. The Toronto Police Service has advised the University that it did not provide that information to the media and that a detective sergeant spoke to the media to clarify misrepresentation of the facts in issue.

The Toronto Police Service has further informed the University that its lead investigators believe this to be an isolated incident and that they have no reason to think that there is any increased danger in University parking lots or other properties. The investigators are still hopeful they will identify the registered owner of the vehicle seen leaving the area at the time of the incident. No complainant has yet come forward.

Members of our community should be aware that, in response to this alleged incident, the University immediately increased patrols in campus garages and parking lots. Campus police continue to provide community policing programs that are designed to maximize safety and security of students, staff and faculty at all times. Some of the safety programs in place are alarm monitoring, security patrols, WALKsmart escort and emergency (Code Blue) call boxes.

Campus Community Police are available 24/7 and can be reached at 416-978-2222 for urgent matters and 416 978-2323 for general information and non-urgent matters. For more information on Campus Police functions and programs, go to www.campuspolice.utoronto.ca.