Toronto officials unveiled a new $12.5-million police command centre on Tuesday that is the centrepiece of the city’s security plans for the FIFA World Cup.
The Toronto Integrated Safety and Security Unit Area Command Centre, known as the TACC, will bring together the co-ordination of emergency services under one roof.
Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw said police have learned from previous major sporting events held in the city, including the World Series last year, and have gleaned best practices and tactics from police in other countries that have hosted World Cup games.
“Policing FIFA is the longest, continuous operational period requiring the largest deployment of members in Toronto police service history so we needed the right tools to succeed,” Demkiw told reporters ahead of a media tour of the centre.
Demkiw added that a central separate building was necessary to bring expertise into one space, which he described as a state of the art operations facility led by police and built for the World Cup.
Emergency services that will have staff at the centre include the Toronto Police Service, Toronto Fire Services, Toronto Paramedic Services, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto Hydro, Toronto Water, the Ontario coroner’s office, Metrolinx and the TTC.
Demkiw said the centre will have “decision makers” from each service who will be able to co-ordinate a response if an incident occurs and enable the services to work closely together.
Toronto police Supt. Dave Ecklund said police will be able to monitor activity in real time, including crowd movement and traffic conditions, using drone footage and traffic cameras from the city and Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation.
“The drones will provide clear real time pictures to support planning and immediate response,” Eckland said.

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