The TTC has suspended the practice of having its transit officers collect personal information from people who are issued warnings on the transit system, following a Star investigation that raised privacy and discrimination concerns about the policy.The transit agency announced in mid-March that officers would stop using specialized police-style forms to collect the information, but at the time TTC CEO Rick Leary said they would still record riders’ personal details in their notebooks, pending the outcome of an internal review of the policy. However, at a meeting of the TTC board on Wednesday, Alan Cakebread, the head of the agency’s enforcement unit, revealed his officers are no longer recording the information at all.“We’ve stopped collecting any of that data until the review of the program is complete,” he said. The agency is expected to report back to the board in July with the outcome of the review, which will examine the TTC’s need to take riders’ personal information, and how it is used and retained. Transit agency spokesperson Stuart Green confirmed that Cakebread directed officers to stop collecting the data on March 27, two weeks after Leary announced the discontinuation of the specialized forms.“In the meantime, if a warning is issued it is (issued) verbally and used as a teachable moment for the customer,” Green said. Officers are still issuing tickets for fare evasion and other offences as normal.The Star first reported in March on transit officers’ collection of riders’ personal information, which has been regular agency practice for years but has faced little public scrutiny or oversight from the TTC board. When transit enforcement officers or fare inspectors suspect a customer of committing fare evasion or another offence, they have the option of issuing a warning instead of a ticket. In such cases it has been TTC policy for the officers to take down riders’ personal informat ...
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