Another speed camera sawed down in Toronto

Police confirmed there have been seven reported incidents of damaged or vandalised speed cameras throughout Toronto in 2024.

Yet another speed camera has been cut down in Toronto.

Toronto Police confirmed to CP24 the Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) device located in the area of Avenue Road and Oaklands Avenue, in the city’s Summerhill neighbourhood, was sawed down. Police say it was cut down on Friday whereas the city says they received notice last Thursday.

At the site, repair crews tell CTV News Toronto it costs about $10,000 to fix every damaged ASE device.

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A spokesperson for the city admonished the vandalism, issuing a reminder that damaging, tampering with or stealing a speed camera “allows dangerous speeding to continue and undermines the safety of all road users.”

While the city condemns the vandalism, it says it does not own any of the ASE devices, adding the cameras are a “vendor-provided service.”

“(I)t is the vendor’s responsibility to replace or fix the devices within a maximum of 30 days and report serious incidents of vandalism to Toronto Police Service,” City of Toronto spokesperson Laura McQuillan said in an emailed statement.

Last year, the city says 12 cameras were “vandalized beyond repair.” Toronto Police say they received seven reported incidents in 2024.

Damaging speed cameras appears to be a growing trend across the city, with one particular ASE device on Parkside Drive catching the ire of vandals.

At that location, the camera has been cut down at least three times with the most recent instance in December seeing the device dumped into a nearby duck pond.

It was the third time in two months that particular camera was downed, as in November it was chopped down less than 24 hours after it was reinstalled.

The city says there are currently 75 ASE cameras. However, council approved the installation of an additional 75 cameras this year, bringing the total to 150.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s John Musselman