Craig Bromell (born 1959 in

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...

) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

radio personality and former police officer. Prior to his broadcast career, Bromell served as president of the

Toronto Police Association The Toronto Police Association (TPA), founded in 1944, is a labour organization representing the approximately 5,500 uniformed and 2,500 civilian members of the Toronto Police Service in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. While police officers in Ontari ...

from 1997 to 2003. In that position, he was often at odds with the two chiefs of

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

during his tenure,

Julian Fantino Julian Fantino, , ( it, Giuliano Fantino; born August 13, 1942) is a Canadian retired police official and former politician. He was the Conservative Party of Canada Member of the Parliament of Canada for the riding of Vaughan following a Novem ...

and

David Boothby David J. Boothby (born 1944) is a retired Canadian police officer who served as the final chief of the Metro Toronto Police from 1995 to 1997, before the position was amalgamated into the Toronto Police Service. He served as chief until his retir ...

. Previous to becoming TPA president, Bromell led a

wildcat strike The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while the ...

of officers in 51 Division. In 1996, Thomas Kerr, a homeless man, claimed that he was beaten up by nine police officers, including Bromell, in retaliation for breaking another police officer's arm in a previous encounter. A settlement was made before Bromell, now head of the Toronto Police Union, was scheduled to testify and would be subject to questioning about the event in question. The internal investigator's testimony stated that police claimed that they had never picked up Kerr. However, a fingerprint of Kerr's was lifted from the cruiser that one of the officers had been using. The investigator also noticed later changes to police notebooks to make it look as though Kerr had an eye injury and was bleeding from his mouth before the alleged beating. In 2000, the police association, under Bromell's leadership, launched a telemarketing campaign called Operation True Blue, in which donors were given windshield stickers for their cars. Critics charged that Bromell and the union were amassing a war chest in order to target political opponents, and raised the concern that police officers could offer special privilege (such as disregarding minor traffic infractions, etc.) to people whose cars bore the stickers. Fantino soon forced the campaign to cease. That same year, Bromell released a list of 17

councillors A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

he recommended that the union endorse during the municipal elections. All of the 17 were

conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

who advocated curtailing the right of the municipal police services board to review internal affairs, especially in the city's

racial profiling Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...

controversy. Bromell stepped down as head of the police association in 2003 and was succeeded by Rick McIntosh. In 2004, Bromell became a late morning

radio host A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a radi ...

for talk radio station AM640 Toronto Radio, co-hosting ''The Beat'' briefly with 640's former news director Ross MacLeod, before permanent co-host Tina Trigiani was selected. The show was rebranded ''Bromell!'' in 2006, with co-host John Downs as Trigiani went on a temporary professional leave. Bromell left AM640 in August 2007. The television series '' The Bridge'' is loosely based upon Bromell's tenure as head of the police union. Bromell is the executive producer. The lead character, Frank Leo, is modeled upon Bromell and played by Aaron Douglas. In 2012, Bromell became the first head of the new Building Union of Canada. The union plans to unionize non-unionized workers in the construction field. It got into a dispute with the existing Laborers' Union of North America over raids on its employees.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bromell, Craig 1959 births Canadian talk radio hosts Living people People from Oshawa Toronto police officers Date of birth missing (living people)