Nearly two-thirds of Toronto residents, 65 per cent, believe Police Chief Myron Demkiw is doing a good job while 73 per cent say the same about the city’s front-line officers, according to a new poll.The Canada Pulse Insights poll conducted for CityNews found the approval rating was nearly unchanged from last year at 72 per cent when it came to officers, but Demkiw’s has increased over October 2025 at 62 per cent and 60 per cent in 2024.The new rating comes just a few months after seven Toronto police officers were charged in an investigation into organized crime and police corruption that has already resulted in two guilty pleas. The survey found just over one in four of those polled, 27 per cent, said decisions by Toronto police leadership have cost them some of their trust, but 62 per cent said their trust remained unchanged. Eleven per cent said the decisions have increased their trust.Related:More than a third of Torontonians don’t feel safe in their own neighbourhood after dark: pollCrime and punishment: How are mayoral candidates Chow and Bradford planning to keep Toronto safe?When it comes to front-line officers, 81 per cent of Torontonians trust and respect the local police, while 83 per cent said they wouldn’t hesitate to ask an officer for help.Six in ten (59 per cent) Torontonians agree the police have handled extortion cases in the city well (8 per cent strongly); 41 per cent disagree (9 per cent strongly).In the GTA, which includes Mississauga and the rest of Peel Region, Durham Region, York Region and Halton Region, 73 per cent say their local police chief is doing a good job, an increase from 67 per cent over last year and 79 per cent said the same about front-line officers.Eight-four per cent trust and respect local police while 86 per cent said they wouldn’t hesitate to ask an officer for help. Pollster John Wright said for the approval rating of a chief of police, it’s not always just about their performance. “It’s also the sense of security in the city and whether or not people feel you know their issues are being met,” said Wright.He added that despite the scandals the Toronto police department has dealt with, how a chief manages it is the most important thing.“Bringing in a third party, having cases referred immediately, not dragging your feet on these things. I mean, this is how the police have dealt with these issues very forthrightly and very quickly. That does, in fact, help how the police leadership is viewed.”A previous poll conducted for CityNews also found that people believe some aspects of public safety and police response have improved over last year. “Those two things, combined with how the chief has reacted to situations over the last two years, are likely the things that have given him the bump,” said Wright.This survey was conducted among 510 adult residents of the City of Toronto and 825 adult residents of the Greater Toronto Area outside Toronto — the City of Mississauga and the regional municipalities of Durham, York, Halton and Peel. The margin of error for a probability-based sample of this size is ±4.3 percentage points for Toronto and ±3.4 for the GTA, 19 times out of 20.