Alok Mukherjee has been re-elected as chairman of the Toronto Police Services Board, a position he has held since 2007.
The civilian board, made up of seven members including Toronto Mayor John Tory, renewed their support of Mukherjee in a meeting at police headquarters last Wednesday.
The chairman faced public scrutiny and calls for resignation last December as result of a controversial image shared on his personal Facebook account. The post compared the number of Americans killed by Ebola and ISIS, two and three accordingly, and the number of American civilians killed by their own police force, more than 500.
Another post appeared to play down the seriousness of domestic violence.
Mukherjee apologized multiple times. He insisted he was a “victim of a smear campaign” and racism was being used to “destroy his reputation.”
Toronto Police are mostly refusing to comment on the re-election of the chairman. “It’s the board’s decision. My job is to work in support of the board’s governance role while serving and protecting the city,” Deputy Chief Peter Sloly said.
Despite not always supporting Mukherjee and having criticized him in the past, Mayor John Tory told reporters, “I just think he will be the right man to lead us forward for another year.”