Toronto police Chief Bill Blair said it's not appropriate to scare the public by suggesting cuts to the force, as it has few areas where reductions can realistically be expected.

About 90 per cent of the police budget goes to salaries, so only reducing the size of the force would result in significant savings, Blair said Wednesday.

The Police Services Board held an emergency meeting Wednesday after being asked by the city to look for cost savings of at least $10 million as part of reducing the city's overall financial shortfall of more than $500 million.

They are not considering reducing the number of uniformed officers and city council has not requested that they do so, Blair said.

"I'm not prepared to engage in that as an exercise because I think it causes a great deal of anxiety among the people of Toronto and I don't think that's appropriate for us to do," said Blair.

The chair of the board, Alok Mukherjee, said he agrees with the chief that there are few areas to trim.

The board asked Blair to prepare a report on potential savings and present it in October.