As a former chair of the police services board, I have misgivings about the inspection into corruption of Toronto’s force - Toronto Star

Questions remain regarding the independence of the inspection.

In light of Project South, Toronto Police are undergoing an inspection. The fairness of that inspection, however, isn’t entirely assured, writes Alok Mukherjee.

Alok Mukherjee is a Senior Fellow of Massey College, University of Toronto. He served as chair of the Toronto Police Services Board from 2004 to 2015. He is the author, with Tim Harper, of "Excessive Force: Toronto’s Fight to Reform City Policing." Alok Mukherjee can be followed on Substack, WordPress, LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Reddit.

It looks like the Toronto Police Service (TPS) has been hit once again with its version of the “Seven-Year Itch” — this time concerning systemic police corruption. Recent investigative coverage by the Toronto Star has uncovered the shocking scope of officer misconduct.

Whether this is the “biggest” corruption scandal in TPS history remains to be seen; the 1990s Drug Squad scandal investigated by the RCMP sets a high bar. However, the handling of these new allegations by the TPS, the Toronto Police Service Board (TPSB), and Ontario’s Inspector General of Policing raises urgent governance questions. Their responses show how, sometimes, the cure can be worse than the disease.

As detailed in the Star’s report “Project South: Inside Toronto guns-for-hire network,” this crisis ranks alongside major past TPS scandals — from the G20 misconduct to the Bruce McArthur investigation — all of which required independent examinations into failures of supervision and accountability.

Today’s crisis stems from criminal charges against seven active officers, one civilian member and one retired officer. Allegations include links to organized crime and tow-truck gangs, a conspiracy to kill a Toronto South Detention Centre unit commander, information leaks, and illegal database breaches.

Following a task force set up by Chief Myron Demkiw and a criminal investigation by York Region Police, the TPSB and Chief Demkiw jointly requested an “independent and comprehensive inspection” from Ontario’s Inspector General of Policing, Ryan Teschner. They cited five areas: supervision, vetting, database access, evidence management and fitness for duty.

While the board acted with alacrity to control damage, the manner of its approach to the Inspector General raises serious concerns regarding genuine accountability.

Newly released court records provide an in-depth timeline of how the case has unfolded.