Toronto’s police chief is issuing a stern warning against any officer who might be getting any ideas from the explosive revelations about the behaviour of officers accused in the Project South corruption case. Chief Myron Demkiw directed a public statement at the officers in his command in the wake of new details revealing that officers were recorded in wiretaps selling cocaine and police uniforms and setting up a network of illicit businesses. “Let me be absolutely clear: I have zero tolerance for corruption in the Toronto Police Service. Wearing this uniform is a privilege,” Demkiw said. “The overwhelming majority of our members serve this city every day with honour, integrity and professionalism. They deserve to work in a Service where those standards are upheld, and the people of Toronto deserve a police service they can trust,” he said. “If anyone chooses to engage in corruption, my message is simple: we will find you, investigate you, and hold you accountable,” he said. The chief was reacting after a search warrant application was ordered released by a judge following an application by CTV News and other media outlets this week. The new concerning behaviour was on top of what was already known: the main thrust of the charges in the sweeping case was that leaked information from officers accessing police databases resulted in a series of shootings, including one attempt on the life of a manager of the Toronto South Detention Centre. Eight current and former officers were charged with offences, along with over a dozen civilians, after an investigation by York Regional Police. Police union responds Toronto Police Association president Clayton Campbell said in a statement that the officers charged represent a small fraction of the roughly 9,000 uniformed officers in the police service. “Our members are equally frustrated and disappointed … our members have no tolerance for police corruption, and they should not be judged collectively because of allegations made against a very small number of individuals,” Campbell said. Earlier this year, Chief Demkiw launched a two-pronged anti-corruption initiative focused on better supervision of officers and stronger controls over internal databases, as well as “One TPS,” which reinforces a professional culture at the police services. The Toronto Police Services Board also created an audit committee for regular updates on Project South, and the provincial Inspector General of Policing and the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency announced reviews. The City of Toronto’s auditor general reviewed possible privacy breaches from the leaks but stopped short of a judicial inquiry. The scale of what was discovered needs to be put in perspective, said former Toronto detective Mark Mendelson, in an interview. “This is a continuation of what I originally described as probably the worst corruption scandal Toronto police have ever faced in the history of the service. And every time the courts release another page of these search warrant applications, the, you know, the story gets uglier and uglier as we go,” Mendelson said. “The big takeaway is that changes are going to have to be made. I mean, these guys, they all knew that every time they do a keystroke on their computers in the cars, whether they’re retrieving personal information, criminal backgrounds, motor vehicle registrations, there’s a username and a password, there’s a footprint all the way along. And how they thought they were never going to get caught up on this is beyond me,” he said.
