Toronto corruption scandal leading to ‘unwarranted casting of doubt’ on policing: WPA

Windsor Police Association issues a statement about police services in wake of corruption allegations in Toronto.

The president of the Windsor Police Association says a major corruption scandal involving Toronto officers is leading to an “unwarranted casting of doubt” on other police services across Ontario.

Kent Rice made the comments after the province’s inspector general of policing ordered a review of all 45 police services, following charges against seven Toronto officers and one retiree.

Those charged face serious allegations, including bribery, drug trafficking, theft and conspiracy to commit murder. The charges stem from “Project South,” a seven-month corruption investigation in Toronto.

Rice said incidents like this can damage trust, even in communities far removed from the case.

“It’s the unwarranted casting of doubt — the lack of trust it puts into people’s minds,” Rice told AM800 Friday morning.

“That’s very damaging. It’s a challenge that all police services face.”

The province-wide review is meant to identify vulnerabilities in areas such as supervision, officer screening, database access, evidence handling and substance-use policies.

Rice said he is not aware of any similar concerns in Windsor.

“It really is from a limited number of individuals from a police service in Toronto,” he said. “You have seven individuals in a service of nearly 5,000 officers. I believe this is an isolated incident among some bad characters.”

He also pointed to multiple layers of oversight already in place that, according to Rice, would flag signs of misconduct.

“With modern day policing, we have officers with body-worn microphones and cameras,” Rice said. “If this was going on in Windsor or other services, this would be triggered, because there’s that opportunity to review all this material.”

Rice added that police rely heavily on cooperation and trust from the community to solve crimes, and scandals like this can make that work more difficult.

“I have friends in Toronto who are officers up there. They have ethics, morals, family values, and all the values that you would really want in a police officer,” said Rice.

“They come to work every day, diligently and committed, and now they have to work underneath this cloud.”

The inspector general’s review will examine practices across Ontario police services to determine whether any changes are needed to prevent similar incidents elsewhere.