In this issue:
1. The Blue Wall
2. The bar in police headquarters
3. Suspending officers without pay
4. New deputy chiefs
5. New Board member
Toronto Police Accountability Bulletin No. 144, April 20, 2023.
This Bulletin is published by the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition (TPAC), a group of individuals and organizations in Toronto interested in police policies and procedures, and in making police more accountable to the community they are committed to serving. Our website is http://www.tpac.ca .
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In this issue:
1. The Blue Wall
2. The bar in police headquarters
3. Suspending officers without pay
4. New deputy chiefs
5. New Board member
6. Subscribe to the Bulletin
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1. The Blue Wall
More than 1100 people have died during police encounters in the last 22 years in Canada but few officers face serious consequences for their activities.
A total of 22 officers were charged with culpable homicide; 3 with second degree murder, 19 with manslaughter. Of the 13 officers who have stood trial, all were acquitted. The remaining cases have not yet concluded. The one outlier case was that of James Forcillo, the Toronto officer who was convicted of attempted murder of Sammy Yatim in 2013, and he spent 21 months in jail.
The Globe and Mail reviewed 2500 cases decided since 2000 by police oversight bodies (similar to the Special Investigations Unit in Ontario) in British Columbia , Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia. Quebec was excluded because of data problems; Saskatchewan and New Brunswick were excluded because their oversight bodies have only recently been formed.
Few officers agreed to co-operate with the oversight bodies, claiming they have a right not to self-incriminate even though in many cases they were the only witnesses. In British Columbia, 2 per cent of the officers co-operated; in Manitoba 12 per cent (of 145 officers); in Nova Scotia 15 per cent; in Ontario 24 per cent (of 1106 officers); in Alberta 12 per cent.
Officer co-operation was even lower in cases of fatal shootings. In British Columbia no officers co-ordinated; in Manitoba, one of 12 officers co-operated.
Howard Morton, head of the SIU from 1990 – 95, thinks Section 1 of Charter of Rights and Freedoms permits the right not to self-incriminate to be overruled if it can be justified, and he thinks in terms of police it can be justified. He believes the courts would support such a move and that police boards should be taking that approach.
In the interim, he says those officers who refuse to co-operate with oversight bodies should not be allowed to interact with the public. If you don’t cooperate, he says, `You rescind your right to be an officer.’ Otherwise, remaining silent means you can kill with impunity.
See, `The Blue Wall’, Globe and Mail, March 4, 2023 https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-police-oversight-bodies-hindered-by-silence-of-officers-globe-analysis/
The article also lists deaths by police per 10 million people per year. In USA it is 33.5 deaths; in Canada, 9.8. The rate in Canada is seven time higher than in Germany, 20 times higher than in England, and 50 times higher than in Japan.
2. The licenced bar in police headquarters
Toronto Police headquarters has had a licenced bar hidden away since 1989. Alcohol is apparently stocked by senior officers, but it seems the public pays for the space and some of the staff involved.
The existence of the bar came to light after Superintendent Riyaz Hussein crashed his car in January 2022 on Highway 401 in Pickering and was found to have a blood-alcohol concentration of more than 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, exceeding the allowable limit. It was also learned that three hours earlier he had been in the bar in police headquarters.
At a recent hearing of the police service's disciplinary tribunal – the very tribunal for which he was responsible - Hussein pleaded guilty to discreditable conduct and was demoted for a 12 month period.
Toronto police headquarters must be the only government body which has its own licenced bar, yet another sign of the way in which senior police officers exhibit impunity with respect to workplace behaviour. It makes no sense that the public should pay for the space in which senior police officers can operate a bar. If fact, there should not be a bar at all in police headquarters.
The Toronto Police Services Board said it was not involved in the establishment of the Executive Officers Lounge and isn't involved in administering it in any capacity. But the Board has been negligent in allowing the bar to exist – former chair of the Board Alok Mukherjee admitted he was aware of the facility but thought nothing of it.
The Board should notify the Alcohol and Gaming Commission that it wants the licence cancelled immediately.
3. Suspending officers without pay
One issue Ontario police chiefs have been united on for several decades is the need to change the law stating that officers can only be fired or suspended without pay if they have been placed in jail. Criminal conviction is not enough to end suspension without pay: imprisonment is required.
So OPP officer Jason Redmond who has been convicted of sexual assault and for drug trafficking, and for forging documents, remains on full pay as he appeals convictions. He has not worked for the OPP for eight years, but still draws down a salary of more than $120,000 a year.
Here in Toronto, Const. Anson Alfonso and his partner face many misconduct charges after their (alleged) failure to properly investigate Daniella Mallia’s complaints about her ex-boyfriend’s threats against her. She was killed three days later, and her ex faces first degree murder charges in the case. With the Toronto Police Association vowing to support both officers and highlighting how impacted they and their families are by this case (shame!), we can be sure that it will be years and years of more payouts to these two while they sit at home.
The Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne passed the Safer Ontario Act in 2018 providing than an officer could be suspended without pay when charged with a `serious offence not related to performance.’ (See Bulletin No. 106, November 20, 2017.) That Bill had not proclaimed when the government was defeated by Doug Ford in 2018.
Ford then said that the Bill made it `tougher for police to do their job’ and he would treat `police with fairness and respect.’ (See Bulletin No. 112, March 2, 2019). His government then introduced the Community Safety and Policing Act which almost entirely adopted the provisions of the Safer Ontario Act. But here we are, four years later, and the Act has never been proclaimed. So the law changing when officer can be suspended with pay has never been changed.
The Solicitor General’s office uses the old excuse of COVID for the delay in passing a regulation which defines what is meant by `serious offence related not related to performance’ but one suspects the delay is caused by pressure from police associations and the way Premier Ford panders to them. The government now says it hopes to put the regulation in place towards the end of this year or early next year.
But the legislation does not go far enough. Ontario needs a law similar to that which has been in place in Alberta for the last half dozen years: the police chief should have the discretion to suspend without pay. If the police association doesn’t like the chief’s decision, it can be grieved.
4. New police board appointment
Nadine Spencer has been appointed by the Toronto City Council to the Toronto Police Service Board for a four-year term. She is currently the Interim CEO of the Black Business and Professional Association and has founded multiple businesses, including a social change marketing firm and a public relations agency with operations in Toronto, New York, and Jamaica.
Notably, prior to her appointment by City Council, a vote for her appointment was first held by the Civics Appointment Committee on March 6, 2023; the vote was 3-2 in favour of Spencer. Staunch supporters of the policing status quo – Councillors Jon Burnside (a former Toronto police officer), Gary Crawford and Frances Nunziata – voted for Spencer, whereas the two progressive members of the Committee – Councillors Amber Morley and Jamaal Myers – voted against her.
That the vote broke down along those lines is an indication that Spencer could turn out to be yet another member of the Board who goes along with “business as usual” when it comes to policing in this city – time will tell.
5. New deputy chiefs
Two new deputy chiefs have been appointed, Lauren Pogue and Rob Johnson. Pogue has been with Toronto police for 34 years; Johnson for 33 years. Myron Demkiw was recently appointed to as chief having served with Toronto police for 32 years.
It is clear that the strategy of the Toronto Police Service Board is to ensure that no change will happen in the way policing is done in Toronto. It accomplishes that by only appointing from within and never seeking ideas from outside the Toronto police force. It is difficult to think of any other organization, public or private, which is so insular in its thinking.
6. Subscribe to the Bulletin
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this Bulletin, please send a note to info@tpac.ca with the instructions in the subject line or in the text of the message. Our e-mail list is confidential and will not be made available to others. There is no charge for the Bulletin. Our website is http://www.tpac.ca .
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