Toronto/CMEDIA: Following eight current and former Toronto police officers reportedly charged in Project South, Ontario’s inspector general of policing, Ryan Teschner, confirmed Monday at a news conference at Queen’s Park that he is conducting a sweeping investigation into police corruption involving independent inspection of police corruption in the province.
The announcement comes less than a week after a bombshell investigation by York Regional Police that resulted in charges against seven current and one retired Toronto police officer.
Included in the allegations against some of the officers were taking bribes, protecting illegal cannabis dispensaries for drug traffickers, identity theft, and accessing confidential information to facilitate a murder plot against a manager at an Ontario correctional facility.
Also READ : Toronto cops accused of leaking info to ‘key’ organized crime figure in corruption probe
“I am announcing an independent province-wide inspection into the ability of Ontario’s police services and boards to prevent, detect, respond to and fortify their organizations against corruption and ensure integrity,” Teschner said.
He said “organized crime is insidious” and people need to have confidence in those who enforce the law.
“Incidents like these understandably shake public trust in policing more broadly, it’s important to acknowledge the real questions the public is asking, and the potential effect these questions may have on their confidence in Ontario’s policing system,” Teschner said.
All 45 police forces in the province would be covered in the inspection conducted by an independent inspector appointed under the authority of Ontario’s Community Safety and Policing Act, the legislation that governs policing in the province.
The person who will lead the investigation has not yet been appointed.
“I think that there are some very qualified people right here in Ontario, and so I’m giving some immediate thought to who that may be,” Teschner said.
READ MORE: Here’s how a Toronto police officer allegedly participated in a plot to murder a corrections officer
He added that the inspection will look at the following five key areas:
- Supervision and span of control, including how officers are effectively supervised
- Screening and vetting of officers, both at recruitment and on an ongoing basis during their careers
- Access to both police databases and information systems
- Evidence and property management
- Substance abuse and fitness for duty
A timeline for the report has not been provided by Teschner, but promised that it would be transparent, and released publicly when complete.
An investigation into organized crime and corruption, Project South, remains ongoing and could result in further criminal charges.
Aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of police services and boards, the independent inspection announced by Teschner will serve in preventing, detecting, responding to, and fortifying their organizations from corruption.
In the wake of Project South, the Toronto Police Service and the Toronto Police Services Board jointly requested the review and Teschner decided to make it a “sector-wide” review.
In a statement Monday, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow welcomed the news.
“On behalf of the people of our city, I want answers on how corruption could occur and continue undetected, and the systemic changes the Toronto Police Service must make to prevent this from happening again,” she wrote in a post on X.
