Advocates and experts are renewing calls for a division-by-division review of the Toronto Police Service, after The Globe and Mail highlighted an outsized history of database breaches within one northwest detachment.
In the eight years before the recent Project South takedown led to the arrests of several officers from 12 Division, unlawful database breaches prompted sanctions against four other constables from that same division, according to a review of disciplinary records by The Globe.
These accounted for almost one-third of TPS data-breach disciplinary cases during that time, despite the division being one of 16 across the city. A fifth officer from 12 Division was convicted criminally after he was found to have repeatedly leaked confidential information to a member of the public with a criminal record.
These numbers “illustrate that there is a systemic problem,” said Shakir Rahim, director of the criminal justice program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).
“I think your piece does speak to the real possibility that there are issues that are division specific, that have to be properly explored within the TPS.”
Toronto Police division at core of Project South probe has history of data breaches
Database breaches were at the core of the allegations laid out in Project South, which was announced by York Regional Police in February as one of the largest police corruption cases in Canadian history.
The probe was sparked by the alleged attempted killing of a corrections officer at his home. Investigators then worked backward, determining that a Toronto Police Service constable, Timothy Barnhardt, had allegedly used police databases to leak information that ultimately led to the alleged attempted hit.
Seven active TPS officers have been charged under Project South. Three of them – including Constable Barnhardt – worked in 12 Division, along with a recently retired officer, who is also facing charges. The allegations against them have not been tested in court.
In response to the Project South corruption case, the province’s Inspector-General of Policing launched a sweeping Ontario-wide review of police services. Estimated to take 18 months, the review will look at police-officer screening, supervision and substance abuse. It will also look at evidence management and how to safeguard law-enforcement databases.
A spokesperson for the Inspectorate, Rima Amri, said in an e-mail Tuesday that the review will evaluate the effectiveness of all police services and civilian oversight boards in both preventing and detecting corruption.
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But critics say this is far too broad a mandate, and risks glossing over any potential localized issues that may have given rise to the specific allegations of Project South.
John Sewell, co-ordinator of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, said The Globe’s analysis has highlighted the need to zoom in on each division.
“I think your research has shown very clearly that there’s been a whole bunch of data breaches that have happened” in 12 Division, he said.
Mr. Sewell, who was mayor of Toronto from 1978 to 1980, has previously called on city council to order a public inquiry, which it has the legal authority to do under the Municipal Act.
“It’s a Toronto problem. Toronto politicians should be saying, ‘this is our problem,’ ” he said.
Top civic and police leaders in Toronto said on Wednesday that they will continue to back the provincewide probe.
“The mayor expressed her support for the Inspector-General’s review process,” said Braman Thillainathan, a spokesperson for Olivia Chow, who added that “the mayor will continue to meet with the chief and the board chair to reinforce that rebuilding trust is non-negotiable.”
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In an e-mailed statement Wednesday, a spokesperson for Shelley Carroll, the chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, said the board has been assured that the provincial probe will examine all the relevant issues. If the board believes further independent review or investigation is necessary after their probe, they “will not hesitate to take additional steps.”
At a public event on Tuesday, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said he had not read The Globe’s reporting on data breaches in 12 Division. Chief Demkiw has said previously that he welcomes the provincewide review, but that there would be complexities around data collection at the unit level.
That response is not satisfactory to Mr. Rahim of the CCLA.
“If there’s a credible issue affecting public trust, transparency is the answer,” he said. “And if you’re not willing to pursue that transparency, then I think that begs the question of, ‘Why do you not want this to be looked at at that level?’ ”
Scot Wortley, professor and acting director at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto, also questioned the broad mandate of the Inspector-General’s review.
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“It is at the very least perplexing that an investigation that started with the nation’s largest municipal police service was quickly expanded to over 50 police services, large and small,” Dr. Wortley said, adding that a public inquiry is the only way to get at the true extent of the alleged corruption.
The Globe reviewed all decisions produced by the TPS’s discipline tribunal – which adjudicates serious allegations of misconduct – between 2018 and 2025, which was as far back as were immediately available from the service.
“These are cases where the individuals were caught,” Dr. Wortley said. “My question would be how many instances go undetected? How common a practice is this among officers? How is it promoted and sanctioned among officers within particular units, and what’s the certainty of punishment?”
Stephanie Sayer, a spokesperson for the municipal police force, said previously that formal discipline cases do not reflect the full picture of data breaches within the force – because not all breaches are brought before the tribunal.
On Wednesday, she issued a new statement saying that clusters of documented data breaches within the force, or its divisions, ought to be seen as a reflection of the police service’s relative size and openness.
“The assumption that data breaches are a Toronto-specific issue is unfounded,” she said. “As the largest municipal police service in Canada, the scale of our operations means we will see higher numbers in absolute terms, and we are transparent in disclosing public disciplinary matters – something that is not consistent across all jurisdictions.”