{"id":26805,"date":"2026-04-30T21:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/26805\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T21:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:43:11","slug":"toronto-police-investigating-racism-antisemitism-allegations-in-former-homicide-chiefs-book-demkiw-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/26805\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto police investigating racism, antisemitism allegations in former homicide chief\u2019s book, Demkiw says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw, shown on March 12, says the force is examining the allegations \u2018very carefully.\u2019Spencer Colby\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw says the force is investigating allegations of antisemitism and racism among senior officers in a book by the former head of homicide.<\/p>\n

Chief Demkiw said they approached Hank Idsinga to participate in an investigation, but he declined.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I will tell you that we are examining the allegations very carefully,\u201d said Chief Demkiw at an unrelated press conference Thursday. \u201cWe investigate thoroughly and completely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Idsinga recently published<\/a> The High Road: Confessions of a Homicide Cop, a memoir outlining his 34-year career in the force. <\/p>\n

The Toronto Police Service last month announced a new counterterrorism unit<\/a> as part of its response to violence linked to the Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n

New counterterrorism unit helped arrest suspect in shooting targeting Jewish-owned restaurant, Toronto police say<\/a><\/p>\n

Toronto has been seeing an increase in alleged hate crimes, such as shootings targeting Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor all of the years of reporting that I can recall as it relates to hate crime, the Jewish community has been the most vulnerable to hate and the rise of antisemitism is incredibly concerning,\u201d said Chief Demkiw.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Globe on Thursday, Mr. Idsinga said the force\u2019s Professional Standards unit sent him an e-mail requesting an internal investigation on April 22, which he declined. <\/p>\n

On April 23, he said two Toronto Police Service detectives showed up at his door to hand-deliver a paper copy of the same e-mail \u2013 two days after interviews about his book were released.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not interested in participating in any interview that will lead to an investigation by the Toronto Police Service that will go absolutely nowhere,\u201d said Mr. Idsinga. \u201cI don\u2019t have faith in them to conduct an investigation like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll let the book speak for itself. What I\u2019ve got to say is in the book,\u201d said Mr. Idsinga. <\/p>\n

In the book and in media interviews, he has detailed alleged incidents of antisemitism he says he experienced in the force, but has so far declined to name names.<\/p>\n

Mr. Idsinga said some of the people in the TPS\u2019s Jewish Internal Support Network thanked him for speaking out because they usually feel that they can\u2019t. <\/p>\n

As for other officers, they wouldn\u2019t make a formal complaint while working because it\u2019s \u201ccareer suicide\u201d and they don\u2019t trust in the system that navigates complaints, he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Idsinga said he feels for the Jewish officers who are still working in the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s gonna take more than a meaningless internal investigation to say \u2018you know what? We\u2019ve got a problem with antisemitism in the police service.\u2019 We\u2019ve been saying things like this for 30 years, and yet nothing is being done,\u201d said Mr. Idsinga.<\/p>\n

According to the Toronto Police Service Equity & Inclusion Survey from 2022<\/a>, Jewish people make up one per cent of the force.<\/p>\n

Chief Demkiw said he would meet Thursday with the Jewish Internal Support Network executive and is committed to making sure they are \u201cresponsive to everything\u201d they find and will be investigating the allegations \u201cthoroughly and completely.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw, shown on March 12, says the force is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[483,361,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-26805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-nodelphi","9":"tag-pleasemod","10":"tag-toronto"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}