The Ontario police watchdog has initiated a thorough examination across the province to assess the effectiveness of police services and boards in preventing, detecting, and responding to corruption. This comes in the wake of charges laid against seven current Toronto officers in connection with an organized crime investigation.
Inspector General Ryan Teschner has announced the appointment of an external individual to lead the inspection, ensuring a dedicated focus on the task at hand. Among the 27 suspects charged in the investigation conducted by York Regional Police, seven were Toronto police officers, with an additional retired officer also implicated.
The investigation revealed a range of serious allegations, including bribery, conspiracy to commit murder, and drug trafficking. According to York police, Toronto officers allegedly accessed and leaked personal information to members of an organized crime syndicate, who then carried out criminal activities such as shootings, extortions, and robberies.
Teschner clarified that the inspection’s primary goal is to evaluate the strength of existing systems, including those related to recruitment and IT access, rather than targeting individual criminal behavior. The focus will be on identifying areas for improvement within the sector as a whole.