A group of Toronto police officers has been arrested in connection to organized crime and corruption allegations
Personal information allegedly leaked to an organized crime network led to shooting incidents
Eight Toronto police officers (seven of whom are active and one who is retired) have been arrested following an organized crime and corruption investigation, which the Toronto Police Service has called Project South.
Sources told CP24 that the officers charged worked in the city’s west end, particularly the force’s 11 and 12 divisions. One officer is confirmed to be from the force’s Guns and Gangs Unit.
“This is a deeply disappointing and sad day for policing,” York Regional Police chief Jim MacSween said at a press conference this morning. “And it shows the insidious and corrosive nature of organized crime.”
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MacSween and York deputy police chief Ryan Hogan told reporters that allegations against the officers include bribery, obstruction of justice, drug trafficking, theft of personal property, breach of trust and the unauthorized access and distribution of confidential information.
According to police, the accused officers unlawfully accessed personal information, and shared it with contacts in organized crime, who carried out shootings and other violent crimes. Surveillance footage was shown of one attack at the home of a corrections management staff member. Masked individuals swarmed the home, allegedly with the intent of committing murder. At the press conference, police said they had no reason to believe that the victim of the home invasion was involved in criminal activity.
Police added that one accused has connections to the tow truck industry.
“This is a difficult and unsettling moment,” Toronto Police Service chief Myron Demkiw said at the press conference. “I understand this news will be distressing to Torontonians.”
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
