Toronto’s police chief says he will “thoroughly” investigate allegations of antisemitism and racism within the service made by former homicide detective Hank Idsinga in his new memoir.
The allegations were made in Idsinga’s new book, High Road: Confessions of a Homicide Cop, in which he says he witnessed cases of antisemitism and racism, writing that he had concerns about corruption in the Toronto Police Service’s senior ranks.
“Any allegation of a Toronto police officer being involved in any kind of racist behaviour we take very, very seriously,” said Chief Myron Demkiw, adding all allegations will be investigated “thoroughly and completely.”
Demkiw added he would meet with service members on Thursday to discuss the claims with the executive of the police force’s Jewish Internal Support Network.
“We, as you know, have approached that individual as far as participating in any investigation and that has been declined at this point,” Demkiw said.
The police service’s professional standards unit emailed last Wednesday, Idsinga said. But after not responding to the email, he told officers who showed up at his door last Thursday, “thanks, but no thanks.”
Get daily National news
“I would not entrust them with it by investigating themselves, essentially,” Idsinga said in an interview Thursday, adding Demkiw’s “messaging” was better but he’d be watching to see the results of the investigation.
Earlier this week, the police service said it could not substantiate claims when no complaint was made at the time.
Idsinga’s book begins by looking at his grandfather, who was killed during the Holocaust as a German Jew. It ends with speaking of cases of “antisemitist Jew hatred” he saw within the police force.
It was his grandfather who was one of the guiding forces towards him becoming a police detective, saying he wanted to help the victims, Idsinga said in a separate interview with The Ben Mulroney Show on Corus’ Talk network of stations.
During his time with the service, Idsinga said he got a “peek behind the curtain,” and while the majority of senior officers are very hard workers, it can take just a “couple of bad eggs” to ruin the reputation.
“Seeing the impact of that and really the futility of trying to do anything about it within the organization was a bit of a letdown. I shouldn’t say a bit, it was a huge letdown,” he told Mulroney.
Idsinga acknowledged the memoir is his version of the events he experienced.
In one case, Idsinga said a fellow officer made antisemitic comments to his face, presumably unaware of his heritage.
“Realizing the futility of what the Toronto Police Service is now pushing a narrative of, ‘well, you should’ve filed a formal complaint.'”
Idsinga served with the Toronto Police Service for 34 years and was involved in high-profile cases, including serial killer Bruce McArthur and the murders of billionaires Barry and Honey Sherman.
Comments
Comments closed.
Due to the sensitive and/or legal subject matter of some of the content on globalnews.ca, we reserve the ability to disable comments from time to time.
Please see our Commenting Policy for more.