Ontario’s solicitor general says he will review a request from the Toronto police chief to expand the situations in which officers can be suspended without pay after three were charged over allegedly assaulting a sex worker in Spain.
The Toronto officers were arrested and charged in Barcelona earlier this month and face charges over an incident in a taxi involving a woman who was allegedly hurt and sexually assaulted.
All three have since returned to Canada and been suspended with pay while the Spanish investigation and potential court process play out.
Toronto police Chief Myron Demkiw said in a media interview this week that he can’t cancel the officers’ pay because the alleged offences didn’t happen in Canada.
Solicitor general Michael Kerzner said he was expecting a letter from the chief requesting legal changes to allow him to suspend officers who are accused of crimes abroad.
“I’m going to consider the requests, and we’ll continue to engage the chief. All options are on the table,” he told reporters at Queen’s Park. “Almost everyone who puts on the uniform anywhere in Ontario upholds a high standard. But let’s face it, when you don’t, there has to be consequences.”
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The Ford government passed a new policing law that governs how services are run and officers are suspended years ago, but it wasn’t brought into force until 2024.
Among the changes, it allowed police to suspend officers without pay.
Kerzner suggested he wasn’t clear yet on how he could accommodate a request from the Toronto chief, asking reporters to wait until he has the letter to decide his next steps.
The three arrests have shaken Toronto police, a force already reeling from allegations of corruption and the arrest of multiple officers through Project South.
Coun. Shelley Carroll, chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, previously warned Demkiw he must regain public trust.
“At a time when public confidence must be continually reinforced, people also need to see visible leadership and a clear commitment to strengthening the culture and standards of the Service,” she wrote in a statement.
“I expect the Chief and Service leadership to demonstrate the actions necessary to maintain the trust the public places in the Service.”
Kerzner said he was “upset” by the allegations against the three Toronto officers.
“I was really upset when people of our Toronto Police Service — or, for that matter, anybody who’s a police officer — goes abroad or is off duty and behaves inappropriately,” he said.
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