6 Toronto police officers found guilty of discreditable conduct online
Global News
An internal review has found a group of Toronto police officers guilty of discreditable conduct for posts criticizing a Toronto lawyer and activist.
An internal review has found that six Toronto police officers engaged in discreditable conduct on social media, but that their words were not racist. However, exactly what has been done about it is still not public knowledge.
The officers faced two counts of discreditable conduct stemming from their comments and likes on a Facebook post on another officer’s page on July 31, 2018. The comments were brought to the attention of the Office of the Independent Police Review Director by another officer.
The original post was a link to a TV news story about allegations of racial profiling in the city’s Regent Park area. the allegations in the story were made by lawyer Selwyn Pieters.
In replies under the main post, the officers in question made disparaging remarks against people involved in the story, including Pieters and activist Desmond Cole.
The investigative report, obtained by Global News, showed multiple posts, including, “Same lawyer, same story” and “Selwyn would cry racism if I said I drink my coffee black,” in reference to Pieters.
The report also showed “Another racist idiot,” comparing Pieters to Cole.
“So now we are calling known gang members influencers,” was made in reference to the subject of the news story the officers were commenting on.
While the internal review did find the officers’ comments brought discredit to the force, substantiating the first charge, it did not find the second discreditable conduct charge, alleging racism, to be substantiated.