Toronto police constable dismissed for misconduct after tweeting about sexual harassment

A Toronto Police Service constable will be fired or must resign in seven days after being found guilty of eight counts of misconduct, according to a police tribunal decision Tuesday.

The ruling by Robin D. McElary-Downer, a retired deputy chief with the South Simcoe Police Service, in the Toronto Police Service disciplinary hearing was related to Const. Firouzeh Zarabi-Majd's tweets alleging of racism and sexual harassment inside the service, her refusal to leave the property of another officer and her refusal to take part in an internal investigation. 

Zarabi-Majd did not attend the hearing, saying she was unable due to post-traumatic stress disorder. The tribunal is a quasi-judicial forum where the police investigate allegations of serious breaches of its code of conduct and Police Services Act.

"Taking into consideration the nature and seriousness of the misconduct, a demonstrated inability to reform and the likely damage to the [Toronto Police Service], coupled with all the other factors I contemplated, I find Constable Zarabi-Majd's usefulness as a police officer spent," wrote McElary-Downer in a decision published Tuesday. 

The decision comes about three years after Zarabi-Majd told CBC's The Fifth Estate that the Toronto police environment is "so toxic you're just constantly trying to survive." She said she was kissed without her consent and male officers asked her to describe the bodies of female suspects she searched.

WATCH | Zarabi-Majd tells CBC's The Fifth Estate about offensive material she encountered in the workplace: 

Melanie J. Webb, the lawyer who defended Zarabi-Majd, said she and her client will review the decision and consider any viable options for an appeal. Webb said any comment on specific aspects of the decision would be reserved for argument on appeal, if that is pursued. 

"This has been a devastating experience for PC Zarabi-Majd," Webb said in an emailed statement. 

Through her tweets, the constable was intent on destroying the reputation of the police force and that of former police chief James Ramer, who was in the role from 2020 to 2022, McElary-Downer said in her decision.

McElary-Downer wrote that Zarabi-Majd levelled slanderous accusations of patriarchy, discrimination, racism and homophobia that impacted the public's confidence in the chief of police and Mayor John Tory. 

She wrote that Zarabi-Majd implicated the force covered up sexual assaults, protected perpetrators and silenced women, causing "irreparable damage" to the service and its leaders. 

Further, Zarabi-Majid refused to help expose officers for alleged misconduct by defying lawful orders to take part in an internal investigation, she wrote.

The constable also posted "horrifically harmful racist and offensive material" on Twitter, which is in violation of the force's standards of conduct, the decision said.

McElary-Downer wrote that she was not suggesting Zarabi-Majd participated in the origin of the material, rather than she was exposing the misconduct of other police officers.