Star reporters answer your questions about Project South - Toronto Star

Reporters Brendan Kennedy and Abby O'Brien, who have been covering the Toronto Police Service corruption scandal known as Project South, answered questions on everything from the missing uniform items to what happens next.

Toronto Const. Timothy Barnhardt, left, is accused of leaking the address of a prison staff member to Brian Da Costa, right.

Portions of the court document behind the Project South investigation — one of the biggest police corruption scandals in Toronto’s history — were released this week after a court application by the Toronto Star and a coalition of media partners.

The claims in the document, known as an information-to-obtain a warrant or an ITO, have not yet been tested in court, and none of the accused have been convicted of their alleged offences.

The records allege ties to organized crime, drug dealing among officers, bribe-taking, misuse of police databases and the selling of police uniform items, stemming from an investigation that began with a thwarted assassination attempt on a jail official.

Naturally, Star readers had questions — and reporters Brendan Kennedy and Abby O’Brien took to the comments to answer them. Here’s what they said:

This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: “Have they recovered the missing uniform? So somewhere there’s a criminal posing as a police officer? Sounds concerning.” — Phillippe

A: “The short answer is we don’t know for sure. In the ITO, the investigators do not include any evidence that the uniform items were ever used to impersonate police or to commit a crime. Toronto Police have not publicly said whether or not they recovered the uniforms after they arrested Da Costa. It’s possible they will be entered as evidence when the case eventually gets to trial. It’s also possible police have no idea what happened to them.” — Brendan Kennedy

Q: “Could you talk a bit about how the Divisions implicated have responded internally? I imagine morale there is pretty low. E.g. reassignments, staff training, changed accountabilities” — Laurie

A: “The majority of accused officers were at one point deployed to 12 Division, on Trethewey Drive in North York. After the arrests were announced in February, Toronto police chief Myron Demkiw said additional supervisors would be appointed at 12 Division, and made a commitment to “expanding the pillar” of the unit that probes internal misconduct allegations within the service, the Professional Standards Unit. Spokesperson Stephanie Sayer also said this week that TPS has introduced a new “Accountability and Compliance Team,” which is currently conducting service-wide inspections, and that two simultaneous projects, both focused on anti-corruption and strengthening ethical standards, were also underway. The chief is expected to provide an update to the board in November on the progress of each initiative to-date. As for morale, President of the Toronto Police Association Clayton Campbell told the Star Thursday that his members are “equally frustrated and disappointed” with the allegations.” — Abby O’Brien

Q: “Previous reporting says Da Costa is linked to mafia groups or a member of a mafia group? Have any documents specifically said which group this is? Is it known which group?” — Joe

A: “The ITO includes allegations of Da Costa being linked to organized crime, but it doesn’t specify a specific group. Da Costa and Barnhardt are also allegedly recorded on a police wiretap discussing a ‘boss,’ but again, police do not make any specific allegations on that front.” — Brendan Kennedy

Q: “So is this guy suspended with pay (as per the usual)? Will the punishment be a bit of probation and then he gets demoted, and then back on the force again?” — Christopher

A: “The six officers who remain suspended from the service pending their charges — Const. Timothy Barnhardt, Sgt. Robert Black, Const. Carl Grellette, Const. Saurabjit Bedi, Const. Elias Mouawad and Const. John Madeley Jr. — are all suspended without pay. Once their criminal charges are resolved, Ontario’s Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA) will resume its investigation into whether any of the officers’ alleged misconduct contravened the Community Safety and Policing Act. If so, they could face potential disciplinary penalties, including and up to termination.” — Abby O’Brien

Q: “At what point do the powers-that-be and Toronto residents say enough is enough?” — Carl

A: “Our colleague Jennifer Pagliaro wrote today about Olivia Chow vowing to “spare no expense” in implementing recommendations from a provincewide investigation into police corruption that was ordered when the Project South was made public. Jenn’s story has more details on that investigation that you can read here. I’m not sure police accountability will become a major issue in the mayoral election campaign, but maybe it will. Public safety typically tends to grab people’s attention more.” — Brendan Kennedy

For more questions and answers on this investigation, check out the original Q&A here.

Paige Oldfield is a digital producer for the Star. Reach her via email poldfield@thestar.ca