Systemic failure to promote Black officers under microscope as superintendent apologizes for helping racialized police cheat
In emotional and raw testimony at a disciplinary tribunal, the first Black female superintendent in the Toronto Police Service apologized for helping racialized constables cheat a promotional exam.
But the hearing also delved into how unfair the hiring process was to Black candidates to begin with and how a plan to fix it that was approved by a civilian oversight board was cancelled without warning months before her actions.
“It was tremendously important for me to take responsibility for what I had done. I know it was not the right path,” Supt. Stacy Clarke told the disciplinary hearing.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
Clarke said she remained loyal to the Toronto Police Service despite the ostracization she felt after the misconduct allegations were made public.
But through her testimony and that of McGill Professor Wendell Adjetey, the tribunal looked at what Clarke called “the why,” which came down to a systemic failure to promote Black officers.
Adjetey highlighted a 2021 Toronto Police Services Board meeting where then-mayor John Tory asked the service whether it had structured the promotion process in a way that disadvantaged Black candidates.
“Maybe ask the chief and the service to do a little bit more to look into this and to decide if there’s something wrong,” Tory said at the time, pointing to statistics that of a pool of 58 Black applicants, 13.7 per cent were interviewed, and 1.7 per cent were hired.
Adjetey said outside the hearing that favoured officers often got special treatment, and thanks to the makeup of the TPS’s senior staff, that broke down on racial lines.
“They often benefited white men within the service. There was nepotism. There was favouritism and all types of other issues. And it’s common practice that senior officers when they mentor, they share information,” Adjetey said outside the hearing.
The proposed solution that Clarke championed was a new procedure that involved providing everyone with questions in advance.
“It was based on feedback from 500 Toronto police officers, not 500 Black officers, who thought the promotional process was unfair,” said Audrey Campbell of the Jamaican Canadian Association, who has testified for Clarke.
The Toronto Police Service Board oversees the police service, and even though it adopted the new plan, the police service didn’t put it into practice, Adjetey testified.
“Before its implementation, the TPS made an executive decision without warning to suspend the new process and revert to the original, unfair practice that the members identified in the external review,” wrote Adjetey in a report entered into evidence.
“It stands to reason that had the TPS implemented the new promotional process, Supt. Clarke would not have felt the desperate need to flatten the playing field by providing Black officers with the interview questions,” he wrote.
It’s not clear why the policy was never adopted. A TPS spokesperson said that the service would not comment while the tribunal was under way, but said it would respond after its conclusion.
“It was fully accepted, and these officers truly believed it would be implemented. And someone along the way decided that they weren’t going to implement all of it,” Campbell said outside the hearing.
It was in that context that Clarke shared the questions to six officers, she said.
Clarke became emotional as she described demeaning posts from retired officers, unflattering memes that circulated on social media, and one threat that prompted a security review of her home, as well as how all of this affected her children.
But she said she remained loyal to the TPS and hopeful for systemic change.
“I love my job. I love what I do. Some may say foolishly, but I still believe we can do what we say we are going to do,” she said.
Her testimony and cross-examination are expected to continue Thursday. The TPS has said it will not fire her, but it has said she will be demoted two ranks, reinstated after a year as an inspector, and then work her way back to superintendent.
Clarke’s lawyer has agreed to a demotion but says she should be reinstated as superintendent after a year.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6978861.1722008569!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
At least 4 buildings burned at Jasper Park Lodge, others damaged: Fairmont memo
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge said Thursday afternoon most of its structures are 'standing and intact,' including its iconic main lodge.
Major Canadian bank experiences direct deposit outage on payday
Scotiabank says it has fixed a technical issue that impacted direct deposits on Friday morning.
'He was just gone': Police ramp up search for vulnerable 3-year-old boy in Mississauga, Ont.
Police in Mississauga are conducting a full-scale search of the city’s biggest park for a non-verbal toddler who went missing Thursday evening. Sgt. Jennifer Trimble told reporters Friday morning that there has been no trace of three-year-old Zaid Abdullah since 6:20 p.m., when he was last seen with his parents in Erindale Park, near Dundas Street West and Mississauga Road.
Sask. appeal court says anti-trans group cannot join constitutional dispute over pronoun law
Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has denied a political group that opposes so-called “gender ideology” intervener status in a legal dispute over the province’s controversial pronoun law.
Driver charged after flashing high beams at approaching police
Orillia OPP arrested and charged a driver with impaired driving after flashing their high beams.
Powerful cartel leader 'El Mayo' Zambada was lured onto airplane before arrest in U.S., AP source says
A powerful Mexican drug cartel leader who eluded authorities for decades was duped into flying into the U.S., where he was arrested alongside a son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, according to a U.S. law enforcement official familiar with the matter.
Elon Musk's estranged daughter calls out his 'entirely fake' claims about her childhood
Vivian Jenna Wilson, Elon Musk's estranged daughter, publicly refuted several recent anti-trans statements her Tesla CEO and X owner father has made about her.
What we know about 'malicious' attack on French train network ahead of Olympics opening
French transport was thrust into chaos Friday just hours ahead of the Olympics 2024 opening ceremony after a series of co-ordinated 'malicious acts' upended high-speed train lines.Here's what happened and what we know so far.
When Barbie learned what a gynecologist was, so did many other people, according to new study
A new study published Thursday in the journal JAMA Network Open has found that the ending in the 2023 blockbuster film 'Barbie' had an influence on online search interest in terms around gynecology, the branch of medicine that deals with women’s reproductive health.