Veteran homicide investigator and unit commander Hank Idsinga is retiring from TPS

FILE - Detective Sergeant Hank Idsinga arrives to speak to media regarding an unidentified male believed to be connected to the Bruce McArthur case, during a press conference at the Toronto Police Headquarters in Toronto on Wednesday April 11, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

For the first time in years, Hank Indsinga isn’t getting phone calls and text messages in the middle of the night informing him of yet another murder in the city.

“My alarm is not going off at 4:15 in the morning,” the outgoing commander of the Toronto Police Service’s homicide unit, told CP24.com this week.

The homicide inspector, who joined the police service 34 years ago, will officially retire at the end of this year. His retirement, for all intents and purposes, began a few weeks ago when he took a leave of absence and handed over the reins to Sgt. Terry Browne, the new acting unit commander.

“It’s difficult walking away,” Idsinga said. “It is a lifestyle change for me and for my family as well.”

Idsinga, who worked as the head of the homicide unit for the past five years, is one of the most experienced investigators on the force. He spent the first 10 years of his career as a 14 Division officer before moving to 51 Division for five years.

Idsinga joined the homicide unit in 2005 and his first partner was former police chief Mark Saunders. He started in homicide as a detective and was later promoted to Detective-Sergeant in 2011. Idsinga became a familiar face to members of the public when he took on the role of major case manager in the investigation into serial killer Bruce McArthur. 

“McArthur is certainly the highest profile case I was ever involved in,” he said. 

"It really became my full-time job in 2018. And the vast majority of that work was dealing with the public and the media and the aftermath of that case." 

McArthur ultimately pleaded guilty in 2019 to murdering and dismembering eight men over a seven-year period.

Idsinga said the McArthur investigation was a "career-defining" case.

FILE - Det-Sgt Hank Idsinga is seen walking back to a Police Command Vehicle after briefing the media at a Toronto property where alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur worked, Thursday, February 8, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

“One of the more touching emails I got when it became publicly known that I was retiring was from one of the friends of Andrew Kinsman, who was McArthur’s last victim, basically thanking me and thanking the investigative team for all of the work that they had done,” he said.

“You do that (work) on behalf of the victims, you do that on behalf of the city… There is very little personal gratification that comes of it.”

McArthur was not the first serial killer Idsinga investigated during his time with the homicide unit.

Idsinga was involved in the investigation into Mark Moore, who murdered four people during a 75-day killing spree back in 2010. At the time of Moore’s arrest, investigators said the aspiring rapper had committed the murders simply to establish street credibility and did not know three of the four people he killed.

“I don’t think anyone begins their police career, or even their homicide career, thinking they are ever going to be involved in something like that. And I ended up being involved in two cases like that,” Idsinga said.

The lessons learned during the McArthur investigation is the subject of presentations Idsinga still gives to other police services across the province.

“I will continue doing that,” he said, adding that he also plans to continue teaching at Humber College as an instructor in the forensic identification program as well as the police foundations program.

Idsinga said he is proud of what the officers in homicide unit have accomplished over the past five years.

“The unit is in great shape. They have been setting records last year and this year for clearance rates and I’m sure that will continue,” he said.

Idsinga said that in 2022, the unit saw its highest case clearance rate in more than 20 years, surpassing 80 per cent.

“It was just a phenomenal accomplishment.”

FILE - Insp. Hank Idsinga holds a press conference regarding the Barry and Honey Sherman murder case in Toronto on Monday, December 16, 2019. Toronto police say a private investigation into the slayings of billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife Honey is over, but the force's own probe continues. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim

He said there are “exciting things on the horizon” for the unit, including the expanded use of investigative genetic genealogy. Genetic genealogy has been credited with cracking decades-old cases where investigative leads had previously dried up, including the 1983 murders of Toronto women Susan Tice and Erin Gilmour.

“Genetic genealogy is huge of course, primarily being used right now for cold cases… I see the expansion of that in being used in more active cases,” Idsinga said.

“The use of genetic genealogy possibly with the use of artificial intelligence down the road will no doubt have an impact on the success of investigations.”

Idsinga said while he won’t miss the 4 a.m. wakeups, there are parts of the job he will miss.

“I will definitely miss the people that I work with. I use that term ‘work with’ very specifically. I am not a huge rank structure advocate,” he said.

“It really is a team environment and you rely on everyone from the inspector who is in charge of the unit down to the constable who is there for one year. All have to work together and everyone has to have an equal voice in order to bring a successful outcome to these investigations.”

Idsinga, an avid road cyclist, said he plans to stay busy with charitable bike rides, teaching, and spending time at home with his family.

“I’m going to enjoy retirement,” he said. “I’ve got 20 years of renovations that I’ve neglected that have to be done around the house.”