By Cal Millar, John Duncanson and Nicolaas Van Rijn, Toronto Star
Toronto police have suspended one officer and disbanded the plainclothes unit at downtown 52 Division as part of a major internal affairs investigation into police corruption.
A police source said the investigation began after allegations that some suspects had been “shaken down” for cash or other valuables after being arrested.
Complaints were also received from bar and club owners in the downtown entertainment district after they allegedly received demands for cash, police sources said.
Mark Pugash, a spokesperson for Toronto police, last night confirmed the investigation, but remained mum on the details.
The responsibilities of the plainclothes unit at 52 Division, which covers much of the downtown area, include policing bars and clubs to ensure they’re complying with regulations that govern the sale of alcoholic drinks.
The unit also deals with street crime and prostitutes.
Investigators yesterday suspended Constable Bill McCormack, a plainclothes officer and the son of former Toronto police chief William McCormack, who headed the police service from 1989 to 1995.
Police sources said the officer was suspended after he refused to speak with internal affairs investigators.
“An officer has been suspended, and it’s an ongoing investigation, so we can’t comment at this time,” said Andrew Clarke, director of uniformed services for the Toronto Police Association.
“No charges have been laid, and the officer involved is entitled to fair process.”
Officers assigned to 52 Division were informed of the investigation yesterday and were told that all members of the division’s plainclothes unit would be transferred from the office by Monday.
As part of the ongoing police investigation, internal affairs officers are attempting to interview a number of officers assigned to the plainclothes unit, as well as other police officers working at 52 Division on Dundas St. W. near University Ave., including uniformed officers and detectives.
As part of their probe, sources said, internal affairs investigators set up surveillance equipment and carried out other investigative techniques in the offices occupied by the plainclothes unit at 52 Division.
Investigators have executed search warrants on more than a dozen police lockers at the downtown division, as well as searching an officer’s Uxbridge home and his car.
It’s the latest black eye for the police service, which earlier this year was rocked when six veteran drug squad officers were charged following the longest and costliest investigation into alleged corruption in the Toronto force.
The officers are alleged to have lied in court, made up bogus search warrants, falsified internal police records, and fabricated potential evidence in their notebooks, according to RCMP Chief Superintendent John Neily.
The RCMP, called in to investigate the Toronto officers, laid 40 charges against the six officers, who are accused of committing 22 Criminal Code offences.
“Police officers are not above the law,” Neily told a news conference in January.
Last year a Kingston mother of two won a $54,000 settlement after she complained of being strip-searched at the station, in plain view of male officers watching a hockey game.
The incident led to the force adopting a more stringent strip-search policy.