PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In spite of log-in screens warning officers against misuse each time they sign into a workstation, police officers across Ontario have for years illicitly mined the private information at their fingertips, abusing databases intended solely to help them solve crime. At disciplinary hearings, officers who snoop on romantic interests or query the status of a relative’s criminal record often face docked pay or a temporary demotion, even for scores of prohibited searches; a police tribunal is expected to soon hear the case of a Toronto officer who allegedly ran more than 100 prohibited queries in a 15-month span."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: " Critics say a “slap on the wrist” approach has let the problem fester, as seen by alarming Project South allegations that database information leaked by a Toronto cop facilitated shootings, extortions and a conspiracy to commit murder. “I didn’t think, in my opinion, that it was ever taken seriously,” said Gerry McNeilly, former director of Ontario’s police complaints watchdog. “I think we’ve seen the result of that now through Project South, because it obviously continued to mushroom.”
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PASSAGE FOUR OF THE DAY: "At Mouawad’s trial, the prosecutor, Walker, asked the judge to issue a sentence that included two months of house arrest, saying the court mustsend an “unambiguous” message to police officers that leaking confidential database information will not be tolerated. Rhinelander ultimately sided with the defence, concluding his search was an “isolated lapse in judgment” and that his unique circumstances called for restraint. But she warned officers who abuse databases not to assume Mouawad’s fate would be theirs. In an era where access to digital information is “widespread and powerful,” the public must trust that sensitive information in police databases is secure, she said. “The message going forward should be clear,” she wrote. “Police officers who misuse their privileged access to confidential databases for purposes unrelated to their duties risk not only employment and disciplinary consequences but also criminal convictions.”
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SUB-HEADING: "Critics say the ‘slap on the wrist’ approach of handling most of these cases has let the problem fester."
PHOTO CAPTION: "Toronto police Const. Elias Mouawad pleaded guilty to conducting a single unlawful computer search on behalf of a friend. Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star
GIST: "As Elias Mouawad sat before the judge deciding his fate, his lawyer argued the rookie Toronto officer’s case would normally never even see the inside of a courtroom.
Were it not for the fact that he had been folded into the explosive police corruption probe Project South, the 25-year-old constable would be where most officers who leak confidential police database information end up, Peter Brauti argued earlier this fall. He’d be at the police disciplinary tribunal.
There, Mouawad’s misdeed usually results in docked pay.
That was part of the problem, as the prosecutor saw it. Considering the “lenient” penalties doled out by police tribunals, citizens might reasonably want the justice system to step in, Samuel Walker argued.
“The public would be justified in saying it might be necessary for the courts to send a message to the police service: That they need to deal with this more seriously,” Walker said.
“What they have been doing to date is not good enough.”
In spite of log-in screens warning officers against misuse each time they sign into a workstation, police officers across Ontario have for years illicitly mined the private information at their fingertips, abusing databases intended solely to help them solve crime.
At disciplinary hearings, officers who snoop on romantic interests or query the status of a relative’s criminal record often face docked pay or a temporary demotion, even for scores of prohibited searches; a police tribunal is expected to soon hear the case of a Toronto officer who allegedly ran more than 100 prohibited queries in a 15-month span.
Critics say a “slap on the wrist” approach has let the problem fester, as seen by alarming Project South allegations that database information leaked by a Toronto cop facilitated shootings, extortions and a conspiracy to commit murder.
“I didn’t think, in my opinion, that it was ever taken seriously,” said Gerry McNeilly, former director of Ontario’s police complaints watchdog. “I think we’ve seen the result of that now through Project South, because it obviously continued to mushroom.”
Toronto police have launched an anti-corruption project reviewing database access and abuse, and a province-wide review of database practices is ongoing. A police spokesperson said suspected misuse is taken seriously and investigated, with consequences determined by the extent of searches and whether confidential information was divulged.
But critics say harsher penalties for even lower level cases are needed to denounce more routine abuse, including police laying more criminal charges against their own.
Last month, the Ontario judge hearing Mouawad’s case weighed in.
“There was a time when conduct of this nature may have been addressed primarily through internal disciplinary proceedings or employment-related consequences,” Ontario Superior Court of Justice Catherine Rhinelander said. “That is no longer sufficient in every case.”
A bycatch in a bigger police scandal
Mouawad was a bycatch of the bigger Project South investigation. He was caught on a wiretap running a licence plate search for Daljit Singh, his former boss at a security company, who assured it was for “nothing bad.” Unbeknownst to Mouawad, Singh was with Brian Da Costa, an accused drug trafficker and alleged co-conspirator of Const. Timothy Barnhardt, the veteran cop at the heart of the policing scandal.
The subject of Mouawad’s search was linked to two past drug trafficking investigations, according to an agreed statement of facts read out at the officer’s trial. A lawyer for Singh, who is charged in relation to Mouawad’s computer search, declined to comment.
Mouawad wasn’t connected to the more serious Project South allegations and he said he didn’t know the other officers implicated. He did one lone search and wasn’t paid for the favour. After pleading guilty to one count of improperly searching a police database, Mouawad told court he “deeply” regretted his actions.
“Being criminally prosecuted for a single unauthorized check is already at the extreme end of the punishment spectrum,” Brauti said, asking the judge for a conditional discharge.
Criminal convictions for police database breaches happen, but cases are often egregious or involve additional offenses. In 2022, Toronto police Const. Trevor Gregory pleaded guilty to breach of trust for querying the address of an alleged African warlord then sending it to his son — who fatally shot the man at his London home the next day. The officer received a 12-month conditional sentence.
Database abuse akin to Mouawad’s more often merits three to six days docked pay at the tribunal, Brauti said, or more if the information was disseminated.
In spite of log-in screens warning officers against misuse each time they sign into a workstation, police officers across Ontario have for years illicitly mined the private information at their fingertips.R.J. Johnston/Toronto Star
Toronto officer accused doing 100+ unauthorized searches
A 2014 Toronto Star investigation found at least 25 officers misused internal databases in the previous five years, including an OPP officer who was docked 30 hours’ pay after conducting more than 550 unauthorized searches.
This summer, prosecutors withdrew a criminal charge against Const. Abbas Popal, a 25-year-old Toronto officer charged in March with one count of unauthorized use of a computer. According to Brauti, whose firm represented Popal, he is accused of conducting over 100 unauthorized searches.
Though the prosecutor said there were grounds to believe a criminal offence was committed, the police tribunal was “better suited to addressing this misconduct,” noting Popal hadn’t disseminated the information and there was no public interest in proceeding.
Popal is currently suspended with pay. His lawyer, Peter Ketcheson, told the Star allegations his client unlawfully accessed police databases have not been proven, and said the evidence “definitively” shows he did not disseminate any information from the alleged searches, or use it for improper purposes.
At Mouawad’s trial, the prosecutor, Walker, asked the judge to issue a sentence that included two months of house arrest, saying the court must send an “unambiguous” message to police officers that leaking confidential database information will not be tolerated.
Rhinelander ultimately sided with the defence, concluding his search was an “isolated lapse in judgment” and that his unique circumstances called for restraint.
But she warned officers who abuse databases not to assume Mouawad’s fate would be theirs. In an era where access to digital information is “widespread and powerful,” the public must trust that sensitive information in police databases is secure, she said.
“The message going forward should be clear,” she wrote. “Police officers who misuse their privileged access to confidential databases for purposes unrelated to their duties risk not only employment and disciplinary consequences but also criminal convictions.”
THE PROJECT SOUTH FILES
Toronto cops were dealing drugs to each other, corruption probe docs allege. ‘You got ... cocaine eyes’
‘A little slap on the wrist’
McNeilly, former director of Ontario’s recently renamed Law Enforcement Complaints Agency, said he took it seriously when his office received complaints from those who believed their personal information was leaked. But when he brought complaints to police, the searches were usually characterized as a “slip up,” not a privacy breach or security risk, he said.
Critics say a “slap on the wrist” approach has let the problem fester, as seen by alarming Project South allegations that database information leaked by a Toronto cop facilitated shootings, extortions and a conspiracy to commit murder.
“I didn’t think, in my opinion, that it was ever taken seriously,” said Gerry McNeilly, former director of Ontario’s police complaints watchdog. “I think we’ve seen the result of that now through Project South, because it obviously continued to mushroom.”
Toronto police have launched an anti-corruption project reviewing database access and abuse, and a province-wide review of database practices is ongoing. A police spokesperson said suspected misuse is taken seriously and investigated, with consequences determined by the extent of searches and whether confidential information was divulged.
But critics say harsher penalties for even lower level cases are needed to denounce more routine abuse, including police laying more criminal charges against their own.
Last month, the Ontario judge hearing Mouawad’s case weighed in.
“There was a time when conduct of this nature may have been addressed primarily through internal disciplinary proceedings or employment-related consequences,” Ontario Superior Court of Justice Catherine Rhinelander said. “That is no longer sufficient in every case.”
A bycatch in a bigger police scandal
Mouawad was a bycatch of the bigger Project South investigation. He was caught on a wiretap running a licence plate search for Daljit Singh, his former boss at a security company, who assured it was for “nothing bad.” Unbeknownst to Mouawad, Singh was with Brian Da Costa, an accused drug trafficker and alleged co-conspirator of Const. Timothy Barnhardt, the veteran cop at the heart of the policing scandal.
The subject of Mouawad’s search was linked to two past drug trafficking investigations, according to an agreed statement of facts read out at the officer’s trial. A lawyer for Singh, who is charged in relation to Mouawad’s computer search, declined to comment.
Mouawad wasn’t connected to the more serious Project South allegations and he said he didn’t know the other officers implicated. He did one lone search and wasn’t paid for the favour. After pleading guilty to one count of improperly searching a police database, Mouawad told court he “deeply” regretted his actions.
“Being criminally prosecuted for a single unauthorized check is already at the extreme end of the punishment spectrum,” Brauti said, asking the judge for a conditional discharge.
Criminal convictions for police database breaches happen, but cases are often egregious or involve additional offenses. In 2022, Toronto police Const. Trevor Gregory pleaded guilty to breach of trust for querying the address of an alleged African warlord then sending it to his son — who fatally shot the man at his London home the next day. The officer received a 12-month conditional sentence.
Database abuse akin to Mouawad’s more often merits three to six days docked pay at the tribunal, Brauti said, or more if the information was disseminated.
In spite of log-in screens warning officers against misuse each time they sign into a workstation, police officers across Ontario have for years illicitly mined the private information at their fingertips.R.J. Johnston/Toronto Star
Toronto officer accused doing 100+ unauthorized searches
A 2014 Toronto Star investigation found at least 25 officers misused internal databases in the previous five years, including an OPP officer who was docked 30 hours’ pay after conducting more than 550 unauthorized searches.
This summer, prosecutors withdrew a criminal charge against Const. Abbas Popal, a 25-year-old Toronto officer charged in March with one count of unauthorized use of a computer. According to Brauti, whose firm represented Popal, he is accused of conducting over 100 unauthorized searches.
Though the prosecutor said there were grounds to believe a criminal offence was committed, the police tribunal was “better suited to addressing this misconduct,” noting Popal hadn’t disseminated the information and there was no public interest in proceeding.
Popal is currently suspended with pay. His lawyer, Peter Ketcheson, told the Star allegations his client unlawfully accessed police databases have not been proven, and said the evidence “definitively” shows he did not disseminate any information from the alleged searches, or use it for improper purposes.
At Mouawad’s trial, the prosecutor, Walker, asked the judge to issue a sentence that included two months of house arrest, saying the court must send an “unambiguous” message to police officers that leaking confidential database information will not be tolerated.
Rhinelander ultimately sided with the defence, concluding his search was an “isolated lapse in judgment” and that his unique circumstances called for restraint.
But she warned officers who abuse databases not to assume Mouawad’s fate would be theirs. In an era where access to digital information is “widespread and powerful,” the public must trust that sensitive information in police databases is secure, she said.
“The message going forward should be clear,” she wrote. “Police officers who misuse their privileged access to confidential databases for purposes unrelated to their duties risk not only employment and disciplinary consequences but also criminal convictions.”
THE PROJECT SOUTH FILES
Toronto cops were dealing drugs to each other, corruption probe docs allege. ‘You got ... cocaine eyes’
‘A little slap on the wrist’
McNeilly, former director of Ontario’s recently renamed Law Enforcement Complaints Agency, said he took it seriously when his office received complaints from those who believed their personal information was leaked. But when he brought complaints to police, the searches were usually characterized as a “slip up,” not a privacy breach or security risk, he said.
“So we’re gonna give you a little slap on the wrist and say, ‘Don’t do it again,’” McNeilly told the Star.
Crimes of curiosity may not merit more than internal discipline, McNeilly said, but penalties should be harsher than a reprimand or a few days’ docked pay.
Danielle McNabb, a Brock University assistant professor who researches police accountability, said searches that involve harassment and stalking may also warrant criminal charges. In general, the justice system is better suited to exact consequences that “reflect the public’s view of how serious these abuses are” and act as deterrents, she said.
“Really showing police officers this is strictly forbidden — it will result in significant consequences,” she said.
Rooting out abuse a challenge
Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer said criminal charges are one way to address misuse but said misconduct hearings can result in significant penalties, including demotion or dismissal.
Clayton Campbell, president of the Toronto Police Association, defended the current accountability system and said “we cannot assume the egregious actions of a few members accurately reflect what happens across an entire organization.”
“We have thousands of members who access these databases professionally and treat the information therein with the utmost integrity,” Campbell said.
Extensive database use is part of what makes rooting out abuse challenging. Officers routinely search internal databases while responding to calls, conducting investigations and completing other duties, generating millions of system records, police say.
“Identifying instances of inappropriate access among this volume of activity is complex, which is why effective safeguards, monitoring and oversight are so important,” Sayer said.
In addition to stricter penalties, McNabb said police forces should focus on frequent and systematic auditing to get ahead of the problem to begin with.
“Police services need to do a better job at proactively dealing with this,” she said."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;
