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Toronto police say they’re waiting for information that could determine if three off-duty officers arrested in Spain last week will continue to receive pay while on suspension.
Two of the officers are accused of sexual assault and assault causing injuries in an incident in Barcelona on May 13, Spanish police said. The third officer was charged with attacking an agent of authority.
The interaction happened in a taxi in the Ciutat Vella district and involved a sex worker, according to Spanish police.
Two officers were arrested on May 13 and the third was found and arrested two days later in Palma de Mallorca, Catalonia police said. They all appeared in court on May 15, police said.
The three officers are now back in Canada and are currently suspended, Toronto Police Service (TPS) spokesperson Stephanie Sayer said Wednesday morning.
While the officers are still being paid, the force is still waiting to hear details from Spanish police to determine whether they can be suspended without pay, Sayer said.
CBC Toronto reached out to Chief Myron Demkiw for an interview Wednesday, but a spokesperson said he was not available.
Speaking broadly in an interview with Newstalk 1010 Wednesday, Demkiw said there is “zero tolerance” for corruption within Toronto police, adding that he has told both sergeants and recruits alike that if they are corrupt, they should quit the force.
“I’d like you to not wear this uniform, because you don’t deserve to wear this uniform,” Demkiw said.
Suspension without pay for police officers has only been an option since 2024 when an overhaul of Ontario’s policing laws came into effect. Ontario was the last province to have the option, and police chiefs in the province had been pushing for the change for over a decade.
For a police officer to be suspended without pay there are very specific conditions that must be met under the Community Policing Act, said Mark Baxter, president of the Police Association of Ontario, a policing advocacy group.
Three Toronto police officers were arrested in Spain, two of them are accused of sexual assault and assault causing injuries, according to Spanish police. Catalonia police said the incident happened on May 13 in Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella district and involved a sex worker.
“Because everyone is presumed innocent until it’s been proven otherwise, suspension without pay really should only occur in exceptional circumstances,” Baxter told CBC’s Metro Morning.
He said if an officer is charged with a serious offence in Canada, that would meet the standards set out in the act.
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But in this case, the alleged offences happened out of the country, in Spain, which means the officers could continue to be suspended with pay, said Baxter.
That could change depending on release conditions of the accused, he said. If the conditions would interfere with the officer’s ability to do police work, he said, they could also be suspended without pay.
Baxter said an example of this would be a bail condition banning the accused from accessing certain databases or from carrying firearms.
“In that circumstance, where a police officer has a weapons prohibition, obviously they can’t perform the duties of a police officer because they can’t carry a firearm,” Baxter said.
He said officers suspended with pay may still be allowed to do non-public-facing police work under the law, if approved by the police chief.
“The act is really clear. It’s the decision of the chief solely,” said Baxter. “It’s not the decision of the police services board, or any other outside influences.”
CBC Toronto reached out to Demkiw asking if the accused officers will be allowed to work in non-public-facing roles while suspended. Sayer, the police spokesperson, responded and said the force cannot speculate on any employment decisions while they await information from Spanish police.
Coun. Shelley Carroll, who chairs the Toronto Police Service Board, has called the reports from Spain “serious and troubling,” adding that public confidence in the force must be “continually reinforced.”
