Two highest ranking women in T.O. police set to leave, take secondment
Anticipated departures come at critical time as the service seeks its next police chief
The two highest ranking women in the Toronto police service are set to leave or take a secondment from the force, the Star has learned — departures coming at the critical time when the service is seeking its next police chief.
Toronto police confirmed Monday that deputy police chief Barbara McLean — an officer with more than 30 years with Toronto police — has taken a secondment from the force to accept a position with the Mass Casualty Commission, the independent public inquiry examining the April 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting that killed 22 people.
Meanwhile, deputy police chief Shawna Coxon is expected to accept a policing job overseas, according to multiple sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The details of her position are expected to be finalized and made public later this week.
Neither the Toronto police nor the police services board would comment on Coxon’s employment status Monday except to say she remains an active member of the service.
With more than two decades with Toronto police and an academic background — Coxon has a PhD in criminal law from England’s Leicester University — Coxon was considered by some police insiders as a contender to become Toronto’s next chief.
When McLean and Coxon were named deputy police chiefs in August 2017, under former chief Mark Saunders, it marked the first time two women held the second-highest rank in the service at the same time.
The impending departures decrease the pool of potential female internal candidates for the next chief, a search set off last year after the sudden departure of former police chief Saunders, months earlier than expected.
Interim police chief James Ramer has since taken over leadership of the service, as the Toronto police board launched a months-long search for the next top cop.
It is was not immediately clear how long McLean is expected to be away. The report from the commission is due in November 2022.
In an internal message, Ramer said McLean’s appointment to the commission “is prestigious and one that I am proud they approached the Toronto Police Service to support.”
“I know Deputy McLean will fulfil this role with the same professionalism and distinction that she has brought to the Toronto Police Service,” Ramer wrote.
Ramer’s internal note said deputy chief Peter Yuen will assume the command of the Communities and Neighbourhoods portfolio held most recently by McLean.
“She has extensive experience and a proven track record in policing, public safety, community engagement, policy development, strategic planning, fiscal accountability, and leadership development,” reads a statement on the Mass Casualty Commission’s website, announcing McLean as a member of the commission team.
Under Saunders, Coxon was a key part of the service’s modernization initiative, the Transformational Task Force, and before that was a front-line officer and supervisor, and an investigator within professional standards.
McLean is a former domestic violence and sexual assault investigator who served as unit commander at two large downtown police divisions, and also headed the Toronto Police College. She is the founder of Toronto police’s LGBTQ Internal Support Network.