Policing their own

The official motto of the Toronto Police Service is “to serve and protect.” That fairly describes how most of the more than 5,000 officers on the force go about their jobs. Policing is challenging and sometimes dangerous. Those who willingly take on that work deserve the public’s thanks.

But the police owe the public something more than just honourable service. When a police officer acts in a way that offends the public’s sensibilities — and perhaps even breaks the law — there is a regrettable tendency among officers to close ranks against outside scrutiny and criticism. It’s called the thin blue line, and it is a problem.

This is why virtually all large police services (including Toronto’s) abstain from investigating allegations of criminal behaviour against their own officers. They ask an outside agency to conduct an impartial investigation or call in designated external authority. The system is imperfect and could use strengthening, but the principle is clear: police do not police their own.

And yet, in Toronto, it may indeed fall to the police to see that justice is done regarding the disgraceful conduct of one of their own. Late last month, a judge upheld a criminal conviction of assault with a weapon against Toronto Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani. The charge stemmed from the G20 summit in Toronto in 2010, during which AndalibGoortani repeatedly beat protester Adam Nobody with his baton. Mr. Nobody had already been restrained by several police officers, who had him well under control and were in the process of arresting him. There was no reason for Andalib-Goortani to apply any further measure of force against the thoroughly overwhelmed Mr. Nobody. But he did, and was recorded doing so on video.

So far so good. Though the process leading to Andalib-Goortani’s conviction was maddeningly prolonged, it was effective: He was investigated by Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit, which handles serious criminal allegations against police officers in the province. Charges, once laid, were tested and proven in a court of law.

Nevertheless, it is disappointing that the original sentence of 45 days behind bars was vacated by the appeals judge, for reasons not yet known (the judge’s written findings are pending). Instead, AndalibGoortani will now serve a year’s probation and 75 hours of community service.

This seems a mild penalty, not only for assaulting a helpless man, but perhaps especially for the abuse of authority this involved. Had the circumstances of the incident been reversed — a helpless police officer held down on the ground while a member of the public beats him with a club — it seems unlikely the punishment would be so slight.

Still, what’s done is done. What remains to be decided is how, or whether, Andalib-Goortani will continue to serve as a Toronto police officer. (He has been suspended without pay since the initial conviction in late 2013.) The officer faces several internal disciplinary charges, including unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority, and will go before a police services review committee to answer for his conduct, perhaps as early as this week. These are not criminal charges, but a matter of internal police discipline. Andalib-Goortani’s professional future will thus be decided by his fellow officers.

It would surely send a worrying message if Andalib-Goortani were allowed to return to duty. An officer who has abused his authority to such an extent should not simply be handed back his gun and sent out on patrol. The officers adjudicating this matter should think long and hard about whether Andalib-Goortani deserves the honour of wearing a police badge ever again.