Clarke endorsed cheating, hearing told
Prosecutor argues her senior position is an aggravating factor in scandal
Toronto police Supt. Stacy Clarke’s role in a promotional cheating scandal was “an attack on the core values of the institution by somebody who knew better” — someone who wielded the tremendous influence of a barrier-breaking senior cop, a police prosecutor argued Friday.
That Clarke — who has admitted to leaking confidential interview questions to six Black constables seeking a promotion in 2021 — committed professional misconduct while being a respected figure both inside and out of the force is a “profoundly serious aggravating factor,” said prosecutor Scott Hutchison in closing arguments Friday. The highest ranking Black woman in the force’s history, Clarke set the example of success, particularly to Black cops, he said.
But by cheating, she was “propagating” within her six Black mentees — officers who, Hutchison noted, never asked for her illicit help — the belief that her behaviour was OK. Her actions instilled the idea that “part of being an officer of the Toronto Police Service is cheating,” he said.
Had her misconduct not come to light, the officers may well have gone on to leadership positions and passed on that idea.
“And that cancer grows,” Hutchison said.
Clarke has pleaded guilty to seven counts of police misconduct under Ontario’s Police Services Act for her lead role in a cheating scandal stemming from a competitive sergeants’ promotional process in late 2021. This week, her sentencing hearing has put Toronto police’s promotional practices under the microscope, particularly as it concerns racialized cops.
Although Clarke has stressed that the context is not an excuse, she has characterized her actions as a desperate attempt to level the playing field for Black cops and combat systemic anti-Black racism in policing. She’d slipped the officers she mentored confidential interview answers after, she claims, other aboveboard attempts to champion them had failed.
Under cross-examination this week, Clarke said it is a commonly held belief that other officers have leaked confidential interview questions in the past.
In a statement Friday, a spokesperson for Toronto police said the service could not comment on matters before the tribunal, but said it had an “unwavering commitment to rebuilding trust and eradicating all forms of discrimination, including anti-Black racism.”
In his arguments before retired South Simcoe Police deputy chief Robin McElary-Downer, the hearing officer, Clarke’s lawyer Joseph Markson noted the “extraordinary” nature of the case.
Similar to how post-traumatic stress disorder has come to be an important mitigating factor in police misconduct cases, particularly when it has been acquired on the job, Markson urged McElaryDowner to consider the mental health impacts of systemic antiBlack racism. Markson has put forward medical evidence, derived from a psychiatric evaluation, that Clarke’s lived experiences of systemic racism “and her experiences and frustrations in addressing the challenges and barriers faced by Black officers” played a significant role in her misconduct.
She may have been a senior officer, Markson said, but she was also a human being who was suffering.
“The rank is not an immunization from the effects of stress,” he said.
Hutchison was clear in his arguments that neither he nor the Toronto police denied the existence of anti-Black racism within the service. He acknowledged that McElary-Downer should indeed take in that critical context as she decides Clarke’s penalty.
But he urged her to consider first that Clarke’s conduct could well justify her dismissal. It was a serious breach of trust; he noted Clarke would likely have trouble testifying in court “given the underlying deceitful nature” of her actions.
Factoring in the systemic racism context brings Clarke back from the precipice of dismissal, Hutchison said. Instead, Clarke should suffer a demotion: be knocked down two ranks, to staff sergeant, for a year, then be reinstated to the rank of inspector for a year, at which point she could re-apply for superintendent.
Simply put, there is an expectation that police “behave in an ethical and professional way, even when the challenges are unfair, even in the most difficult circumstances,” Hutchison said.
“And that is a reality that is just as real as anti-Black racism,” he said.
Markson, Clarke’s lawyer, has asked for a demotion of one rank for one year or 18 months, and that Clarke be automatically reinstated to superintendent. Requiring her to re-apply to superintendent would be “tantamount to a permanent demotion to inspector,” he said, suggesting she would realistically not be promoted again.
He told McElary-Downer that after being demoted, Clarke would return an even better officer and be an agent of meaningful and constructive change.
Noting it had been a long week, McElary-Downer said she needed time to sift through the evidence and would report back mid-summer.
“I will do my due diligence, do my very best, to come to an appropriate decision,” she said.
Clarke’s lawyer Joseph
Markson provided medical evidence that Clarke’s experiences of systemic racism ‘and her experiences and frustrations in addressing the challenges and barriers faced by Black officers’ played a significant role in her misconduct