Community News
Black community rally to support Toronto Police Superintendent Stacy Clarke
BY PAUL JUNOR
The five days of disciplinary hearing of the first Black female superintendent Stacy Clarke (Toronto Police Services) has garnered widespread mainstream media and international attention. The promotional cheating scandal has brought to the forefront underlying and systemic issues with respect to systemic racism in the TPS, which have been widely documented over the years.
In many ways, the disciplinary hearing into Superintendent Stacy Clarke has become a lightning rod that will not just ignite brave conversations about biased and unfair promotion practices in the 183-year-old TPS, but hopefully will lead to meaningful changes in these institutions.
There was a strong contingent of: Black, African and Caribbean community members from the Jamaican Canadian Association who showed up on Monday, May 6th, 2024, for the first day of the hearing. Many Jamaican-Canadian members showed strong support every day.
Joseph Markson, lawyer for Supt. Stacy Clarke told the hearing on the opening day that she acted out of isolation and mistreatment of Black officers that she experienced. The failure of the TPS to enforce an equitable promotional process for racialized officers led her to become “Frustrated and desperate.” Markson states. “As the first Black female superintendent in the history of the Toronto Police Service, Superintendent Clarke has been running uphill and against the wind for more than 26 years. In these unique and extraordinary circumstances, there is a straight line in connecting systemic discrimination in: policing towards Blacks, Superintendent. Clarke’s lived experience, and the facts of misconduct for which she pled guilty. She is extremely remorseful for her conduct. However, those acts of misconduct were rooted in real despair, real hurt and real pain.”
Markson presented a prepared statement from Superintendent Clarke in which she openly acknowledged penitence for her actions and asked that they be interpreted within situational context. In her statement, she mentioned the personal mistreatment she faced and harmful comments she heard. “Going through this role as the only female Black officer was traumatic, painful and disorienting. I have been forever changed by what I had to endure through that time. I’ve had to jump through hoops created just for me even though I worked to get my promotions. I’ve stood up when credentials of people of colour were undermined. I soon realized my efforts were having no impact. I was frustrated and desperate. I myself had benefited from lobbying on my behalf in the past. However, the differential treatment experienced by the candidates I was mentoring was painful. A rising tide of emotions overwhelmed me. I decided if the opportunity presented itself, I would assist the candidates and make a desperate effort to level the playing field.”
Clarke testified on Wednesday, May 8th, 2024, describing her experiences of attempting to advocate for the promotion of Black officers which fell on deaf ears. In her testimony at the disciplinary hearing, Stacy told Robin Mc-Elary-Downer that she is remorseful for her actions, and that they were motivated by her attempts to deal with ongoing anti-Black systemic racism in the TPS. She chose to champion Black officers to move up the police ranks by providing confidential information to Black officers who were on track as candidates preparing for their job interviews in 2021.
She was particularly perturbed that a new hiring process that was approved by the Toronto Police Services Board was prematurely canceled after it was approved. There was an agreement that all the candidates would get the questions before the interview process. Under cross-examination from lawyer Scott Hutchinson, she states, “I don’t know how to explain it to you because you do not understand these types of feelings. I was invisible. I was not supposed to be advocating. Not for Black members. It was my tipping point.”
Clarke mentioned that it was subsequently after communicating with senior staff at the TPS that she made the decision to forward the questions to the candidates even though she knew it was not right. Hutchinson remarks, “This isn’t looking like a level playing field to other officers who didn’t get the answers beforehand.” Clarke responds, “I don’t know what other officers received.” In response to the question, “Are you suggesting that there are other officers involved in cheating, the way you were?” She responded, “I’m suggesting the process is unfair.”
Defence lawyer Joseph Markson gave his closing arguments on Friday, May 10th, 2024. He pleaded at the tribunal hearing attended by hearing officer Robin McElary-Downer, retired South Simcoe Police Deputy Chief, to take into consideration her extenuating circumstances in his adjudication of the case.
TPS lawyer Scott Hutchinson gave his closing arguments, “A senior officer the course of 10 days engages in a cheating scheme and draws in six constables is unfit for further service in the organization.” He acknowledges how unusual this hearing is and is aware of its ramifications.
He notes further, “What’s so troubling about all of this is that Superintendent Clarke is a superstar. She was somebody admired by members of the service and the community. She was somebody who was looked up to. She was an example, particularly for Black officers who sought to move up in the organization and work for the community in the way she was.”
Whatever the outcome of the disciplinary hearing of Superintendent Clarke, it has brought to light the Toronto Police Services (TPS) promotional practices and how Black and other racialized officers fared in this process. Hopefully, whatever the outcome it will lead to real, positive and meaningful changes to a process that is: inequitable, unfair, biased and partial!