Toronto Police Chief confident OPP review will be unbiased

Chief Myron Demq taking questions from the media today for the first time since that not guilty verdict was handed down. The chief speaking a little bit more about the two reviews that he has ordered, an internal review of plainclothes procedures as well as a request for the OPP to independently review officer testimony. This after the trial judge expressed concerns over possible collusion among the officers who testified in court. We actually have a procedure that I put in place last year that when there are what we refer to as adverse comments by the judiciary, that we do conduct a review of the circumstances. In her charge to the jury, Justice Ann Malloy noted that the three police witnesses who were there when Detective Constable Jeffrey Northrop died testified that they observed him standing upright in the lane way before he was fatally struck. But security video shown in court, coupled with expert testimony clearly showed that wasn’t the case. When three versions of an event are wrong and wrong in the same way, Justice Malloy told the jury, you must also consider whether there has been collusion between those witnesses. It’s completely inappropriate for me to comment on that at this stage. This is why there is an independent review and we’ll let the review do the work that is required. But concerns are being raised about the review by the Ontario Provincial Police, despite the chief insisting there will be safeguards in place to prevent any potential bias. It’s police officers investigating police officers. Here’s the chief defending his officers and you can understand the the officers doing the investigation also defending the officers. They aren’t. We aren’t getting an independent look at what’s going on. Demq has also ordered an internal review of all aspects of plainclothes policing after the trial brought to light concerns with how those officers interact with civilians. Is that an acknowledgement that mistakes might have been made that night in July? No, I, I think it’s, it’d be premature to make any kind of statement like that. The chief also walking back comments he made following the not guilty verdict on Sunday, in which he expressed disappointment and said he had hoped for a different outcome. What I was trying to convey is that I accept the jury’s findings, and we are an organization that’s grieving and trying to work through finding some path towards closure. Meanwhile, Umar Zamir’s defense attorney reacting to news of the reviews, saying he welcomes both. I hope the police chief will not stop at simply an internal review of plainclothes protocols and that he will start to get serious about properly disciplining officers who lie on the stand. Counselor John Burnside, a former police officer and member of the Toronto Police Board, says he supports the chief but hoped for more. I think a better way to approach it would be just a straight apology for any misinterpretation or words that may have been misarticulated. I think that’s how I would have gone about it, but I’m glad that he he did walk it back to that extent. There’s no word on how long these reviews will take, but when asked whether he would release the results, the chief gave his commitment and said he will be as transparent as possible in the process at Toronto police headquarters. Erica Natividad, City News.