Cheating pervasive, cop testifies

Favouritism in promotions process an open secret, police tribunal told

- WENDY GILLIS

Toronto Police Supt. Stacy Clarke enters her disciplinary hearing for helping Black officers cheat on their promotion exams. “There’s a virtuous purpose that runs through the misconduct,” her lawyer said Thursday. “Supt. Clarke sought to rectify the wrongs that she believed haunted the promotional process for Black candidates.”

Stressing it was “not an excuse,” Supt. Stacy Clarke says she was only doing what other officers have done when she helped preferred candidates cheat to rise in rank.

Under cross-examination at her ongoing police disciplinary tribunal, the high-ranking officer said her ill-fated decision to slip confidential promotional interview questions to her mentees was not the first time an officer gave their preferred candidates a prohibited leg up.

Clarke — who has pleaded guilty to seven charges of professional misconduct over a promotional scandal in 2021 — has told the tribunal that racialized officers believe the promotional playing field is skewed away from Black candidates. She cited a 2022 report by consulting firm Deloitte, which found “a clear perception” among officers that discrimination regularly occurs, including in a promotional process.

It is a commonly held belief — established before her own cheating scandal broke, “even before I became a cop” — that some candidates are given the interview questions beforehand, she said.