So on further review, it seems that Clarke based on feedback from 500 police officers, not 500 black police officers, but 500 police officers, came up with a new procedure to provide everyone with questions in advance because there was lots of favouritism, nepotism, and these appear to have been split along racial lines. The TPS seems to have accepted it but not formalized it as a process and I guess she got frustrated and went over their heads. I think this context is important to note.
The proposed solution that Clarke championed was a new procedure that involved providing everyone with questions in advance.
“It was based on feedback from 500 Toronto police officers, not 500 Black officers, who thought the promotional process was unfair,” said Audrey Campbell of the Jamaican Canadian Association, who has testified for Clarke.
The Toronto Police Service Board oversees the police service, and even though it adopted the new plan, the police service didn’t put it into practice, Adjetey testified.
“Before its implementation, the TPS made an executive decision without warning to suspend the new process and revert to the original, unfair practice that the members identified in the external review,” wrote Adjetey in a report entered into evidence.
“It stands to reason that had the TPS implemented the new promotional process, Supt. Clarke would not have felt the desperate need to flatten the playing field by providing Black officers with the interview questions,” he wrote.
It’s not clear why the policy was never adopted. A TPS spokesperson said that the service would not comment while the tribunal was under way, but said it would respond after its conclusion.
“It was fully accepted, and these officers truly believed it would be implemented. And someone along the way decided that they weren’t going to implement all of it,” Campbell said outside the hearing.
It was in that context that Clarke shared the questions to six officers, she said.
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