Toronto Police Services’ 12 Division on April 16.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The Toronto Police division whose officers’ alleged misuse of law-enforcement databases gave rise to a high-profile corruption probe has a documented history of data breaches.
In the eight years before the recent Project South takedown led to the arrests of several officers from 12 Division, unlawful database breaches prompted sanctions against four other constables from that division, according to a review of disciplinary records by The Globe and Mail.
These account for close to one-third of the 13 cases within the broader force that resulted in police act convictions for database breaches since 2018, The Globe’s analysis found. Police act charges are for cases of serious misconduct. They are internal disciplinary matters, and the underlying allegations don’t generally result in criminal charges.
A fifth officer from 12 Division was convicted criminally, after he was found to have repeatedly leaked confidential information to a member of the public with a criminal record. He is still facing police act charges.
None of the 13 cases are related to Project South. But database breaches were similarly at the core of the allegations laid out in that investigation, which was announced by York Regional Police in February as one of the largest police corruption busts in Canadian history.
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The Project South probe was sparked by the alleged attempted assassination of a corrections officer at his home. Investigators then worked backward, determining that a Toronto Police Service constable, Timothy Barnhardt, had allegedly used police databases to leak information that ultimately led to the attempted hit.
Seven active TPS officers have been charged under Project South. Three of them – including Constable Barnhardt – worked in 12 Division, along with a recently retired officer, who is also facing charges. The allegations against them have not been tested in court.
Since those charges were laid, The Globe has reviewed all police act cases that were commenced or resolved by the TPS’s discipline tribunal – which adjudicates serious allegations of misconduct – between 2018 and 2025.
The Globe’s review focused on other officers from 12 Division who were reprimanded for unauthorized database use, as well as the one officer who was criminally convicted.
An unexplained licence-plate query. A search of an on-again-off-again girlfriend. Tracking down a victim from a year-old case, hoping to ask her out. Leaking confidential information to a man with a criminal record.
The motives and severity of these breaches involving 12 Division officers varied. Most resulted in a few days’ docked pay.
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There are 16 Toronto Police divisions across the city. In addition to the data-breach cases involving officers from 12 Division, The Globe also identified two cases from 41 Division, two from 51 Division, one each in 13 and 14 Divisions, as well as one from what the TPS describes as “communications – PRIME” and two from traffic services.
Stephanie Sayer, a spokeswoman for the Toronto Police Service, said, “We’re not seeing evidence that one division has a disproportionate issue with improper database access compared to others.”
She added that the disciplinary files that The Globe reviewed do not necessarily reflect the full picture of matters dealt with internally. “Not every instance of improper database access proceeds to a public disciplinary hearing or the courts.”
Clayton Campbell, president of the Toronto Police Association, the officers’ union, said database breaches are one of the more common ways members find themselves in the disciplinary process. He said it is important to determine, in cases of improper database usage, what information was accessed and for what purpose.
“Not every improper access to information reaches the threshold for criminality and may not even be considered serious misconduct,” he said. “It is why each case is evaluated on its own merits and discipline is meted out appropriately.”
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In response to Project South, Ontario’s Inspector-General of Policing has appointed a retired judge to conduct a provincewide probe into corruption across all police services, with database security cited as one of the main pillars of the review.
Asked whether Toronto Police would consider a precinct-by-precinct review of the force’s culture to pinpoint which divisions are of concern, Chief Myron Demkiw has said that there would be complexities around data collection at the unit level.
In 2018, according to one of the tribunal decisions that The Globe reviewed, 12 Division Constable Alison Gaudino pleaded guilty to two counts of insubordination for unauthorized database queries on two different people – one of whom she had been “in a personal relationship with.”
She did searches on three common police databases, the tribunal found.
Among them were Versadex, the service’s records management system; the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC), which is operated by the RCMP, and is a national records database for information about crimes and police interactions; and IntelliBook, a digital booking system that provides access to fingerprints and photographs.
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In his decision, Hearing Officer Richard Hegedus wrote that Constable Gaudino – and every TPS officer – should be aware of the rules against improper use of these systems.
“The messages about not using CPIC and other confidential information systems for personal use have been provided to the Service membership on an ongoing basis. There has been no systemic failure in this case,” he wrote.
Constable Gaudino’s lawyer, David Butt, declined to comment.
That same year, her 12 Division colleague Constable Brian Collymore pleaded guilty to insubordination in connection with an unexplained licence-plate query. The 2018 decision in his case notes that there was “no evidence offered” as to why he performed the query (which was done in 2015), or what he did with the information.
In an e-mail, his lawyer, Joanne Mulcahy, said her client’s “innocuous computer query” has nothing to do with the Project South investigation, and that he accepted responsibility for his actions before the tribunal.
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In 2019, 12 Division Constable Daniel Smith pleaded guilty to discreditable conduct and insubordination for twice using a database to track down a woman he met while responding to a domestic violence call a year earlier. These queries were “not for official police business,” according to the decision. He sent text messages to the woman, the tribunal found, “wishing to date her.”
Mr. Butt, who also represented Constable Smith, declined to comment.
In 2022, 12 Division Constable Timothy Price pleaded guilty to insubordination for three separate database queries he made in 2019 on a person with whom he was in an on-again-off-again relationship.
Of all these officers, Constable Price faced the steepest penalty: he was docked eight days’ pay, due in part, the hearing officer noted, to the aggravating fact that he had a previous police act conviction from 2016 for “similar” misconduct.
In that case, the tribunal had docked him four days’ pay for CPIC misuse, after he used databases to look up a woman with whom he had a “close personal friendship.” He was docked another 16 days’ pay for using his police badge to gain access to a key fob for her apartment building, after their friendship ended, which he used to enter the parking garage and leave a note on her car.
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In his decision in the 2022 case, Hearing Officer Shane Branton, an acting superintendent, acknowledged that Constable Price has displayed some remorse. “However, the authenticity of this remorse is brought into question by his repetition of the specific misconduct.”
His lawyer, Gary Clewley, did not respond to a request from The Globe for comment.
In the case that led to a criminal conviction, 12 Division Constable Ricardo Gomez pleaded guilty in 2024 to a criminal charge of breach of trust, for repeatedly leaking confidential information to a member of the public whom he knew to have a criminal record. According to an agreed statement of facts in his case, the misconduct only came to light after that man was arrested and his phone was seized, revealing hundreds of messages between them.
In one instance, according to the agreed facts, Constable Gomez sent the man extensive personal information about the owner of a vehicle, including his name, address and driver’s licence number. On another occasion, Constable Gomez sent photos of his police duty book, after a fire investigation at a property owned by the man.
Constable Gomez was given six months of house arrest; a sentence he is appealing. He has been suspended from TPS since 2021, and his discipline charges (laid in 2022) remain before the tribunal.
His lawyer, Calvin Barry, did not respond to a request from The Globe for comment.
TPS did not respond to questions about the employment status or current divisional assignments of the other officers of 12 Division whose cases The Globe reviewed.
Ms. Sayer, TPS spokesperson, said that Chief Demkiw welcomes the provincewide review that was announced in response to Project South. She said he has also committed to taking steps internally to strengthen oversight, including an “anti-corruption project,” which she said is “enhancing our ability to detect, monitor and prevent improper access to systems such as CPIC and [the Ministry of Transportation.]”
With data analysis by Chen Wang