Toronto police officer helped officers cheat on exam to diversify ranks, lawyer says [Video]

The first female Black superintendent in Toronto Police Service history was in despair over what she believed was systemic mistreatment of Black officers and was attempting to diversify the ranks on her own when she helped six constables cheat in a promotions exam, her lawyer told a police tribunal Monday.

Supt. Stacy Clarke was “frustrated and desperate” at the slow pace of change in the service and believed her efforts to promote qualified Black candidates were falling on deaf ears, lawyer Joseph Markson said during the tribunal hearing that will ultimately determine her punishment within the organization.

“As the first Black female superintendent in the history of the Toronto Police Service, Supt. Clarke has been running uphill and against the wind for more than 26 years,” said lawyer Joseph Markson.

“In these unique and extraordinary circumstances, there is a straight line in connecting systemic discrimination in policing towards Blacks, Supt. …