It was the biggest police corruption case in Toronto history. In 2012, five officers with the city's drug squad were convicted of attempting to obstruct justice. It was all related to a warrantless search of a heroin dealer. They went all the way to the Supreme Court, where their appeal was eventually rejected. But the consequences stretched way beyond those five officers. Because of this, more than 200 drug cases were tossed out. And that's because allegations of police misconduct have a ripple effect on other prosecutions.

When there are allegations of corruption against an officer that's involved in various cases, what are the next steps for a criminal defence lawyer? Obviously, there's some recent high profile allegations that are out there right now. The first thing we would do if we were aware that an officer was facing such charges on one of our cases is start seeking disclosure. That would be the first step. And the Crown also has an obligation as well.

Help me understand, there's something called the MacNeil report. A MacNeil report is a report that will set out allegations of police misconduct and details of police misconduct. So what happens is, if I am prosecuting a case and one of my investigating officers or an officer who's going to be a witness or a key part of the case has allegations of misconduct against them, that information will be given to me, provided to me in a MacNeil report. I have a duty to disclose. Also, if I find out about allegations of misconduct as the Crown attorney, I have a duty to make reasonable inquiries, and I don't have the luxury of waiting until criminal charges or an internal investigation have been resolved.

First of all, you have to understand the role of a crown. A role of a crown is independent. We're independent ministers of justice, and our role is quasi judicial. And the reason our role is quasi judicial is because we make decisions whether or not to proceed with a case long before it ever gets to trial, long before it ever goes to a jury. If every charge that was laid ended up in a trial, the system would collapse. The Crown will then review to see whether there's a reasonable prospect of conviction, and it's in the public interest. So when there are corruption charges that impact maybe key investigative officers or key witnesses, that will obviously impact our assessment.

If you have an allegation of an officer being corrupt and they fulfil a key role where their credibility is an issue on a key piece of the case, the Crown needs to prove that's likely going to end the case in a lot of circumstances. Even though there's huge public interest in keeping guns off the street and public safety, you also have to balance that against whether it would still be a fair trial and the reputation of the justice system.

There is an interest in finality in cases. So in order to reopen the case, to get the extension, then you'd have to file something called fresh evidence. You'd have to show that even if you're a duly diligent, you couldn't have discovered it at the time, that it will impact the case, that it potentially could change the verdict. And then you're going to have to show that there was potentially, in most cases, a miscarriage of justice.

Bruce McArthur lived in the city of Toronto, and he was a gay male who killed, dismembered and buried in planters. Eight men from Toronto's gay community. Between the years of 2010 to 2017. So I was involved in the investigation at two points in time. It wasn't until November of 2017 where some evidence was uncovered that led investigators to believe Andrew Kinsman is the victim of a murder, and Bruce McArthur is a suspect.

Why did it take so long for this to end with a conviction? Well, we can only deal with evidence. And that evidence was being followed up and that was being followed up very, very diligently. And we can't manufacture things. McArthur's name did not come up until 2013, when he was interviewed... But even then, it's not until November of 2017 when some blood belonging to Andrew Kinsman is identified in the back of McArthur's van, where we can now say, okay, now we have some evidence to say that there's been a murder. These things don't happen overnight, right? Some of these investigations can take years, and this evidence can't be manufactured.

I am critical of some of the some of the structure of the police service, some of the culture of the police service. There are pitfalls from day one at the police college, all the way up to the chief and the command structure. I talk about an incident even when I was a new recruit at the police college with some of the instructors. And really what would be classified as tyrannical behaviour. The police service is always going to be a reflection of society. So if there's racists in society, you're going to have racists in the police service.

I think I also articulate in the book that the system within the police service is one where it is virtually impossible to file a formal complaint against a member of the police service who is higher ranking than you, who is in that position because they've been put there by a command or an executive level officer, and the very person that you would complain to is that command or executive level officer. It's going to have a detrimental effect on you. It's a terrible structure like that, and even an anonymous system... that lack of anonymity really, really hampers the ability to complain. The complaint processes that are in effect that they talk about in their response are completely inadequate and ineffective.