Emotional apology in disciplinary trial of police superintendent accused of misconduct

An emotional apology from a senior Toronto police officer at a high-profile disciplinary hearing Wednesday.

Superintendent Stacy Clarke took the stand and spoke publicly for the first time, apologizing and regretting her actions.

“This is not what my parents raised me to be,” Clarke testified in the penalty phase of her hearing, saying she was “overwhelmed with despair.”

“I am deeply sorry for taking this particular path. “It’s going to be difficult for people to understand what happened, why it happened, and I hope I can say why.”

Clarke, the first black woman to hold that rank in the history of the service, pleaded guilty to seven charges under the Police Services Act, including three counts each of breach of trust and dishonorable conduct.

In an agreed statement of facts, Clarke, while a member of promotional interview panels in 2021, took photographs of questions and answer rubrics and sent them to six of his trainees seeking promotions to sergeant.

He says he also met with one of his mentees, a close family friend, for three days at his home, where he conducted a mock interview and posed questions sometimes drawn word for word from those asked during the previous week’s panels.

He was then part of that officer’s promotional interview panel and did not reveal their friendship or mentor-mentee relationship.

His supporters gathered at police headquarters, arguing that Clarke was not benefiting in any way and was only trying to address equity issues in the police force and help more racialized officers reach senior positions. They point out that the promotion process was skewed and that only 1.7 percent of black candidates who had applied for promotion were successful.

The court must determine Clarke’s punishment, which could range from a demotion to dismissal.

“Instead of demoting her, they should give her an award for all the work she has done,” said Herman Stewart, one of many community members who supported Clark. “What’s unfair is the severity of the discipline and simply because she is a black woman.”

The Toronto Police Association previously said it would closely monitor the disciplinary hearing to see if “the outcome is fair and proportionate to the standard expected of a high-ranking officer.”

Clarke said Wednesday that she has always been candid about her goals of helping others rise through the ranks and that her focus is on racial and gender diversity.

“I still want to see progressive change,” Clarke said. “I plan to go as high as I can as an officer, make no mistake about it. “This incident will not stop me.”

Clarke returns to the stand Thursday for questioning.