Nearly 30 people charged, including seven Toronto officers and one retired constable
An investigation into an alleged corruption network inside the Toronto Police Service (TPS) has put employee database misuse in the spotlight, after court documents showed a constable allegedly ran unauthorized searches on a government system for months before anyone caught on.
The case – known as Project South – began as a probe into a June 2025 home invasion targeting a manager at a Toronto jail. It grew into one of the largest corruption investigations in the TPS's history, according to an information-to-obtain (ITO) document filed in an Ontario courtroom, says the Toronto Star.
By February 2026, 27 people had been charged, including seven active Toronto officers and one retired constable, with several more officers suspended across the Greater Toronto Area, according to the report.
Database misuse undetected
Investigators with York Regional Police opened the file after the jail manager, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, told them he believed he had been targeted over his enforcement work inside the facility, according to the Toronto Star.
A search of the Ministry of Transportation database turned up Constable Timothy Barnhardt of 12 Division, who had searched the jail manager's licence plate weeks before the attack without a legitimate investigative reason, according to the report.
The force's Professional Standards Unit later found Barnhardt had made 17 such searches over six months while off duty. Barnhardt's lawyer, Jason Dos Santos, declined to answer detailed questions from the Toronto Star but says: "We will defend these allegations in a courtroom where facts – not headlines – decide the outcome."
Corrupt cops
Toronto Police Association president Clayton Campbell, who represents more than 8,500 uniformed and civilian members of the TPS, says there's "nothing our members hate more than a corrupt cop."
Oversight bodies have since escalated their own response. Ontario's inspector general of policing launched a province-wide inspection into police integrity and anti-corruption practices, while the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency and the City of Toronto's auditor general opened separate reviews touching on privacy and data governance.
Toronto Police Service board chair Shelley Carroll says: "When public trust is shaken, the response must be decisive and sustained."
A separate Globe and Mail review found Toronto Police Service's 12 Division accounted for nearly a third of the force's Police Act convictions for database breaches between 2018 and 2025.
The 2026 Cost of Insider Risks Global Report, conducted by the Ponemon Institute and published by DTEX, found the average annual cost of insider risk reached US$19.5 million per organization in 2025, up 20% over two years.
A recent federal agency's first annual report on employee misconduct investigations showed how systemic reviews can surface patterns individual managers miss, and employment lawyers note that the minimum standard employers must meet before disciplining a worker hinges on a thorough, documented process.
