On the social media site formerly known as Twitter, Peter Girnus explains the recent arrest of several Toronto police officers on a disturbing variety of charges:
I’m a Police Liaison Officer in Toronto.
My job is community relations
The tow truck community.
I provide information.
To my contacts.
In the towing industry.
They provide information back.
To my bank account.
That’s community policing.
My father is also a cop.
He does the same thing.
Family business.
Three generations of service.
To organized crime.
We call ourselves “consultants.”
The tow truck guys call themselves “The Union.”
52 counts of conspiracy to commit murder.
That’s union organizing.
Toronto style.
In 2024, 63 shootings were linked to tow trucks.
That’s 13% of all shootings in the city.
From tow trucks.
The things that move your car.
After accidents.
They also cause accidents.
On purpose.
For business.
A single tow can generate $10,000.
Inflated repairs.
Fake physio referrals.
Storage fees at lots 50 kilometers away.
Insurance pays.
Premiums go up.
Everyone pays.
Except us.
We get paid separately.
In cash.
My job was simple.
Someone needs an address.
I run the plate.
Someone needs a cop to look away.
I look away.
Someone needs a corrections officer dead.
I provide the home address.
That’s full-service policing.
They showed up at his house.
Three armed men.
Rammed a police cruiser in his driveway.
He survived.
We were disappointed.
But not deeply disappointed.
That came later.
At the press conference.
The Chief said he was “deeply disappointed.”
Seven takes.
The first six weren’t disappointed enough.
The seventh was perfect.
Authentic.
Rehearsed authentic.
That’s the goal.
They seized 169 pounds of cannabis.
And one pound of fentanyl.
From my associates.
Headed to Europe.
That’s export business.
We were helping the trade deficit.
They also seized three armored Cadillacs.
Bulletproof.
$150,000 each.
From tow truck operators.
Who tow Hondas.
Nobody asked questions.
We didn’t answer them.
The investigation took 400 officers.
To catch 8 officers.
That’s a 50-to-1 ratio.
Very efficient.
In 2012, our drug squad planted evidence.
In 2021, a superintendent helped officers cheat on exams.
In 2022, a cop stole from a missing person.
Then tried to flee the country.
That’s institutional knowledge.
Passed down.
Generation to generation.
A lawyer sued our tow truck friends.
For insurance fraud.
She won 1,400 cases.
So they burned her office.
Twice.
Then shot it up.
Then tried to assassinate her.
The gun misfired.
The shooter filmed it on his phone.
For quality control.
That’s documentation.
She fled the country.
We won.
Law and order lost.
But we are law and order.
So technically we won twice.
A bar opened in Scarborough.
The owner’s nephew was a tow truck dispatcher.
Wrong dispatcher.
Wrong union.
On opening night, three men walked in.
With an assault rifle.
Nine people shot.
Three more injured by debris.
Nobody died.
The Chief called it “a miracle.”
I call it poor marksmanship.
We’ll do better next time.
The shooters were 15 to 22 years old.
Part-time work.
Gig economy.
They weren’t tow truck drivers.
Just contractors.
Flexible labor.
The Mayor says the Chief needs to “earn back trust.”
He will.
At the next press conference.
With the right level of disappointment.
We’re not corrupt officers.
We’re “alleged” corrupt officers.
Big difference.
Alleged means innocent.
Until proven.
Proving takes years.
Evidence gets lost.
Witnesses relocate.
To shallow graves.
The Crown dropped charges against one kingpin.
Couldn’t reveal a confidential informant.
He went back to towing.
Three months later he was shot dead.
Outside a plaza.
That’s street justice.
Also our justice.
Same thing.
Different paperwork.
I’m suspended now.
With pay.
That’s accountability.
Canadian style.
The union—our union, the police union—says we’ll get “due process.”
And “wellness support.”
Wellness support means therapy.
For the stress.
Of getting caught.
8,000 officers serve Toronto.
8 were arrested.
That’s 0.1%.
One-tenth of one percent.
The Chief said that at the press conference.
Very reassuring.
The other 7,992 are fine.
Probably.
He didn’t check.
But the math is comforting.
We’re not representative.
Of the service.
We’re representative.
Of the service.
That nobody talks about.
Organized crime is corrosive.
That’s what the Chief said.
It corroded our service.
From the inside.
Where we work.
For 30 years.
But it’s unacceptable.
Now that it’s public.
Before that it was acceptable.
Very acceptable.
$5,000 a month acceptable.
The tow trucks are still running.
The turf wars continue.
New players.
New alliances.
Same violence.
We just restructured.
For sustainable growth.
That’s community policing.
Toronto style.
In shorter terms:
