{"id":100753,"date":"2026-02-08T03:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T08:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=100753"},"modified":"2026-02-07T12:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T17:05:13","slug":"its-not-corruption-its-community-policing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2026\/02\/08\/its-not-corruption-its-community-policing\/","title":{"rendered":"“It’s not corruption, it’s community policing”"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the social media site formerly known as Twitter<\/em>, Peter Girnus<\/a> explains the recent arrest of several Toronto police officers on a disturbing variety of charges:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m a Police Liaison Officer in Toronto.<\/p>\n

My job is community relations<\/p>\n

The tow truck community.<\/p>\n

I provide information.<\/p>\n

To my contacts.<\/p>\n

In the towing industry.<\/p>\n

They provide information back.<\/p>\n

To my bank account.<\/p>\n

That’s community policing.<\/p>\n

My father is also a cop.<\/p>\n

He does the same thing.<\/p>\n

Family business.<\/p>\n

Three generations of service.<\/p>\n

To organized crime.<\/p>\n

We call ourselves “consultants.”<\/p>\n

The tow truck guys call themselves “The Union.”<\/p>\n

52 counts of conspiracy to commit murder.<\/p>\n

That’s union organizing.<\/p>\n

Toronto style.
\n<\/p>\n

In 2024, 63 shootings were linked to tow trucks.<\/p>\n

That’s 13% of all shootings in the city.<\/p>\n

From tow trucks.<\/p>\n

The things that move your car.<\/p>\n

After accidents.<\/p>\n

They also cause accidents.<\/p>\n

On purpose.<\/p>\n

For business.<\/p>\n

A single tow can generate $10,000.<\/p>\n

Inflated repairs.<\/p>\n

Fake physio referrals.<\/p>\n

Storage fees at lots 50 kilometers away.<\/p>\n

Insurance pays.<\/p>\n

Premiums go up.<\/p>\n

Everyone pays.<\/p>\n

Except us.<\/p>\n

We get paid separately.<\/p>\n

In cash.<\/p>\n

My job was simple.<\/p>\n

Someone needs an address.<\/p>\n

I run the plate.<\/p>\n

Someone needs a cop to look away.<\/p>\n

I look away.<\/p>\n

Someone needs a corrections officer dead.<\/p>\n

I provide the home address.<\/p>\n

That’s full-service policing.<\/p>\n

They showed up at his house.<\/p>\n

Three armed men.<\/p>\n

Rammed a police cruiser in his driveway.<\/p>\n

He survived.<\/p>\n

We were disappointed.<\/p>\n

But not deeply disappointed.<\/p>\n

That came later.<\/p>\n

At the press conference.<\/p>\n

The Chief said he was “deeply disappointed.”<\/p>\n

Seven takes.<\/p>\n

The first six weren’t disappointed enough.<\/p>\n

The seventh was perfect.<\/p>\n

Authentic.<\/p>\n

Rehearsed authentic.<\/p>\n

That’s the goal.<\/p>\n

They seized 169 pounds of cannabis.<\/p>\n

And one pound of fentanyl.<\/p>\n

From my associates.<\/p>\n

Headed to Europe.<\/p>\n

That’s export business.<\/p>\n

We were helping the trade deficit.<\/p>\n

They also seized three armored Cadillacs.<\/p>\n

Bulletproof.<\/p>\n

$150,000 each.<\/p>\n

From tow truck operators.<\/p>\n

Who tow Hondas.<\/p>\n

Nobody asked questions.<\/p>\n

We didn’t answer them.<\/p>\n

The investigation took 400 officers.<\/p>\n

To catch 8 officers.<\/p>\n

That’s a 50-to-1 ratio.<\/p>\n

Very efficient.<\/p>\n

In 2012, our drug squad planted evidence.<\/p>\n

In 2021, a superintendent helped officers cheat on exams.<\/p>\n

In 2022, a cop stole from a missing person.<\/p>\n

Then tried to flee the country.<\/p>\n

That’s institutional knowledge.<\/p>\n

Passed down.<\/p>\n

Generation to generation.<\/p>\n

A lawyer sued our tow truck friends.<\/p>\n

For insurance fraud.<\/p>\n

She won 1,400 cases.<\/p>\n

So they burned her office.<\/p>\n

Twice.<\/p>\n

Then shot it up.<\/p>\n

Then tried to assassinate her.<\/p>\n

The gun misfired.<\/p>\n

The shooter filmed it on his phone.<\/p>\n

For quality control.<\/p>\n

That’s documentation.<\/p>\n

She fled the country.<\/p>\n

We won.<\/p>\n

Law and order lost.<\/p>\n

But we are law and order.<\/p>\n

So technically we won twice.<\/p>\n

A bar opened in Scarborough.<\/p>\n

The owner’s nephew was a tow truck dispatcher.<\/p>\n

Wrong dispatcher.<\/p>\n

Wrong union.<\/p>\n

On opening night, three men walked in.<\/p>\n

With an assault rifle.<\/p>\n

Nine people shot.<\/p>\n

Three more injured by debris.<\/p>\n

Nobody died.<\/p>\n

The Chief called it “a miracle.”<\/p>\n

I call it poor marksmanship.<\/p>\n

We’ll do better next time.<\/p>\n

The shooters were 15 to 22 years old.<\/p>\n

Part-time work.<\/p>\n

Gig economy.<\/p>\n

They weren’t tow truck drivers.<\/p>\n

Just contractors.<\/p>\n

Flexible labor.<\/p>\n

The Mayor says the Chief needs to “earn back trust.”<\/p>\n

He will.<\/p>\n

At the next press conference.<\/p>\n

With the right level of disappointment.<\/p>\n

We’re not corrupt officers.<\/p>\n

We’re “alleged” corrupt officers.<\/p>\n

Big difference.<\/p>\n

Alleged means innocent.<\/p>\n

Until proven.<\/p>\n

Proving takes years.<\/p>\n

Evidence gets lost.<\/p>\n

Witnesses relocate.<\/p>\n

To shallow graves.<\/p>\n

The Crown dropped charges against one kingpin.<\/p>\n

Couldn’t reveal a confidential informant.<\/p>\n

He went back to towing.<\/p>\n

Three months later he was shot dead.<\/p>\n

Outside a plaza.<\/p>\n

That’s street justice.<\/p>\n

Also our justice.<\/p>\n

Same thing.<\/p>\n

Different paperwork.<\/p>\n

I’m suspended now.<\/p>\n

With pay.<\/p>\n

That’s accountability.<\/p>\n

Canadian style.<\/p>\n

The union\u2014our union, the police union\u2014says we’ll get “due process.”<\/p>\n

And “wellness support.”<\/p>\n

Wellness support means therapy.<\/p>\n

For the stress.<\/p>\n

Of getting caught.<\/p>\n

8,000 officers serve Toronto.<\/p>\n

8 were arrested.<\/p>\n

That’s 0.1%.<\/p>\n

One-tenth of one percent.<\/p>\n

The Chief said that at the press conference.<\/p>\n

Very reassuring.<\/p>\n

The other 7,992 are fine.<\/p>\n

Probably.<\/p>\n

He didn’t check.<\/p>\n

But the math is comforting.<\/p>\n

We’re not representative.<\/p>\n

Of the service.<\/p>\n

We’re representative.<\/p>\n

Of the service.<\/p>\n

That nobody talks about.<\/p>\n

Organized crime is corrosive.<\/p>\n

That’s what the Chief said.<\/p>\n

It corroded our service.<\/p>\n

From the inside.<\/p>\n

Where we work.<\/p>\n

For 30 years.<\/p>\n

But it’s unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Now that it’s public.<\/p>\n

Before that it was acceptable.<\/p>\n

Very acceptable.<\/p>\n

$5,000 a month acceptable.<\/p>\n

The tow trucks are still running.<\/p>\n

The turf wars continue.<\/p>\n

New players.<\/p>\n

New alliances.<\/p>\n

Same violence.<\/p>\n

We just restructured.<\/p>\n

For sustainable growth.<\/p>\n

That’s community policing.<\/p>\n

Toronto style.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In shorter terms:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9,28,53],"tags":[363,112,98,207],"class_list":["post-100753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cancon","category-law","category-media","category-politics","tag-corruption","tag-organizedcrime","tag-police","tag-toronto"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-qd3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100753"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100757,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100753\/revisions\/100757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}