New Project South documents claim officer sold uniforms to alleged criminals
A decision from an Ontario judge Wednesday allowed the release of wiretap transcripts, tracking information and surveillance notes gathered over the months-long investigation.
According to newly unsealed documents, former Toronto police officer Timothy Barnhardt allegedly sold police uniforms to criminals. These documents are part of the Information to Obtain (ITO) gathered during Project South, an investigation into alleged corruption by Toronto police. The ITO contains wiretap transcripts, tracking information, and surveillance notes from the months-long investigation.
Barnhardt, one of 13 arrested officers, is accused of improperly searching confidential databases for people's home addresses, then selling the information to criminals for cash. The documents also allege that Barnhardt supplied an inmate at the Toronto South Detention Centre with an inmate's home address in a plot to harm a jail guard.
Barnhardt allegedly sold police badges and uniforms to alleged criminals as well. An officer involved in one of the raids claimed that Barnhardt was believed to possess firearms and threatened violence if the police entered his residence. Justice Laura Bird allowed the release of portions of the ITO, highlighting that Project South's discovery was coincidental, and expressing concern about a trusted public official engaging in widespread illegal conduct. One officer charged in the case has already pleaded guilty.
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