
‘Amongst the trusted’: How private police chat groups blur and breach ethical lines
VANCOUVER — In August 2021, a Toronto drug case took a dramatic turn when a prosecutor made what the judge called a “highly unusual” request, asking the court to throw out evidence by a key police witness.
It came after defence lawyers had grilled Toronto Police Service Const. Ryan Kotzer over “disparaging comments about black people” in an unofficial 51 Division police chat group.
In another conversation, a different 51 Division officer asked about the pubic hair of a female colleague and whether it was “like a blk chick.”
That vulgarity also found its way into the courts — used to depict the officer who made the comment as racist in a bid to throw out a separate human-trafficking case.