Skip to main content
News Analysis

Toronto Police Officers Charged in Spain Remain Suspended With Pay: What the CSPA Foreign-Jurisdiction Gap Means for Taxpayers, Complainants and Public Trust

Three off-duty Toronto police officers charged in Spain over an alleged Barcelona sexual assault returned to Canada this week and remain suspended with pay, because Ontario's Community Safety and Policing Act ties suspension-without-pay to offences charged under a 'law in Canada.' Here is a practical guide for taxpayers, complainants and Canadians weighing what the foreign-jurisdiction gap means for policing accountability.

By Refdesk Team

Toronto Police Officers Charged in Spain Remain Suspended With Pay: What the CSPA Foreign-Jurisdiction Gap Means for Taxpayers, Complainants and Public Trust

What This Means for You

Two years after Ontario's Community Safety and Policing Act (CSPA) ended the province's long-standing rule that any officer charged with a serious crime kept collecting a full paycheque, three Toronto officers charged abroad have surfaced a narrow but consequential gap in the new regime: the statutory test for suspension without pay points to a "law in Canada," and a Spanish criminal charge does not, on its own, satisfy that test. Whether you are a Toronto taxpayer footing the salary bill, a survivor or witness considering a complaint, or simply a Canadian trying to understand how policing accountability now works, here is the practical, step-by-step view.

If You Are a Toronto Taxpayer

Understand what the salary cost actually looks like. A first-class Toronto Police Service constable earns roughly $114,000 in base salary in 2026 under the most recent collective agreement, before paid duty, overtime, premium pay, pension contributions and benefits. For three officers suspended on full pay, that is roughly $342,000 in base salary alone over a 12-month period, and closer to $430,000–$470,000 once the employer's share of pension, CPP, EI and benefits is included. A criminal proceeding in Spain — particularly one being investigated by Catalonia's Mossos d'Esquadra and prosecuted in Barcelona — can take many months to reach a determination. Plan, as a taxpayer, for the possibility that the salary clock runs through 2026 and into 2027 unless the Toronto Police Service obtains a charge or conviction the CSPA recognizes.

Know where your policing dollars actually go. The City of Toronto's 2026 operating budget allocates approximately $1.34 billion to the Toronto Police Service, the single largest line item in the city budget. Salary and benefits are roughly 88% of that figure. Use the City of Toronto's open-budget portal at open.toronto.ca to read the line-by-line allocation. Deputations to the Toronto Police Service Board (TPSB) are open to any Toronto resident; the board meets monthly and accepts written submissions up to 24 hours before each meeting via tpsb.ca.

Where to raise concerns about salary policy specifically. The "suspended with pay" rule for foreign charges is a provincial-statute issue, not a Toronto-only one. Concerns about the wording of section 117 of the CSPA — which lists the grounds for suspension without pay — should go in writing to Ontario's Solicitor General and to your provincial MPP. Find your MPP and their contact email at ola.org/en/members/current. A constructive submission identifies the specific statutory wording you want amended ("charged with a serious offence … under a law in Canada") and proposes alternative language ("under a law in Canada or under the laws of a foreign jurisdiction where the alleged conduct would constitute an indictable offence if committed in Canada").

Resources:

Example scenario. A Toronto homeowner paying $5,400 in property tax in 2026 contributes roughly $1,485 of that bill to the police service, based on the 27.5% police share of the city operating budget. Of that share, paid suspension while officers face criminal charges abroad is a small line item — but a politically visible one, because it sits inside a $1.18 billion salary envelope that grows every year through arbitrated wage settlements.

If You Are a Survivor of Sexual Violence or a Witness Considering a Complaint

This story will be hard to read for some people. The Refdesk team treats it with that in mind. If you are weighing whether to come forward — about police conduct, or about any sexual assault — here is what the formal pathways look like in 2026.

Three separate complaint channels, three different effects:

  1. Criminal complaint — Report to the police service of jurisdiction where the incident occurred. In Ontario, that means dialling 911 in an emergency or the local non-emergency line. Sexual-assault investigations can also be initiated through hospital-based Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Treatment Centres (SADVTCs), where a forensic examination can be completed and held without an immediate decision to lay charges.
  2. Professional misconduct complaint against a specific officer — Filed with the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency (LECA), which replaced the OIPRD in April 2024 under the CSPA. Complaints can be filed online at lecaontario.ca within six months of the incident (LECA can extend this window in appropriate cases).
  3. Independent investigation of serious incidents — The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigates incidents involving death, serious injury, allegations of sexual assault and the discharge of a firearm at a person, where police are involved. Contact: siu.on.ca or 1-800-787-8529.

What "suspended with pay" does and does not mean for a complainant. Suspension is an employment decision by the chief of police; it does not determine guilt, innocence or the strength of any complaint. A suspended officer cannot perform police duties, carry a service firearm or wear the uniform, but retains salary and benefits unless the chief invokes section 117 of the CSPA. A suspension does not pause any criminal proceeding, professional misconduct hearing, or civil claim — those tracks run on their own timelines.

Free, confidential support before you decide:

  • Assaulted Women's Helpline (Ontario): 1-866-863-0511 — 24/7, multilingual.
  • Talk4Healing (Indigenous women): 1-855-554-4325 — 24/7.
  • Victim Quick Response Program+ (VQRP+): financial help with counselling, emergency expenses and crime-scene cleanup, administered by Victim Services Toronto: victimservicestoronto.com.
  • Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic (Toronto): legal, counselling and interpreter services for women experiencing violence: schliferclinic.com.

Practical takeaway. A criminal report and a misconduct complaint are not the same proceeding, and you do not need to choose one over the other. A complaint to LECA does not depend on a criminal charge being laid, and the six-month window starts from the conduct you are complaining about, not from any criminal disposition.

For All Canadians: How CSPA Suspension Actually Works in 2026

Until April 2024, Ontario was the only province in Canada where an officer charged with a serious crime kept full pay through trial and sentencing — pay was forfeited only if the officer was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment. The Community Safety and Policing Act changed that. In the 13 months from January to early 2026, Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw has used the new CSPA suspension-without-pay process in at least one major case (the "Project South" corruption investigation), with six officers placed on unpaid suspension after charges in Canada.

The four CSPA grounds for suspension WITHOUT pay (paraphrased from section 117):

  1. The officer is convicted of an offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
  2. The officer is in custody, including remand.
  3. The officer is on bail conditions or other release conditions that would, in the chief's reasonable opinion, interfere with the officer's ability to perform their duties.
  4. The officer is charged with a serious offence under a law in Canada and the chief determines, based on prescribed factors, that suspension without pay is warranted.

Why the Spain case is different. The Spanish charge — sexual assault causing injury, for two of the three officers, and attacking an agent of authority for the third — is a foreign criminal charge. Ground 4 requires a charge "under a law in Canada." Ground 1 requires a conviction with a custodial sentence. Grounds 2 and 3 turn on whether the bail or custody conditions imposed by a Canadian court interfere with police work. Because the officers were released by Spanish authorities and have returned to Canada without Canadian charges, the chief's lawful path to suspension without pay is, at present, narrow.

That can change. If Spain seeks the officers' return through extradition or a formal request for arrest under a European arrest warrant, or if Canadian authorities lay a related charge under provisions of the Criminal Code that have extraterritorial application, the suspension calculus shifts. The CSPA explicitly contemplates suspension-without-pay decisions being revisited as facts change.

The News: What Happened

According to CBC News, three off-duty Toronto Police Service officers — Evan Glennie, Rich Rand and Caglar Yigit — were arrested in Spain on May 13, 2026, in connection with an alleged incident in a taxi in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella district that police say involved a sex worker. As reported by The Globe and Mail, two of the three officers face charges of sexual assault causing injuries, and the third faces a charge of attacking an agent of authority. According to CP24, two officers were arrested on May 13 and the third was located and arrested two days later in Palma de Mallorca.

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw, speaking on Newstalk 1010 and in subsequent media availabilities reported by CTV News and Global News, confirmed on May 20 that all three officers had returned to Canada and were suspended from duty. According to Global News, the Toronto Police Service confirmed that the three officers remain on the payroll because the offences are alleged to have occurred outside Canada and Ontario's Community Safety and Policing Act ties suspension-without-pay to charges "under a law in Canada." As reported by CBC News on May 21, the Toronto Police Service Board chair described the allegations as "troubling," and the matter remains under both a Spanish criminal investigation and an internal Toronto Police Service professional-standards review.

Analysis: Why This Matters

Based on our analysis of the Community Safety and Policing Act and its application since April 2024, the Spain case is the first widely reported instance in which Ontario's new suspension-without-pay regime has confronted a foreign-jurisdiction allegation against a Canadian officer. The result is a narrow legislative gap. The CSPA was drafted to end the embarrassment of officers collecting full pay through years-long Canadian prosecutions; it did not contemplate, in plain text, the comparatively unusual fact pattern of off-duty officers charged abroad.

There are good reasons for legal caution here. The presumption of innocence applies; foreign criminal procedure does not always meet Canadian Charter standards; and an employment decision driven by a foreign charge that is later dropped or amended could expose the service to grievance and civil claims. At the same time, a suspension-with-pay regime that does not flex when the conduct alleged is among the most serious imaginable — sexual assault causing injury — erodes public confidence in the post-2024 reforms that the CSPA was supposed to deliver.

Historical Context

The 2024 reform replaced a 1990 statute that had become a public-trust liability. The reformed framework cleared an early test in February 2026, when Chief Demkiw used section 117 to suspend without pay several officers facing Canadian corruption charges. The Spain case is now the second high-profile test, and the first where the statutory wording itself — rather than the chief's discretion — is the binding constraint.

What Happens Next

Watch three signals over the next 60 to 120 days. First, whether Spanish prosecutors confirm formal indictments after the initial investigative phase. Second, whether Toronto Police Service professional-standards review concludes that conduct unrelated to the Spanish charges (off-duty behaviour, association with a sex worker, conduct unbecoming) constitutes a discipline ground under Ontario Regulation 408/23. Third, whether the provincial Solicitor General signals appetite for a CSPA amendment that recognizes serious foreign criminal charges as a ground for unpaid suspension.

Your Action Plan

Immediate (This Week)

  • If you want to weigh in on the policy: write to your MPP via ola.org/en/members/current — keep it brief, name the section of the CSPA, propose specific alternative wording.
  • If you have information relevant to a Toronto police officer's conduct: file a complaint with the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency at lecaontario.ca within the six-month window.
  • If you are a survivor or witness: contact the Assaulted Women's Helpline (1-866-863-0511) or Victim Services Toronto for confidential support before deciding next steps.

Short-term (This Month)

  • Read the Toronto Police Service Board's next public agenda at tpsb.ca and submit a written deputation if you want a board-level response to be on the public record.
  • Review Ontario Regulation 408/23 (Conduct of Police Officers) at ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r23408 to understand which off-duty conduct can trigger discipline independent of any criminal charge.

Long-term (This Year)

  • Track Ontario's first scheduled review of the CSPA's implementation — section 264 of the Act requires a review by the Solicitor General. Submit your views in writing when the consultation opens.
  • If you are a Toronto property owner, follow the 2027 city budget consultations beginning in late November 2026; police-board budget submissions are public.

Other Perspectives

Toronto Police Service (Chief Myron Demkiw)

According to CTV News and Newstalk 1010 interviews, the chief said there is "zero tolerance" for misconduct, confirmed the officers were suspended on their return to Canada, and indicated that the service is conducting its own professional-standards review in parallel with the Spanish investigation. The chief noted that the CSPA's suspension-without-pay grounds, as currently written, are tied to Canadian charges.

Toronto Police Service Board

The board chair, in remarks reported by CBC News and Insauga, called the allegations "troubling" and committed to maintaining oversight as the matter progresses.

Civil Liberties and Defence Bar

According to legal commentary cited by The Globe and Mail, defence counsel emphasize the presumption of innocence and caution against employment decisions driven by foreign charges that have not been tested in a Canadian court. They note that the CSPA's text was a negotiated compromise that deliberately tied unpaid suspension to Canadian legal process.

Survivor-Advocacy Organizations

Organizations such as the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres have long argued that public confidence in policing accountability depends on visible, consistent consequences when officers are credibly accused of serious offences, and that paid suspension during sexual-assault proceedings undermines that confidence.

Toronto Taxpayer Coalitions

Local fiscal-accountability voices, including those who regularly depute at the Toronto Police Service Board, emphasize the visible cost of paid suspension and ask the board to publish, at each meeting, the cumulative payroll attributable to suspended-with-pay officers.

Including multiple perspectives does not imply all views are equally valid, but ensures readers can make informed judgments about a contested area of policing law.

Corrections Policy

We strive for accuracy. If you find an error in this analysis, please email us at [email protected]. We will promptly investigate and correct any factual inaccuracies.

Updates:

  • No corrections to date (as of 2026-05-22).

Sources

Get the Daily Canadian Briefing

The news, policy changes, and money moves that matter — delivered to your inbox every morning.

We'll send a confirmation email. No spam, ever.