Toronto cop penalized for taking photographs of domestic violence victim’s ‘intimate’ pictures

The Toronto Police Services emblem is photographed during a press conference at TPS headquarters, in Toronto Tuesday, May 17, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

A veteran Toronto cop who took photos of a domestic violence victim’s “intimate” pictures while he was investigating her case has been docked 10 days’ worth of pay, according to a recent tribunal decision.

Const. Anthony Persaud joined the force in 2000 and was working as a detective constable in the Toronto Police Criminal Investigation Bureau at 55 Division when he was assigned to investigate the 2021 incident.

Tribunal documents state the victim, who CTV News is not naming, was assaulted by her ex-boyfriend in November of that year. After she was assaulted, the defendant stole her iPhone and distributed intimate images of her without her consent to social media. The images were also sent to the victim’s sister and mother.

The ex-boyfriend was arrested on Nov. 26. He later pleaded guilty to one count of assault and one count of distributing intimate images without consent.

Between Nov. 26 and Dec. 1, the tribunal heard that Persaud communicated with the victim via text message and email. Persaud met the victim on Dec. 1 to obtain a statement, and, because of COVID-19 health measures at the time, the two met in the front foyer of 55 Division.

The two agreed that the victim would provide screenshots of what the ex-boyfriend “did on her phone” to Persaud for the investigation. Then, on March 7, Persaud, who was on duty at the time, met the victim outside of her place of work in downtown Toronto in an unmarked police car. He stated the purpose of the meeting was to obtain the evidence.

The tribunal documents note that the victim entered Persaud’s car and he drove them to a parking lot in the area of Lake Shore Boulevard East and Leslie Street.

“DC Persaud stopped in this parking lot at approximately 7:45 p.m. It was dark outside,” the documents read. “After DC Persaud parked his vehicle in the parking lot, he asked (the victim) to show him the evidence on her cell phone. DC Persaud then proceeded to use his Toronto Police connected phone (an iPhone) to take photographs of the images that (the victim) was showing him on her cell phone.”

The tribunal heard that Persaud used his phone to photograph 15 to 20 images of the victim’s phone, including those that are described as “explicit” and “intimate.”

The photographs taken by Persaud were never properly submitted as evidence for the criminal case he was investigating, according to an agreed statement of facts.

Following the meeting, Persaud texted the victim on Mar. 11, saying: “Hey…hope you are good, let me know if you want to grab a coffee sometime…maybe after your work.”

According to the tribunal, the victim felt “extremely uncomfortable” about the interaction she had with Persaud.

Then, sometime between March 7 and April 11, Persaud sought advice on how to seek a warrant for the offence of sharing intimate images (as he had never sought one prior) and learned that he needed the victim to provide a sworn statement and reference to the images in her interview.

Persaud reached out to the victim to conduct the interview, but she never attended due to how uncomfortable she was with the situation and the fact they had already gone over the evidence, the documents state.

The officer deleted the images he had obtained following his meeting with the victim.

The victim filed a complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) about Persaud’s conduct, after seeking advice from a York Regional police officer she knew.

The complaint was forwarded to Toronto Police Service’s Professional Standards Unit in May 2022.

Toronto police-issued firearm found on kitchen bar stool

Persaud was arrested and charged criminally with breach of trust on July 7 in connection with the investigation.

Police executed a search warrant on Persaud’s apartment and, at that time, located his service-issued firearm, a loaded Glock semi-automatic handgun, which was on a bar stool in the kitchen area.

An open box of ammunition, containing eight rounds, was also found on a shelf in the bedroom closet. Two other boxes of ammunition, containing eight rounds and three rounds, were also found on a shelf in the living room.

“DC Persaud’s service-issued firearm was loaded and was not rendered inoperable by means of a secure locking device. The firearm and the three boxed of ammunition were not stored in a securely locked container, receptacle, or room, and they were not stored in a securely locked vault, safe, or room that has been specifically constructed or modified for the secure storage of restricted firearms.”

The tribunal heard that Persaud had his firearm at his residence as he scheduled to work the next day and did not want to go back to 55 Division to pick up his firearm in the morning.

Persaud entered a guilty plea on Sept. 11, 2024, to the criminal charge of careless storage of a firearm and received a suspended sentence and 18 months’ probation.

He pleaded guilty to one count of discreditable conduct and two counts of neglect of duty (both non-criminal charges) at the tribunal.

Persaud must forfeit five days of pay for count 1, two days of pay for count 2, and 10 days of pay for count 3, the total of which will run concurrently.

‘Just trying to be nice’: Defence

The tribunal noted that Persaud had no criminal record or police discipline history prior to the 2021 incident.

Defence counsel Sandip Khehra submitted that the reason Persaud offered to ask the victim for coffee and decided to meet her outside of the station was because he was “just trying to be nice because he knew she was going through a troubling time.”

“In hindsight, those four decisions were 100 per cent wrong. He realizes that he opened himself up to liability and he’s paid for it. Both emotionally and psychologically, as well as financially and on a personal level, this has been a humiliating experience for him,” the tribunal documents read.

In delivering her judgement, Insp. Suzanne Redman made note of Persaud’s unblemished record up until this point and said “past behaviour is generally the best indicator of future behaviour.”

“I believe that the consequences of his actions, as put forward by defence, were in fact a very eye-opening experience for him. The entire experience of the discipline process I am confident has had a significant impact on PC Persaud and will serve as a great motivator to reform. I find PC Persaud’s potential to reform or rehabilitate to be mitigating,” she wrote.

Persaud’s lawyer declined to comment.