Toronto officer accused of selling police data indifferent to potential violence
Toronto police Const. Timothy Barnhardt is charged with providing confidential database information to a civilian, allegedly to aid a plot against a senior corrections official, and reportedly said he did not care if people were harmed.
Const. Timothy Barnhardt of the Toronto Police Service faces charges for illegally accessing police databases while off duty and selling the retrieved data to civilian Brian Da Costa. The information, including a licence-plate image of a senior corrections official at Toronto South Detention Centre, was allegedly used to facilitate an attempted hit on that official.
An Information to Obtain document shows Barnhardt explicitly stated he did not care whether the data led to violence. The allegations emerged from Project South, a sweeping corruption investigation that started after York Regional Police disrupted a murder plot in June 2025. The probe has linked inmate Gurpreet Singh, former corrections officer Nishwant Dosanjh, and several civilians to the scheme, though most have not yet been charged.
A court ruling lifted most of the publication ban on the ITO, allowing details of Barnhardt’s conduct and the broader network to be reported. The case underscores concerns about police misconduct and the potential misuse of confidential information.
Why it matters
It reveals possible police abuse of confidential data and raises concerns about internal corruption and public safety.
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