Another Toronto Police officer has been charged with unlawfully accessing police databases, the same allegation at the heart of an expansive anti-corruption investigation that led to charges against several officers earlier this year.

Constable Abbas Popal, 25, who works out of 55 Division, faces a single charge of unauthorized use of a computer following an investigation by the force’s Professional Standards Unit.

Between Jan. 2024 and April 2025, investigators allege he accessed private law enforcement databases multiple times. Constable Popal has three years on the force and is currently suspended with pay.

A Toronto Police press release specifies that the arrest is unrelated to Project South, the York Regional Police investigation that resulted in charges against seven current Toronto officers and a retired constable.

Investigators in that case began examining the illegal use of police databases after unravelling an attempted hit on a correctional officer last June. Investigators allege that prior to the failed hit, Constable Timothy Barnhardt, a 19-year police veteran at 12 Division, queried a police database for confidential information about the correctional officer before passing along the results to criminal networks.

Barnhardt now faces 17 charges, including unauthorized use of computer, accepting a bribe as a peace officer, breach of trust, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and five drug-trafficking counts for cocaine, Oxycodone, Xanax, Adderall and MDMA.

Who are the Toronto Police officers charged in Project South?

John Madeley Sr., a recently retired constable, along with his son Constable John Madeley Jr. and Constable Elias Mouawad were also charged with unauthorized use of a computer stemming from Project South.

York investigators allege that officers repeatedly queried addresses in police databases shortly before serious crimes – including shootings, commercial robberies and extortion – were committed at those locations.

None of the allegations have been tested in court.

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw called the Project South allegations “a painful and unsettling moment” and committed to expanding the force’s Professional Standards Unit.

Towing industry a consistent thread in many police corruption cases

Ontario’s Inspector-General of Policing Ryan Teschner launched a provincewide inspection of police forces that will look at safeguards around access to police databases, the way officers are supervised, the screening that takes place at the recruitment stage and beyond and the way evidence is handled. The probe will also look at substance abuse by officers and the supports available to them.

Mr. Teschner has yet to name an external inspector to head up the investigation, which will cover 45 police services and likely involve a small team.

Ontario Privacy Commissioner Patricia Kosseim opened her own investigation into the Project South allegations. For years, privacy commissioners across the country have highlighted the perils of private information leaking from an array of law enforcement tools and databases.

Ontario Privacy Commissioner opens investigation into Project South allegations

Ms. Kosseim said there are no statutes forcing municipalities to disclose privacy breaches and that Project South case is “stark example” of why they are needed.

Shortly before the Project South announcement, a report from the RCMP-led Criminal Intelligence Service Canada warned that organized crime groups across the country were seeking to infiltrate police databases and corrupt civil servants.

“Canadian organized criminals continue to make attempts to access information housed by public institutions, often through attempts to either gain employment within these agencies, or by corrupting or exploiting their relationships with individuals that are employed within,” the interagency organization stated in a late-January report.

Constable Popal is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice on June 4.