Janine Crowley retires as Toronto's longest serving Black female uniformed cop
July 29, 2021
After 35 years on the job, Staff Sergeant Janine Crowley has retired as Toronto Police Service’s (TPS) longest serving Black female uniformed officer.
She signed off on June 30.
Turned on to policing after a ride-along with her cousin, Crowley joined TPS after graduating from Clarkson Secondary School.
Kim Duncan-LeCoure spent 31 years with Halton Regional Police and was an Ontario Police College Chief Instructor for 46 months.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the ride with her,” said Crowley. “A few weeks later, a girl in my Grade 13 class was going to Toronto to apply to be a cadet and I accompanied her.”
She also submitted an application to Peel Regional Police Service.
“I was accepted by both Services at around the same time, but I chose Toronto because I didn’t want to police in Mississauga where I grew up,” Crowley noted. “In Toronto, I figure I wouldn’t run into too many people I know.”
Janine Crowley joined Toronto Police straight out of high school in 1986
Initially, her mom didn’t support the decision.
“With our father, he told us to give 100 per cent in whatever we chose to do and gave it our best,” Crowley said. “When recruiters came to do a home visit, my mother left the house. Dad and my older sister stayed.”
Stanley Crowley, a basketball referee who was inducted into the Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012, died in February 2020 at age 92.
Being Black and female, Crowley knew there would be challenges in her new career.
Terry James, who retired 11 years ago after three decades with the Service, was the only Black female officer with the Service when she joined in 1986,
“Growing up in a predominantly White neighbourhood, I didn’t have any racial issues,” said Crowley. “I started with Traffic Service and things were okay. The hardest part was when I went from Traffic to 22 Division. During parade, the Sergeant used the ‘n' word while reading the notes of events that took place the night before. He would then look at me and say, ‘You are not one of them’. On another occasion, I went out with an officer as my partner and we didn’t last five minutes. I told him to take me back to the station.”
After nearly a decade at 22 Division, Crowley was assigned to Intelligence Service’s Black Organized Crime Unit.
“I really enjoyed working with that unit and its many dedicated officers,” she said.
Retired Superintendent Dave McLeod, who was a Detective at the time, headed the unit.
“The Service was in an era of information gathering, analysis of that information and dissemination to other areas of the organization for information and action,” he said. “Our mandate was to focus on organized crime, specifically involving firearms and their users. We needed an officer who had a proven track record of teamwork, dedication to objectives and the maturity to work diligently towards their achievement. During our squad time together, Janine amply demonstrated her value to the Squad, TPS and the communities we served. It came as no surprise to see her advancement and her long and distinguished career.”
The late Carl Moore, who was a member of the specialized unit, encouraged Crowley to apply to be a Sergeant.
“He was retiring because of illness and the last thing he said to me was you should go for it,” she recalled. “Up to that time, I had no intention of becoming a Sergeant as I was enjoying being a Constable. It was only because of him that I wrote the exam.”
Promoted on Christmas Eve 2001, Crowley worked briefly in the Mobile Unit before being transferred to 13 Division. Two years later, she returned to the Intelligence Unit to work on wiretaps with retired officer Kim Gross.
In 2012, she was assigned to Professional Standards before her last stop at Toronto Police College.
Since December 2018, she was the Staff Sergeant in charge of the Community Policing section that is responsible for the delivery of basic training to all police recruits from the moment they are hired as a cadet-in-training until they are assigned to work in the field as fully trained and sworn police constables.
In addition to basic recruit training, this section is responsible for coach officer, lateral entry officer and auxiliary police officer recruit training.
The high esteem in which new recruits hold Crowley was evident on her last day on the job.
New officers Joshua Rigg and Marlene Ayoub presented a bouquet of flowers and a gift card to Janine Crowley on the behalf of the last graduating class on July 5
Joshua Rigg and Marlene Ayoub presented her a bouquet and gift cards on behalf of the last class that graduated on July 5.
“Without your leadership, guidance and support as well as an incredible team of handpicked staff, we wouldn’t have been able to come this far over these past seven months,” Ayoub said. “During this time, you watched us go from complete strangers to working alongside one another in dynamic scenarios. You have seen our strengths and weaknesses and you have utilized that to create a better training program so that we could become our absolute best.”
The last three years, said Crowley, were the highpoint of her career.
“The recruits come in here raw and you see them grow and mature,” she said. “That gave me a lot of satisfaction.”
Superintendent Kim O’Toole said Crowley is irreplaceable.
“She has impacted the lives of so many recruits that have gone on to do amazing and incredible things in their career,” the Toronto Police College Unit Commander said. “We, as the management team, are extremely grateful for your dedication, undying optimism and being able to see the vision that a recruit class presents. You see that in their dress uniforms and at a graduation. You have this unique ability to see people in what they will become after all the training we provide them.”
Janine Crowley with the last graduating class
Sonia Thomas, who retired in March 2019 after 33 years with the Service, said Crowley made an impact with Canada’s largest municipal police service.
“She has been a role model for members of the Service and the community, serving with dignity and professionalism,” said Thomas who was TPS’s first Black female Inspector. “Her consistently positive attitude, humble demeanour and dedication to her duties will be greatly missed by those who had the pleasure of working with her.”
Crowley has a simple message for young women considering a career a policing.
“In any career, you will face some challenges,” she pointed out. “I have enjoyed this job immensely. If this is a dream, I encourage you to pursue it as there are so many opportunities. Of course, the standard for you might be a bit higher because you are female. If you want it, believe in yourself, go and get it, always do the right things and never compromise your integrity. You can control your reputation and integrity. When you lose that, you lose everything.”
In retirement, Crowley plans to travel, ski and return to Humber College to complete the Bachelor of Applied Science in Justice Studies program.
“I will start in the fall and do that part-time,” the Police Foundations graduate said. “I am really looking forward to that as I have been so busy and never found the time to get my degree. I can focus on that and on me now.”
