Staff Sergeant Kimberley O’Toole is in her 22nd year of policing with the Toronto Police Service and is currently working as a platoon commander in one of Toronto’s busiest divisions and central lockup facility. She has had a diverse career, working in both a uniform and in an investigative capacity. Some areas of highlight include her work in child abuse, sex and gender based crimes, youth crime, human rights and the Homicide Squad.

Kimberley holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She also holds a Master of Criminal Justice from Boston University in Boston (USA) and has recently begun her Professional Doctorate in Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. She has been an adjunct professor at the University of Guelph-Humber for the past nine years, teaching courses in, among other subjects, police and society, crime and criminal justice, criminological theory, investigative techniques, gender issues and advanced community policing. Kimberley also lectures on the Front Line Supervisor course to newly promoted Toronto Police Service sergeants on the treatment of transgendered prisoners.

In 2013, Kimberley was seconded to European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan as a Rule of Law expert, assigned the portfolio of mentor/advisor for Gender and Human Rights. She worked directly with the Afghan National Police (ANP), the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and other International partners including the Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan. In 2014, she was awarded the Non-Article 5 NATO medal along with the EUPOL medal for her service in Afghanistan.