Most police officers testify accurately and responsibly in court. They understand that it’s not just a matter of personal integrity, it’s essential to the delivery of fair justice.

But, as a Star investigation has revealed, a few officers brazenly lie on the stand, prompting judges to chastise them for covering up shoddy or illegal investigative techniques, fabricating facts, evading questions and misleading the court.

A few police forces impose tough disciplinary measures for such behaviour. Most — including the Toronto Police Service — shrug it off. “A judge can comment on anything he or she wishes. Such comment, however, does not amount to a finding of guilt,” said Mark Pugash, spokesman for Chief Bill Blair.

The Star reports, by David Bruser and Jesse McLean, identified 34 Toronto police officers — out of 120 nationally — who had been censured by judges for being untruthful in court in the last seven years. It’s not a huge number, but it is a serious problem. As Edmonton police chief Rod Knecht put it: “Every instance of deceitful conduct damages the collective reputation of police everywhere.”

Fortunately, the chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, the seven-member civilian body that oversees the police, takes the issue more seriously than do the senior brass at police headquarters. Frustrated by his inability to hold Blair and his deputies to account, Alok Mukherjee is now proposing a more formal procedure.

Under his plan, the prosecutor’s office would notify both the police board and the chief about judges’ concerns about any officer’s credibility. This would prevent the leadership of the force from claiming to know nothing about cases tossed out of court because of faulty police testimony.

As a back-up plan, Mukherjee is seeking legal advice about the board’s authority to block the promotions of officers criticized by judges for lying under oath.

There is an alternative route. The province could take the lead.

Attorney General John Gerretsen could introduce legislation making it a violation of Ontario’s Police Services to lie under oath. Or he could require Crown prosecutors to report to the province any time a judge throws out a case because of unusable police testimony.

So far, Queen’s Park has washed its hands of the matter, insisting police misconduct is the responsibility of local chiefs.

This sorry display of buck-passing raises profound questions about the accountability of police in Ontario.

For Torontonians whose confidence was rocked by the behaviour of their police during the G20 summit, it was a reminder that a culture of impunity still prevails at police headquarters. The losers are the public, the justice system and the thousands of officers who do their jobs honestly and professionally every day.