Shawna Coxon

Deputy Shawna Coxon is in her 21st year of policing with the Toronto Police Service. She is charge of the Communities & Neighbourhoods Command, which includes 17 front line divisions, Traffic Services, Parking Enforcement Unit and Community Partnerships and Engagement Unit. Prior to that, Deputy Coxon worked on the Transformational Task Force where she helped to design and begin implementation of the modernization of the Service. Her focus on the Task Force was information technology, culture change and training.

Other recent career highlights include her role as the second in charge of Intelligence Services, which includes both cyber and technological crime. She implemented the inaugural Computer Cyber Crime (C3) Section of the Toronto Police Service, which was one of many cyber-outcomes from her work as the Team Leader of Operation Reboot. This was a Service-wide initiative addressing social media, open source investigative techniques, training, technology procurement and cyber-related threats and opportunities. Her career trajectory shows her ongoing interest in futurism and policing, especially all things cyber/social/digital.

Shawna Coxon has had a diverse career where she has worked in vice, youth crime, child abuse, sex crimes, human rights, professional standards, community response, and intelligence analysis. She has won numerous awards; however the accolades she remains most proud of are the letters of appreciation from the communities she has helped improve and the victims she has worked diligently for.

Deputy Coxon also volunteers extensively. She has both participated in and led international volunteer teams. She has traveled nearly a dozen times to countries including Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Thailand and China to assist in various community development initiatives. She is deeply passionate about international human rights, education, and sustainable development.

Deputy Coxon has a BA with Honours in Psychology from York University, a MA in Criminology from the University of Toronto and her PhD in Criminal Law from Leicester University. Her areas of research include varying local and international laws pertaining to technology and crime. She is a published academic who has lectured internationally.