How to handle any situation—tips from homicide cop Hank Idsinga

For this week’s MVP, we’re chatting with Hank Idsinga.

Since retiring from the Toronto Police Service in 2024, Inspector Hank Idsinga—who led the Homicide Squad—has found himself an unlikely side-gig giving corporate presentations about leadership and mentorship. Turns out solving crimes and addressing your office problems aren’t altogether dissimilar—his police role was basically a project manager (albeit with far higher stakes). 

In the 34 years it took Idsinga to climb from rookie to officer in charge, which he chronicles in detail in new memoir, The High Road: Confessions of a Homicide Cop, he learned lots of lessons that apply to any job or problem.

In this week’s MVP, we asked Hank Idsinga how solving murders taught him to solve other life issues—and without ever losing his cool. 

What should I call you? Inspector or officer or detective? 

I’m a retired police officer, so you can call me Hank. Even when I was a police officer, it was still Hank. I didn’t—and don’t—get hung up on rank or title, plus I was the only Hank on the Toronto Police Service. 

When did you first decide you wanted to be a police officer? 

I worked at a gas station when I was 16 years old. One night, I saw two people pretty much coming to physical blows in the parking lot of the gas station as a result of a car accident. Then a police officer showed up. By the very simple act of taking a second to sit in his car, put his hat on, grab his notebook and then come out, everybody stopped. Right away he had the situation under control. I remember thinking, “That’s what I want to do.” I want to be that guy. It’s not what you usually see on TV, but I always say, “If you want to see a good homicide cop, watch for the ones who pull up and sit in their car for an hour taking notes.” 

That’s a good business tip right there: Write it down. 

Writing helps with memory assistance, so when you’re in court two or three years down the road, your notes help bring everything right back to you. I don’t have to rely on somebody else’s photographs because I can picture the scene perfectly.

Whenever I arrived at a scene, I’d first take time to take notes about what the weather’s like, what the building’s like, what the bricks and the door and the roof is like. It’s unlikely that it’s going to become relevant to the actual murder, but you never know what’s going to become relevant, and it’s always better to have more notes than you need.

A typical murder investigation has hundreds of pages of notes. Organization is key and technology has helped, but it’s a daunting task.

After you’re done taking notes, then what? 

I’m never done taking notes; my notebook was always out. But as soon as you get out of your car, I’d usually meet with a divisional detective and then the forensic officers. Again, more note-taking and information sharing. 

Then I would go into the scene, with the police tape all around, and there’d be a scene officer whose job it would be to record everyone coming in and out, the time, their names and badge numbers. Homicide is so heavy with potential forensic evidence and you don’t want to disturb it, you don’t actually want to go into the intimate part of the crime scene. Every square inch of that scene matters.

Did you see forensics and technology transform investigations during your career?

Absolutely. I wouldn’t even classify it as forensics anymore—it’s investigative genetic genealogy and it’s evolving rapidly all the time. Different techniques for developing fingerprints are always evolving, especially when it comes to processing firearms and shell cases and things like that.

I used to wait months for a DNA analysis and comparison, whereas now it can be turned around in 24 hours. We’re going to get to the point where DNA analysis can be done right at the scene and searched on the DNA databank to give you instantaneous access to the information you need.

As in most fields, technology is evolving quickly, and you need to too if you want to keep up.

Your book describes a lot of reaching out to other departments and collaboration. Why is it important to ask for help? 

When you’ve been up for 48 hours, and your brain’s a little bit scrambled, and you’re not thinking straight, it’s OK to call someone else in. We work in a team with multiple investigators for exactly this reason: when you’ve done enough, you need to go home and get some sleep and come back when you’re better. There’s no point in working so hard that you’re not working well. This is true no matter what you do. 

How important is your police partner?

I’ve had great partners throughout my career. My first partner in homicide, where I moved in 2005, was Mark Saunders. Ten years later, he’s the chief of police. When I was a uniform sergeant in 51 Division, one of the constables ended up becoming a deputy chief. 

Had I been an arrogant a**** to him, he’d be an arrogant a**** right back to me when he suddenly outranked me. Instead, because I’d treated him great as a constable, he treated me great as a supervisor.

We operate by ranks and titles, but people really appreciate when you’re not an elitist and you’re willing to do the same work that you started out doing on day one. 

After 18 years of homicide and five years as the inspector in charge of the largest homicide unit in the country, I’d still jump into a scout car and go on patrol. I’d have no qualms about that whatsoever. 

How else did your job investigating homicides prepare you for any other job? 

The thing about homicide work, and I didn’t even appreciate it until very late in my career, is the innate ability that you develop as a homicide investigator to manage a project. Every time that phone rings in the middle of the night, someone’s had the worst crisis they could possibly imagine, and then I’d be dropped right into the middle of it.

My job is to take control, make sure the investigation runs smoothly and everything is done properly so that years down the road, it will come to a successful conclusion in court. That takes leadership and time management and resource management. If you can manage a homicide scene, you can manage anything. 

Photo credit: Howard Chang Photography.

Read more from this issue of The Get:

1. How to tell if you’re actually living within your means
2. Do you have to claim all your income? Like everything?
3. Gig workers: Got a surprise tax bill? Here’s how to never get one again
4. How to vet a financial advisor in Canada