POLICE OFFICER'S POT BUST COULD COMPROMISE CASES - LAWYER

Cases investigated by a Tantallon Mountie now charged with trafficking
marijuana could come under question.

Defence lawyers say the charge facing Const. Joseph Daniel Paul
(Danny) Ryan may mean Ryan's credibility in court could be shaken,
despite the fact that he is still presumed innocent of the crime.

"It creates a bit of a practical problem for the Crown. It wouldn't
probably want to be relying on his word at all," Halifax lawyer Duncan
Beveridge said yesterday.

Beveridge said pending cases may not be disrupted if other police
officers can back up Ryan's testimony, and he added it's too early to
predict whether the accusations against Ryan will have any effect.

"If he was found guilty, obviously, it can have an impact. But what
impact on any particular case depends on the circumstances."

Ryan, a six-year officer, was arrested at the Cambridge Suites in
Halifax on Wednesday and charged with trafficking marijuana. Mounties
seized marijuana during the arrest, an amount Ryan's lawyer says is
less than four kilograms.

The 31-year-old officer is suspended with pay, pending an internal
investigation. He will appear in court for election and plea in June.

Ryan was half of the successful "Street Team," a plainclothes drug
team that worked with information from other investigations and
community sources to crack down on street-level drugs.

He was about to move to Ottawa with his family when he was arrested.
His transfer was cancelled shortly before the arrest, said RCMP
spokesman Sgt. Wayne Noonan.

Noonan couldn't say how many pending cases Ryan might have been
involved in, but said most Mounties aren't transferred until most of
their cases are closed.

Defence lawyer Josh Arnold wouldn't speak specifically about Ryan, but
said anytime a police officer is charged, the people they've arrested
who are waiting for trial will always take notice.

"I think it is logical for anyone involved with those cases to take
another look at them," Arnold said.

"I have certainly heard of cases that had to go away, because police
officers were charged or convicted."