DRUG CASES MAY COLLAPSE AFTER POLICE CHARGED

'All Presumed Innocent' - Eight Officers Facing Total Of 75 Charges Over
Police Funds

Several dozen drug trafficking cases may have to be dropped as a
result of charges laid against eight Toronto police officers on Wednesday.

The former members of the Central Field Command Drug Squad are accused
of misappropriating police money in drug investigations. They face a
combined 75 charges, including fraud and theft.

"All the officers are presumed innocent," stressed David Littlefield,
a Crown attorney with the federal Department of Justice, which looks
after drug cases.

In the past year, charges have been stayed or withdrawn in nearly 50
cases, some involving significant quantities of narcotics, Mr.
Littlefield said. However, he refused to comment on the specific
reasons why the charges were stayed or withdrawn.

"It could be that other files will now pop up," said Mr. Littlefield.
"Any case in which one of the officers is involved, it will be a
potential issue," he added.

However, Gary Clewley, a lawyer for the Toronto Police Association,
(the union for rank and file officers), believes the Department of
Justice moved too quickly to withdraw charges in cases where some of
the eight officers were potential witnesses.

"They're just overreacting," he said. "These are honorable police
officers."

He also suggested that much of the evidence is from drug
informants.

"Who are these people, the Chamber of Commerce, or card carrying
members of the drug world?"

Meanwhile, court documents show lawyers for Mark Morgan, a convicted
crack cocaine dealer, asked the Department of Justice in May this year
to provide any information about any internal police investigation
into Staff Sergeant John Schertzer, Detective Constable Steven Correia
and Constable Raymond Pollard. All three officers were charged this
week.

The Department of Justice turned Morgan's lawyers down, the documents
show.

Later, during a hearing at the Ontario Court of Appeal, Mr.
Littlefield told Justice David Doherty that he could not provide the
information and refused to say why.

In the transcript of the Aug. 2 hearing, Judge Doherty sharply
criticized Mr. Littlefield. "You change every week," said the judge.
"It all comes down to, you don't want to tell anybody about this."

Despite the comments, Judge Doherty permitted a closed hearing where
only he and the Crown were present to question a witness. In exchange,
the Crown said it would satisfy the defence's request for information
by the end of this month.