HASH FIND SPARKED PROBE

Theft complaints against drug command 'smear campaign:'
Union

Drug cases are being stayed by Crown attorneys because a Toronto
narcotics officer was found with a bag of hashish in a police vehicle
while driving home, sources say.

Another internal affairs investigation into reports of missing money
taken from alleged drug dealers by central field drug command may have
been completed and quietly closed without charges.

While defence lawyers claim their clients' have been robbed by police,
sources say the probe has nothing to do with money.

One lawyer says the amount of money allegedly stolen during drug
investigations totals in the "multi-thousands" while another suggests
it's hundreds of thousands.

Lawyer Harry Black suggested theft claims are groundless.

"I don't think that there is even anything on which any of these
officers need representation," Black said yesterday. "I think the
lawyers are being enormously irresponsible. I question the motives
behind a lot of this."

Sources said during the fall, an erratic driver in an unmarked police
vehicle was pulled over by police in Newmarket.

The driver identified himself as a Toronto detective-constable and was
put in the rear of a cruiser for a ride home. Police found a bag of
hashish in the unnamed officer's vehicle, which was taken back to 53
Division.

Internal affairs are trying to determine why the hash was in the
vehicle, and until that case is completed, all the trials involving
the officer are being stayed.

A theft complaint was made last year while the unit was also a target
of death threats from the New York-based gang Rema Posse. The threats,
including one to The Toronto Sun, followed 75 warrants executed
between May and September.

Internal affairs raided the officers' personal records including bank
accounts and spoke to penitentiary prisoners, but found no evidence of
wrong-doing, the source said.

Chief David Boothby confirmed a probe was launched in April after
defence lawyers made allegations against officers who have since been
reassigned to "other duties."

"They live and work in a very precarious society," Boothby said of his
officers. "They are not dealing with ordinary circumstances. Often
people make allegations. The public can rest assured these
(allegations) will be investigated very thoroughly. If charges are
appropriate, then they will be laid."

"If there's bad apples, we'll get them out," Mayor Mel Lastman said
yesterday, "and if it's jail, then they'll go to jail -- no matter
what."

On Monday, the case against Clifford Robinson, a passenger in a car
containing a kilo of cocaine, was stayed, his lawyer Bruce Olmstead
said. The stay followed a response to disclosure requests about an IA
probe in the central drug investigative team of the Central Field
Command drug unit.

Toronto Police Association boss Craig Bromell said he's upset about
what he calls a "smear campaign."

"Nobody has been charged," he said.

The association plans to file a complaint with the Law Society of
Upper Canada about the conduct of a number of lawyers.

"We feel a lot of people have been taken in by the lawyers because a
lot of people are getting off. It's disgusting."