COPS IN DRUG CASE TO BE NAMED

Sun And Other Media Win High Court Decision To Unseal
Warrants

Canada's top court has quashed the Toronto police union's bid to
prevent the media identifying three officers named in a controversial
probe of cocaine use by members of a former drug squad.

Sun Media and the CBC argued before the Supreme Court of Canada after
the Toronto Police Association (TPA) appealed for the identities to be
kept sealed.

Media lawyer Iain MacKinnon said yesterday he has asked a Crown
official to provide full copies of the warrants. Those documents were
filed with a court in Toronto.

The TPA sought the top court's leave to appeal an Ontario Superior
Court of Justice ruling last year that permitted the names to be
published. That decision was upheld in April by the Court of Appeal
for Ontario.

In its ruling released yesterday, the Supreme Court stated the seal
protecting officer's names in the warrant "should be lifted."

But MacKinnon said he does not expect the complete files to be
released until at least next week, when the names can be published.

Senior Toronto cops denied a cover-up after a two-year investigation
into alleged corruption in the northwest field command drug squad led
by RCMP Staff-Supt. John Neily.

After a sting operation based on allegations by a police agent, the
task force arrested only one officer, Det.-Const. Rob Kelly in late
2001.

Two other officers resigned.

Warrants used by the task force accused three other officers of
sharing cocaine with Kelly and the police agent in a bar washroom.

First charged with trafficking, Kelly pleaded guilty in 2003 to two
counts of possessing cocaine after a plea bargain reached with federal
prosecutors.

Given a suspended sentence and ordered fired after a police
disciplinary hearing, Kelly admitted using cocaine, providing it to
the agent and placing horse race bets with him.

He cited professional and personal trauma for his drug use and
confusion between his real personality and that of his undercover character.

Kelly, 42, declined comment to Sun Media this week.

In his Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruling in August 2007, Mr.
Justice Ian Nordheimer said the investigation was later turned over to
the Toronto Police internal affairs department, but no other officers
were ever charged or disciplined.

None could be reached yesterday.

Nordheimer wrote that two ex-investigators publicly claimed police
bosses "covered up and/or refused to investigate cases of alleged
corruption and criminal activity by Toronto Police officers that had
been revealed by the RCMP-led Special Task Force.

"The possibility that there has been such inaction is also
unquestionably of significant public interest," his Superior Court
decision says. "All proceedings involving the court process are
intended to be open to the public."

The TPA argued since officers whose names were removed from warrants
were never charged, they should be considered innocent and retain
their right to privacy.

The union's lawyer told Nordheimer the three officers will not speak
to the media if they are approached.

Before sentencing, Kelly's lawyer sought leniency, appealing for his
client to remain on the force, arguing his involvement with drugs
resulted from his undercover work.

The 17-year officer, with a long list of commendations including
bravery, quit in mid-2006 and is now an agent with Meadowtowne Realty,
a Mississauga brokerage operating with Royal LePage.