COPS' WRONG MESSAGE

By firing undercover drug cop Robert Kelly for "crossing the line" and
becoming addicted to the cocaine peddled by the criminals he had put
his life in danger to infiltrate, the Toronto Police Service sent out
a message.

But it wasn't the message which was offered by presiding trials
officer, Supt. Tony Warr, that will be heard by the rank-and-file cop
on the street.

No, that message read more like a passage from a mission statement,
long on platitudes but short on reality.

'Broken trust'

"When a police officer himself disobeys the law and partakes in the
very activity that he has been entrusted to combat, then he has not
only broken the law, but (he has) broken that trust," Warr ruled. "The
loss of public trust is the most devastating thing that can happen to
a police service."

What is short on platitudes but long on reality, however, was the
message sent out by Kelly's lawyer, Peter Brauti, when he said that
any Toronto cop with an addiction should now "run and hide in your
holes . . . don't admit a thing."

"(Kelly) put his life on the line for the public every day," said
Brauti, indicating he would be appealing Kelly's seven-day,
quit-or-be-fired order to the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police
Services. "The service has used him up and thrown him away like a
piece of garbage."

If there ever was a harbinger for what would befall Kelly, it was the
banishment last year from police headquarters of internationally-renowned
Toronto forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Peter Collins, a man the force has
relied heavily upon for expert guidance and opinion since 1989.

His ouster, complete with the posting of his picture on a "watch
notice," and his security pass being revoked, came at the heels of his
psychiatric assessment of Kelly which not only said the cop's life and
career was salvageable, but took the force to task for hanging him out
to dry by refusing his plea to be pulled from undercover work, and
then for not having a specifically-designed in-house program to deal
with the stresses of undercover work.

'Issues' with doctor

When that story broke here, Mark Pugash, director of corporate
communications for the police, admitted that it was "not a secret"
that police brass had "real issues regarding the Kelly case" when it
came to Dr. Collins.

He also insisted that Collins' criticisms were not the reason for the
notice being posted or his pass revoked, rather it was his
"unfettered" access to police facilities.

One paragraph in Collins' assessment, in particular, was especially
critical of the service's shortcomings.

"It is important to note that the behaviour exhibited by Kelly is well
recognized as being secondary to undercover work," wrote Collins.
"Although he asked to be removed from this type of police work, he was
not allowed to do so. If he had been removed from the drug squad, as
he requested, he very likely may not have displayed the behaviour that
has led him to be presently before the court. There does not appear to
be an in-depth undercover stress program in the Toronto Police
Service. Many major police agencies have recognized that there are
potentially harmful effects to undercover work and have developed such
programs."

It was Dr. Collins' opinion, as well, that Kelly has been "effectively
treated for his (substance abuse) illness and the accompanying stress
disorder."

"There is no psychiatric reason why he cannot return to police work,"
wrote Collins. "It goes without saying (however) that this individual
should not return to the drug squad."

Instead of accepting the truths within Collins' report, however, and
instead of accepting a submission from the prosecutor and the defence
that Kelly, a 15-year veteran with a stellar record, be allowed to
remain on the job with a busted-down rank and a set of tough
conditions, Supt. Warr decided it was best for the "public trust" that
he be fired.

Police Service failures

And so a golden opportunity was missed, a chance for Chief Julian
Fantino to call a press conference to admit that failures within the
police service itself had played a role in a good cop's downfall, and
that, as a result, the force was finally going to put an in-depth
undercover stress program in place to help other officers on the cusp
of derailment.

That would have sent out the right message to the cops on the street
today -- not one that would have them "run and hide in your holes"
when the stress of the job has them "cross the line" with that fi