POLICE AND TRUST

How many suspected drug dealers will ultimately be let off the hook
because of this week's corruption allegations against members of a
Toronto police drug squad isn't known. What is clear is that, whatever
the courts conclude about the innocence or guilt of the six accused
officers, much damage has already been done and more will follow.

The damage is direct, in the sense of collapsing criminal cases, and
indirect, in undermining trust in the police and in the law itself. In
the long term this can only hurt police, who present their notes and
testimony to judges and juries in the expectation they will be believed.

At least 115 cases against suspected drug dealers or users have
collapsed in Toronto since 1999, as a result of questions about the
work of the Central Drug Squad. One convicted trafficker, sentenced to
four years in jail, was freed by the Ontario Court of Appeal after
two, and settled quietly with the Toronto Police Services Board for an
undisclosed amount. In another case, the police board paid a woman
$50,000 in damages and apologized formally after she and her young son
were jailed overnight. Several other lawsuits are continuing.

"Always go with the police officers," said the Toronto police union's
lawyer Gary Clewley when asked whose word should be believed, that of
suspected drug dealers or the police.

Therein lies a problem. It was other police officers from the Toronto
force, overseen by RCMP Superintendent John Neily, who investigated
the allegations of corruption. So which police officers was Mr.
Clewley talking about? The presumption of innocence applies to
everyone, police officers and suspected drug dealers alike. Or does
Mr. Clewley think police officers are entitled to something more than
equal protection of the law?

Most people want to trust police, but they are not so naive as to
think the police should be treated as a law unto themselves. They
worry, for instance, about allegations that Saskatoon police have
driven young native men to the outskirts of town and dumped them to
freeze to death. They are horrified by the idea that notes might be
falsified. As the number of police-misconduct cases in Canada grows,
they find it more difficult to "always go with the police officers."

It is reasonable to wonder, given the blizzard of serious charges
(including theft, assault, perjury, extortion and conspiracy to
obstruct justice) against the six former drug-squad members, how well
the Toronto police department keeps tabs on its officers, and what is
being done to ensure proper oversight. The merits of the charges are
for the court to decide. However, notwithstanding assurances from
Police Chief Julian Fantino to Mayor David Miller, the quality of
internal police practices in Toronto remains very much in question.