POLICE BREAKING CODE OF SILENCE

Allegations Cast At Fellow Officers; Lawsuits Hit At Wall Of Solidarity

Of all the extraordinary developments to shake the Toronto police service
of late, perhaps the most unexpected is a deep crack that has appeared in
the so-called blue wall of silence - the unwritten police code that demands
no ill be spoken of fellow officers.

In the last couple of years, there has been a flurry of legal activity
including:

* Suspected drug dealers suing Toronto police officers, alleging false
arrest and theft of money. At least two such suits have quietly been settled.

* Drug squad officers suing their chief and other officials, alleging
conspiracy and "spurious" internal investigations.

* Roughly 200 accused drug traffickers, investigated by officers under
internal investigation, have walked free after charges against them were
stayed.

Eight former drug squad officers, who have been under a cloud of suspicion
for years now, made a series of explosive allegations against Chief Julian
Fantino, the RCMP, cabinet ministers, and provincial and federal
prosecutors in a malicious prosecution lawsuit launched last month.

The eight - all former members of Team 3 of the now disbanded central field
command drug squad - went further, and made allegations against fellow
rank-and-file officers.

And the eight, who allege they've been shunned at work, denied promotions
and the target of a "crusade," made allegations against their drug squad
colleagues without the blessing of the Toronto Police Association, police
union sources say.

The break in solidarity is unprecedented in Toronto.

"They're off the reservation," one police union source says of the central
drug squad eight, who will learn Thursday if the province will reactivate
theft, fraud and forgery charges the crown stayed last February.

Very little has been said publicly about the RCMP-led probe into, among
other things, allegations officers were stealing money from drug suspects.

Police information regarding the investigation, which resulted in the
release of a man serving a prison sentence for heroin trafficking, has been
sealed by the courts since July, 2001.

Simon Yeung sued police following his release, and late last year the civil
case was settled out of court. But the sealing order has twice been
extended by the Court of Appeal, and was to expire this morning. Lawyers
for the province have filed a motion seeking the order be extended yet again.

Since late 1999, federal prosecutors, citing disclosure issues, have stayed
or withdrawn charges in about 150 drug cases involving civilians where
certain Toronto police officers were potential witnesses.

A number of accused, who walked free as a result, are suing the police,
alleging, among other things, officers stole money, jewellery and other
items. There have been undisclosed settlements in at least two of those
cases. The fact that the central drug squad eight are also suing crown
attorneys - prosecutors who work so closely with police - also has not gone
unnoticed. Usually, differences between police and prosecutors are put
aside so that both can get back to the job of putting away those guilty of
committing crimes, said Patrick Jette, president of the recently formed
Association of Justice Counsel.

"Usually there's always a happy ending. We're all part of the judicial
system and we all have to work together," said Jette.

But police officers suing crowns because they disagree with the way in
which they handled the charges is unheard of in this country, said Jette.
His organization represents about 2,000 federal lawyers.

In their suit, the central drug squad eight - John Schertzer, Jonathan
Reid, Steve Correia, Jaroslaw Cieslik, Joseph Miched, Raymond Pollard, Sean
McGuinness and Gregory Forestall - name internal affairs investigators,
fellow union members, as defendants. And, without naming names, the
officers also allege fellow drug squad officers attached to another unit in
the city were up to serious criminal activity, including using "ill-gotten"
money to gamble.

The eight allege the other drug squad officers were addicted to drugs, and
were offered a deal that allowed them to enter a rehabilitation program and
avoid criminal proceedings. It is also alleged that an unspecified number
of the officers under suspicion refused the rehab "deal," referred to in
the officers' statement of claim as "the package," and as a result, were
transferred to uniform duties.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

But at least three Toronto officers the RCMP asked to interview, as part of
an ongoing corruption probe of Toronto police drug squads, entered drug
rehabilitation programs, sources say.

The three officers entered rehabilitation programs around the same time an
RCMP tactical unit, flown in from Ottawa, took down an officer attached to
a Toronto police northwest field command drug team as part of the ongoing
corruption investigation, the sources said.

The RCMP-led Professional Standards Task Force arrested Detective Constable
Robert William Kelly on Nov. 16, 2001. Kelly, who joined the force in 1989,
was charged with trafficking in a controlled substance, possession of a
narcotic for the purpose of trafficking, and criminal breach of trust. His
case is before the courts in Brampton.

As the lengthy investigation continues into corruption on the Toronto
force, there have been no convictions. Criminal charges were laid against
13 officers in connection with the force's "fink fund." Charges against 11
were stayed and the remaining two were acquitted.

Police have long shunned those they consider loose canons, namely rogue
officers, as well as officers who take indiscreet steps to draw attention
to the rogue behaviour.

The implications, for the central drug squad eight, should any of them be
charged again, remain unclear.

Normally, the police union bankrolls the defence for officers charged with
crimes or police act offences. The eight were represented a year ago by top
police union lawyers when a special prosecutor stayed dozens of theft,
fraud and forgery charges against them. Forestall, who faced an additional
charge of perjury, saw that charge stayed as well.

The crown has until Thursday to reactivate those charges or forever abandon
them under the law. At the time the charges were stayed, police said
proceeding with the charges against the eight might compromise an ongoing
criminal investigation.

Some insiders saw the lawsuit by the eight as a "flanking" manoeuvre in
what has become an ugly, public fight between those who want to fix what
they see as a major problem and those who say there is no problem at all.

Whatever the outcome of the corruption probe, it won't be enough to restore
public confidence in the justice system when dealing with drug offences,
says Frank Addario, vice-president of the Criminal Lawyers Association.

"There's a whole bunch of people with a stake in the outcome ... the
officers, the force itself, the police services board and the community,"
says Addario. "And there's no transparency right now."

Addario said his organization has been closely watching the drug squad
scandal unfold, but the secrecy surrounding the police investigation has
led to more speculation than fact.

"It's kind of a management style of the '50s," said Addario. "It's like
knowledge is power and we have the power and we're not going to tell you."

The corruption probe, he said, appears to be moving forward with "no
apparent speed to resolve it and with little or no information being
shared" with defence attorneys.

The scandal has caused such damage to the force's reputation that, unless
the force releases its findings publicly at the end of the investigation,
the government might have to consider a public inquiry to clear the air, he
said.