JUDGE ACQUITS VETERAN OFFICER ON DRUG CHARGE

A veteran officer of the Toronto Police Service's central drug squad has
been acquitted of possessing hashish for the purposes of trafficking after
a judge concluded his rights had been violated by Ontario Provincial Police.

The charge against Detective Constable Mark Denton was dismissed yesterday
by Ontario Court Judge William Gorewich, who threw out evidence about a
baggie of hashish seized from the officer's surveillance van.

Det. Constable Denton was charged in November, 1999, after OPP in York
Region, north of Toronto, stopped his van as he was driving home.

They seized a duffel bag from the rear of the vehicle and found the hashish
inside.

Harry Black, the officer's lawyer, contended that the two OPP officers had
no right to search the vehicle or seize anything because they had no
warrant. Judge Gorewich agreed, in an oral decision that took two hours to
deliver.