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| NEWS > 28 November 2006 |
Other related articles:
Police under scrutiny for Mall
Corruption and Crime Commission investigation into the wrongful conviction of Andrew Mallard for wilful murder will initially focus on forensic procedures and the police investigation.
Mr Mallard spent 12 years in jail for the 1994 murder of Mosman Park jeweller Pamela Lawrence before his conviction was quashed.
The West Australian government has appointed retired New South Wales Supreme Court Judge John Dunford to head the inquiry, which will try to determine if there was any misconduct by police or prosecutors involved in the case.
At a Directions Hearing to... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Toronto Sun - Canada
28 November 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Supervision failed
2002 probe into cop drug-squad scandal suggested widespread change needed
Failings in "supervision and supervisors" led to a corruption scandal that is plaguing Toronto Police, says an internal report.
The 2002 interim report on the Toronto Police internal affairs probe into alleged drug-squad corruption, dubbed Project IDA, gives an alarming snapshot of how the service became mired in a scandal that prompted one of the largest corruption probes in Canadian police history.
The report -- believed to be source material for a public review by retired Ontario Supreme Court Justice George Ferguson -- suggested widespread changes were needed to restore integrity.
The promotion of "integrity from top to bottom," a change in the "police culture," senior rank "accountability," integrity training and assessments, and a need to promote only ethical and the "best" cops are all listed in the report as essential.
"If there was one recurring theme ... regarding ethics and integrity ... the single most important cause of problems ... could be traced to lack of supervision," says the report, obtained by the Toronto Sun.
Among the revelations in the report:
- Sixty percent of drug squad search warrants did not include the mandatory final report to a justice;
- There was an "overall lack of professionalism" in drug-squad use of police informants, payment of funds and paperwork;
- At least 45 Toronto cops revealed an addiction to chemicals and booze;
- "The root of all evil," steroid use, is causing "enormous problems."
'THE RIGHT THING'
With the damning assessment is a conclusion that despite "the mire of problems," the "situation is not beyond salvation," and most cops "are doing the right thing and upholding the core values."
The report makes 56 recommendations.
Noting myriad problems with the use of informants, the review found a "need ... to take a 360-degree change in informant-handling issues.
"One of the largest fears in the fallout from this investigation is that it creates a lack of confidence by the public, the courts and the informants in the ability of the service ... to properly manage informants," it said, adding informants are considered a "major source of criminal intelligence" and police can't "afford to let this scandal put them out of this game."
Selection of supervisors should be overhauled, the report said, to get "only those with the highest integrity and best leadership qualities."
Citing a police "Code of Silence" and quoting a British magazine, the report said many whistleblowers "lose their job and some ... their sanity."
When the drug squad scandal broke in 2001, then-chief Julian Fantino asked Ferguson to do a policy and procedures review.
PUBLIC RELEASE TODAY
In his 2004 analysis, Ferguson cited contact with 85 cops, prosecutors, lawyers, judges, union and government officials in Canada, the U.S. and Britain. He also referred to international corruption commissions, studied 350 published documents and used internal police reports.
The 2002 interim report -- which has never been made public -- was clearly one of the documents Ferguson used in his review. Many of Ferguson's 32 recommendations -- including the creation of a whistleblower anonymous tip line, putting internal affairs in a separate building and putting previously independent drug squads under one leader and one roof -- have been adopted. Recommendations for random drug, psychological and integrity testing are still up in the air.
Toronto Police Services Board Chairman Alok Mukherjee has promised a "procedural review" into allegations made by Sgt. Jim Cassells will be made public at today's board meeting.
Cassells, a key detective in an RCMP-led task force that in 2004 laid criminal charges against six ex-drug cops, has alleged "numerous" incidents were minimized, ignored or covered up by internal affairs.
Sources told the Toronto Sun last week that the review into Cassells' allegations had a narrow focus and did not interview other task force members.
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