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| NEWS > 25 April 2008 |
Other related articles:
UK: Police 'could use private contractors'
Two police forces in England and Wales are talking to private security firms about
letting them take over a much wider range of work than happens now, which
could include the investigation of crimes.
The West Midlands and Surrey forces are, with the support of the government,
exploring the possibility of transferring some of their most sensitive tasks to
commercial contractors. They have invited bids on behalf of all forces in England
and Wales.
Under the plan, forces would be able to choose which services to contract out.
The aim is to make savings. Chief... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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National Post - Toronto,Ontari
25 April 2008
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Toronto Police Service
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RCMP told to drop corruption c
The senior RCMP officer who led a probe into a now disbanded Toronto police drug squad wanted 12 officers charged with corruption related offences, but was told by provincial prosecutors that this number was unmanageable.
As a result, six officers were charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury, extortion, theft and assault-related charges in January, 2004.
Detective Sgt. John Schertzer and other members of his former unit were accused of assaulting and stealing from drug suspects, as well as routinely falsifying information related to confidential informants in drug investigations.
All of the charges against the six officers were stayed in February of this year by Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer because their Charter rights were violated as a result of unreasonable delay in bringing the case to trial (the Crown is appealing this ruling).
The Ontario Ministry of the Attorney-General's explanation for charging only six officers has been disclosed for the first time, in a confidential report sent by RCMP Assistant Commissioner John Neily in 2004 to the chief of police in Toronto. The report was obtained by CBC radio news and made public Friday.
"The practice of prosecuting conspiracy cases can be limited by the logistics of too many subjects on an indictment," Asst. Comm. John Neily said that he was told. "The rule of thumb among experienced attorneys appears to be to not prosecute any more than seven on one indictment for conspiracy," he wrote.
Four more drug squad officers were named as "unindicted co-conspirators" and would have been required to testify as prosecution witnesses, but they were not facing criminal charges.
A series of affidavits by Asst. Comm. Neily that were unsealed by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 2004 alleged there was "evidence of criminal activity" by 17 officers. In a letter to the Crown in 2003 that was made public in Judge Nordheimer's ruling, the allegations were described as "the largest police corruption scandal known in Canadian history," by Asst. Comm. Neily.
The confidential report he authored in 2004 alleged that Mr. Schertzer (who retired last year) led a "specific group of officers serving under his supervision on a crime spree in the drug culture of Toronto," between 1995 and 1999.
The allegations of corruption against the Schertzer team and other Toronto police drug squads led to federal drug prosecutors dismissing or staying charges in at least 200 cases between 1996 and 2002.
A former drug squad member in northwest Toronto who admitted to using cocaine while on duty is the only officer to be convicted of a criminal offence as a result of the findings of the more than two-year-long task force investigation, which began in 2001.
The then-Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino appointed Asst. Comm. Neily to lead the internal investigation, which was made up of more than two-dozen detectives.
The appointment was made soon after an internal Toronto police "business case" report in June 2001 recommended setting up a task force to avoid a public inquiry into alleged corruption. "That the investigation has an external component, that will provide greater credibility to the results," wrote Inspector Tony Corrie. "The faster the review is done the less chance there is of committing more damage. Taking these steps may avoid a public inquiry," he wrote.
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