Pubdate: Fri, 04 May 2012
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2012 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Peter Small
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.)

Police Corruption Trial

SCHERTZER ADMITS TO IGNORING SOME POLICE DIRECTIVES

The man who led a team of Toronto drug squad officers accused of 
corruption says he ignored police directives when he believed they 
were illegal or unrealistic.

"You're not worried about dotting an 'i' and crossing a 't' when 
you're kicking in a door and there are guns drawn at you," John 
Schertzer said in his second day of cross-examination Friday.

The 54-year-old retired detective was responding to a question by 
prosecutor John Pearson about why he did not ensure one of his 
officers noted in his memo book the names of the occupants served 
with a search warrant in a Scarborough apartment they searched in 1998.

Neither did they note the name of the officer serving the warrant, as 
required by police policies.

Schertzer replied that the Toronto police directive in itself 
counseled illegal activity: by saying you could serve a warrant "as 
soon as possible" after the search was completed.

The law requires you to have a warrant before you enter a premises, he said.

Pearson asked Schertzer why he didn't try to change the policy if it 
was illegal rather than simply ignoring it.

"You mean tell the Chief to do something? No," Schertzer said. "The 
chain of command is so far removed from the scene on the street."

Schertzer; Ned Maodus, 49; Steven Correia, 45; Raymond Pollard, 48; 
and Joseph Miched, 53; face charges including attempting to obstruct 
justice, perjury, theft, extortion and assault, involving incidents 
between 1997 and 2002.

Pearson suggested Schertzer and his team did break the law: searching 
the Scarborough apartment belonging to Ho Zhong Pang and his wife, 
Miao Fen Lin, before the search warrant arrived on the night of Feb. 18, 1998.

"You jumped the warrant," Pearson said.

Pearson alleged the drug team searched the apartment to see if there 
was anything inside to make a search warrant worth obtaining.

It was when they found the keys to a bank safety deposit box that 
they applied for a warrant, Pearson suggested.

"No, sir," Schertzer replied.

Schertzer also rejected suggestions he ordered Maodus to remove whole 
chunks of material from central surveillance notes to hide their use 
of a trafficker in setting up a major cocaine bust in November 1997.

Pearson alleged that Schertzer and his team conspired to obstruct 
justice by concealing cocaine trafficker Andy Ioakim's role as a 
"state agent" in the bust.

Schertzer agreed he ordered the notes altered, but insisted it was to 
protect Ioakim's identity - because he was a confidential informant, 
not an agent directed by police.

The trial continues Monday.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom