Pubdate: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 1999, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoSun/ Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/newsgroups.html Authors: Rob Lamberti and Jonathan Kingstone HASH FIND SPARKED PROBE Theft complaints against drug command 'smear campaign:' Union Drug cases are being stayed by Crown attorneys because a Toronto narcotics officer was found with a bag of hashish in a police vehicle while driving home, sources say. Another internal affairs investigation into reports of missing money taken from alleged drug dealers by central field drug command may have been completed and quietly closed without charges. While defence lawyers claim their clients' have been robbed by police, sources say the probe has nothing to do with money. One lawyer says the amount of money allegedly stolen during drug investigations totals in the "multi-thousands" while another suggests it's hundreds of thousands. Lawyer Harry Black suggested theft claims are groundless. "I don't think that there is even anything on which any of these officers need representation," Black said yesterday. "I think the lawyers are being enormously irresponsible. I question the motives behind a lot of this." Sources said during the fall, an erratic driver in an unmarked police vehicle was pulled over by police in Newmarket. The driver identified himself as a Toronto detective-constable and was put in the rear of a cruiser for a ride home. Police found a bag of hashish in the unnamed officer's vehicle, which was taken back to 53 Division. Internal affairs are trying to determine why the hash was in the vehicle, and until that case is completed, all the trials involving the officer are being stayed. A theft complaint was made last year while the unit was also a target of death threats from the New York-based gang Rema Posse. The threats, including one to The Toronto Sun, followed 75 warrants executed between May and September. Internal affairs raided the officers' personal records including bank accounts and spoke to penitentiary prisoners, but found no evidence of wrong-doing, the source said. Chief David Boothby confirmed a probe was launched in April after defence lawyers made allegations against officers who have since been reassigned to "other duties." "They live and work in a very precarious society," Boothby said of his officers. "They are not dealing with ordinary circumstances. Often people make allegations. The public can rest assured these (allegations) will be investigated very thoroughly. If charges are appropriate, then they will be laid." "If there's bad apples, we'll get them out," Mayor Mel Lastman said yesterday, "and if it's jail, then they'll go to jail -- no matter what." On Monday, the case against Clifford Robinson, a passenger in a car containing a kilo of cocaine, was stayed, his lawyer Bruce Olmstead said. The stay followed a response to disclosure requests about an IA probe in the central drug investigative team of the Central Field Command drug unit. Toronto Police Association boss Craig Bromell said he's upset about what he calls a "smear campaign." "Nobody has been charged," he said. The association plans to file a complaint with the Law Society of Upper Canada about the conduct of a number of lawyers. "We feel a lot of people have been taken in by the lawyers because a lot of people are getting off. It's disgusting." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea