Chief sought probe after allegations against drug squad
Betsy Powell and Catherine Porter, The Toronto Star
The Toronto Police Services Board hopes to turn a page today on the force’s recent troubles, as retired Ontario Justice George Ferguson presents his 33-point plan to detect and prevent police misconduct.
Chief Julian Fantino commissioned Ferguson’s report two years ago, following allegations against members of the drug squad. Last month, criminal charges were laid against six former drug squad officers.
“Obviously it’s very important and it’s an example of Chief Fantino having been proactive when this situation arose,” police board chair Alan Heisey said yesterday of the Ferguson report, to be presented during today’s board meeting at city hall. The meeting was moved from its regular venue, police headquarters, in keeping with the board’s promise to be more accessible to the public.
Fantino is also expected to respond to the city’s request to trim the police budget. Police have asked for a $53.6 million increase in their budget, to $688 million - most of which goes into officers’ salaries - but council asked Fantino to reduce that by $14.2 million.
“I think you’ll find the chief is responsive to council,” Heisey said.
Also on the board’s agenda are a review of the police complaints process and a report on using video cameras in police cars.
Fantino asked Ferguson two years ago to look into police procedures, including the question of when the force should inform prosecutors that officers testifying against accused criminals are themselves in trouble.
At the same time, Chief Superintendent John Neily of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police began leading an investigation of allegations against the drug squad. Six officers, one now retired, were charged last month and face a total of 40 counts.
Following the charges, the court unsealed more explosive allegations of corruption extending far beyond the six officers. Some pointed to officers falsifying search warrants, perjuring testimony and taxing drug dealers while other officers turned a blind eye or refused to co-operate when Neily’s investigators began their work.
Fantino has called the allegations in Neily’s report “isolated and confined,” and pointed to Ferguson’s work as a tangible demonstration of the force’s “conscious regard for doing the right thing” and suggested this should “inspire continued public confidence in the Toronto Police Service.”
Fantino has said many of the retired justice’s 33 recommendations already have been implemented, though it’s only now they are coming to light.
Some of Ferguson’s report, Review and Recommendations Concerning Various Aspects of Police Misconduct, deals with recruiting and training, as well as the operation of special units such as drug squads.
One area Ferguson considered was drug testing, a police source confirmed. Ferguson also examined the force’s “police culture.”
He will give the board an overview of his findings and recommendations today and answer questions from board members, many of them new and who were not present when Ferguson discussed his findings a year ago during a private session.
“It’s very progressive, it’s very forward thinking,” said a police source familiar with Ferguson’s work. “He’s sought input from a wide cross-section (of people) not only from Toronto and Canada but also worldwide.... Some very meaningful recommendations were made, many of them already implemented and others are being studied.”
Ferguson solicited views from lawyers, police union representatives and various organizations, including the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. He travelled to England and New York for interviews.
Defence lawyer Edward Sapiano, whose lobbying on behalf of clients who alleged police malfeasance helped launch the Neily probe, met with Ferguson. While he hasn’t seen Ferguson’s report, he predicts it will focus on the “pivotal issue” of when defence lawyers must be advised when there are legal or discipline problems with officers involved in a client’s arrest.
Lawyer Gary Clewley, who has defended police officers facing criminal charges, hopes Ferguson will recommend changes to rules for dealing with confidential informants. Right now they are “ridiculous” and “unworkable,” Clewley said, because of too much emphasis on requiring informants to “provide more and more information that demonstrates to everybody’s satisfaction that the police officer was, in fact, dealing with whom he says he was.”
Not on the agenda today are the results of two inquiries by the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services.
It is due to report next week on whether past police board chair Norm Gardner breached the Police Services Act by accepting a handgun from a manufacturer and free police ammunition for his personal use, said Hyacinthe Miller, the commission’s acting senior adviser.
A probe into alleged remarks by police board chair Heisey, should be ready by the board’s next meeting in March, said Councillor Pam McConnell, the board’s vice-chair.