Drug-squad probe plagued by leaks: Gardner

The chair of the Toronto Police Services Board says someone may be trying to sabotage an investigation into the force's drug squad.

Norm Gardner acknowledges sensitive details from the police Internal Affairs department have wound up in the hands of the very officers who are under suspicion.

Some former members of the Toronto police drug squad are being investigated following allegations that they beat and robbed suspected drug dealers.

They have responded with a lawsuit, claiming that a botched investigation into the allegations against them has ruined their careers and damaged their reputations.

• FROM JAN. 21, 2003: Former drug cops sue force
  

None of the allegations made to investigators, nor those made in the officers' statement of claim, has been proven in court.

But evidence that details of the internal investigation have leaked out are raising concerns about the integrity of the anti-corruption probe, and has led to at least one call for a public inquiry.

Gardner said he doesn't think a public inquiry is necessary, but he is troubled by some of the details contained in the lawsuit. The allegations contained in the statement of claim show knowledge of an internal investigation that would normally have remained strictly confidential.

• CBC.CA/WEB ONE: Toronto's drug squad under investigation
  

"Well, I'm going to be asking [Chief Julian Fantino] to respond to the information that is in there and the board members will be briefed by the chief on that," Gardner said.

Lawyer Peter Biro says that even if the probe lays charges against former drug officers, questions remain about how they knew so much about the people investigating them.

"I think the public needs, demands and is entitled to much more than that," Biro said. "I think it is entitled to a broader, more comprehensive, public and transparent inquiry and analysis."

Gardner thinks someone sympathetic to the drug squad officers may be behind the leaks.