May 19 2006 – CBC News
A Toronto police officer has resigned despite a court ruling this month that he could keep his job after pleading guilty to drug possession.
By quitting the force, Robert Kelly avoids being demoted, losing his gun and being subject to random drug testing.
In a May 3 ruling, the Divisional Court of the Superior Court of Justice said Kelly could keep his job.
In June 2003, Kelly pleaded guilty to drug possession and sought treatment for his cocaine addiction. Kelly and his lawyer also worked out a deal with the police tribunal that would allow him to keep is job in return for accepting a demotion.
His lawyer had argued Kelly should keep his position because Kelly’s use of drugs stemmed from addiction developed in the line of duty.
Kelly was fired when news of the deal leaked out, but he successfully appealed the decision at the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police Services (OCCOPS). The original agreement to keep him on the force was restored in May 2005.
* FROM MAY 16, 2005: Coke-addicted cop should keep job, appeal panel rules
OCCOPS is a civilian agency empowered by the Police Services Act to hold police forces accountable. The commission reports to Ontario’s solicitor general.
The force appealed the OCCOPS decision to the Divisional Court of the Superior Court of Justice. The appeal was dismissed in May of this year.
On Thursday, CBC Radio reported that a senior Crown attorney who prosecuted the corruption case against Kelly three years ago wrote in a letter that he was shocked to learn the officer didn’t lose his job despite pleading guilty to drug offences.
John North was brought in to handle the corruption case after Toronto police investigators received a tip in 2001 that implicated five undercover drug squad officers in an alleged cocaine ring.
A confidential informant identified the officers, and accused them of supplying cocaine from a locker in exchange for insider tips about suspect horse races at a track.
But instead of pulling a sting on all five, internal affairs officers only arrested Kelly, who was charged with drug trafficking in November 2001. In June 2003, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of drug possession.
North wrote an angry letter in June 2004 to, among others, John Neily, the RCMP chief superintendent who led a special task force into corruption allegations in the Toronto police drug squads.
The letter was made public for the first time on Thursday.
“When I was assigned to this case, I was under the impression that the Toronto police was really serious about properly dealing with those officers, whose criminal conduct created a dark cloud over the entire service,” North wrote.
“At least in this respect, it appears I was very naive.”
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