Drunk cops' job on line
By Alan Cairns
Toronto Sun
March 27, 2003

Toronto cops could be canned if they get nailed for drunk driving. Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino warns in a stern memo that, 'effective immediately,' any officer convicted of drunk driving might be fired.

Fantino's firing edict not only applies to officers convicted under the Criminal Code of Canada, but also to those who are found guilty by an internal tribunal of Police Services Act infractions.

"Drinking and driving offences continue to be a serious problem facing our society, causing untold suffering, injury and death," Fantino wrote recently in routine orders.

Citing growing public intolerance towards drunk driving, Fantino told his underlings that it is 'especially unacceptable when a police officer, who has sworn to uphold the law, is the focus of this crime.'

'Reduce the carnage'

The hard work of 'dedicated' Toronto cops and community groups to 'reduce the carnage' on our streets cannot be diminished Fantino wrote.

Fantino said the new penalties in Ontario mean that a first time drunk driver could face a minimum one-year suspension and one year with a mandatory breath-testing system on their car ignition. He said cops who face these penalties 'cannot be fully deployed for a minimum of two years.' The threshold that special police prosecutors must meet at Police Services Act tribunals is considered much lower than in criminal courts.

Fantino warned that internal affairs hearing officers will treat drinking and driving offences 'with the utmost severity, which may include dismissal.'