Pubdate: Sat, 21 Dec 2013
Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Metroland Media Group Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.therecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225
Author: Brian Caldwell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.)

OFFICER APPEALS DRUG SENTENCE

Constable Fighting to Keep Job After Stealing Marijuana

KITCHENER - People should be "appalled" at how disgraced police 
officer Andrew Robson was set up to steal marijuana in an undercover 
sting, his lawyer argued Friday.

Robson, 31, is fighting to keep his job as a constable after he was 
given a 60-day conditional sentence earlier this year for theft and 
drug possession.

That sentence - 30 days of house arrest and 30 days with a nightly 
curfew - has already been served and a one-year probation term is 
nearing completion.

Nevertheless, the eight-year member of Waterloo Regional Police is 
appealing both his convictions and his penalty in a bid that has 
delayed his likely dismissal as a Cambridge patrol officer.

It is almost automatic for officers to get fired once found guilty of 
a crime and given time in custody, which his conditional sentence 
technically counts as.

Richard Niman, who has represented Robson throughout the protracted 
case, argued police took an extreme step without valid reasons when 
they targeted him in a sting.

He was suspected of "smoking dope like a fiend" when an out-of-town 
officer was enlisted to pose as a distraught mother who had caught 
her son with marijuana.

When the undercover officer gave four ounces of the drug over to 
Robson for disposal while he was on duty in the fall of 2010, he kept 
half for his own use.

The stolen marijuana was still in a police evidence bag in his 
knapsack when officers arrested him while driving home from work.

Niman argued police had no evidence of on-duty theft - just off-duty 
marijuana use - when they improperly entrapped him to commit a much 
more serious crime.

"It's our submission the court shouldn't stand for this sort of law 
enforcement," he told a Kitchener hearing.

Niman and a colleague made similar arguments at Robson's trial. They 
were rejected by Justice Jeanine LeRoy, who found the sting was both 
legal and justified.

The defence wants the charges stayed due to abuse of process, a 
result that would set aside the criminal convictions.

Lisa Mathews, the prosecutor handling the appeal, said there was 
nothing wrong with an "integrity test" to see if Robson would do his 
job by turning in the marijuana.

"The police did no more than root out corruption in their ranks, 
which they had a duty and an obligation to do," she said.

Even if the convictions stand, Niman argued the conditional sentence 
should be replaced with a more lenient conditional discharge - which 
would mean no criminal record.

That would dramatically improve Robson's chances of hanging on to his 
job when he faces discipline under the Police Services Act once the 
criminal case is finally completed.

Niman said LeRoy erred by stressing deterrence and denunciation as 
sentencing factors, while not giving enough weight to Robson's 
serious mental health and substance abuse problems.

Robson testified he developed drug and alcohol addictions after he 
began using them to cope with stress from traumatic work experiences, 
including a 2007 helicopter crash.

Anxious and jittery throughout his trial, he said he came close to 
killing himself with his police gun in 2009 while sitting in his 
parked cruiser.

Mathews countered that the trial judge rightly balanced Robson's 
emotional problems with a greater need to send a message about 
officers who break the law.

"Frankly, I think the public is not served by Mr. Robson maintaining 
employment as a police officer," she said. "Perhaps he is not 
well-suited to that job."

Robson spent well over two years suspended with pay following his 
arrest. Once he was technically sentenced to custody in January, he 
was taken off the payroll, although he remains a suspended member of 
the service.

Const. Jeremy Borda, 33, one of two fellow officers also accused by a 
colleague of rampant marijuana use, was fired at a disciplinary 
hearing earlier this month.

Originally charged with trafficking marijuana, Borda got a 
conditional discharge after pleading guilty in criminal court to 
marijuana possession.

A string of offences under the Police Services Act that sealed his 
professional fate included discreditable conduct and insubordination.

Justice James Sloan reserved his decisions on the appeals by Robson, 
who did not attend the day-long hearing.
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