A retired Toronto anti-corruption investigator has spoken out in support of a former colleague's accusations that police brass did not pursue allegations of wrongdoing.

Toronto police Chief Bill Blair told CBC News later Tuesday that he was willing to sit down with the man to discuss the allegations.

'The fact that two of them had to resort to "whistleblowing" is a clear indication that they've been let down by brass.'-Lawyer Edward Sapiano

Neal Ward, a 33-year veteran of the force who recently retired, told CBC News he couldn't stand by any longer as his former colleague was punished for bringing the allegations to the attention of the public.

Six months ago, Jim Cassells went public with allegations that police supervisors covered up, refused to investigate and turned a blind eye on alleged police brutality, public complaints and internal corruption. He now faces internal charges for speaking to the media and is no longer conducting interviews.

"I think Jim is quite correct in most of the allegations he's made to date," Ward told the CBC.

Both Ward and Cassells worked on a 25-member task force set up in 2001 to investigate accusations that Toronto drug squad officers beat up and stole money from drug suspects.

The task force led to criminal charges being laid against six officers, but it also unearthed a long list of additional cases that implicated other officers. Cassells said those cases were swept under the carpet.

Lengthy list of serious unresolved cases: Ward

Ward agrees, saying that he and other task force investigators are waiting for action on 14 additional cases uncovered by the task force and brought to police management when the task force concluded in 2004.

"I started to make a list of everything we talked about ... whenever somebody would bring up a point," said Ward.

Sources told the CBC that the list of serious unresolved cases includes:

• Allegations that officers in the North West Field Command were suspected of running a drug ring.
• Allegations that another downtown drug team pocketed around $2.5 million seized from suspects' safety deposit boxes.
• Allegations that a supervisor of drug investigations admitted to a 10-year cocaine addiction and was not removed from his job.

Edward Sapiano, a lawyer who long ago called for an inquiry into the allegations, said the latest accusations show a public inquiry is the only way to get to the bottom of things.

"The fact that two of them had to resort to 'whistleblowing' is a clear indication that they've been let down by brass," said Sapiano.

Not just a 'few bad apples,' lawyer says

The latest list of allegations infuriates defence lawyer Peter Biro, who has called for a public inquiry for years.

"The very fact that there were other teams puts the lie to the oft-professed statement by [then-police chief Julian Fantino] … that this was just 'a few bad apples,'" said Biro.

In response to Cassells going to the media in May, Toronto police Chief Bill Blair launched an internal probe into his allegations. The final findings of the review are expected to be revealed to the public next Tuesday.

But the scope of the review is said to be extremely narrow and excluded the investigation or re-investigation of any cases examined by the special task force.

Blair defended the internal probe, saying it followed the mandate of examining the process by which decisions were made.

Police chief agrees to speak to retired officer

In response to the CBC News report about Ward's allegations that cases were never properly investigated, the police chief said Tuesday afternoon that he was willing to sit down and speak with the retired officer.

"If Neal's got information that he wants to bring forward that he believes requires more work, then we're more than willing to discuss that with him," Blair said in a separate interview with the CBC.

When a CBC reporter asked why police brass haven't dealt with the 14 other alleged cases identified by the task force, Blair responded, "I don't know what cases you're talking about and I'll have to speak to him about that."

Blair also said hinted that he may reconsider the scope of the internal procedural review that was conducted over the summer in light of the recent revelations.