Lisa Priest

Watchdog to review "tempest in teapot"

"I think it's a tempest in a teapot," Douglas Drinkwalter said in an interview yesterday. Drinkwalter said his assistant will review the file this week and make a recommendation to members of the commission on Monday as to whether it should be reinvestigated.

Drinkwalter said the file will be thoroughly reviewed, but added he is only doing it because "The Toronto Star has made such a big deal of it and many members of the public are asking what the hack is going on."

The former prosecutor said that the commission "doesn't have any big, grave concerns about the Metro police's internal investigation of Constable Gord Junger. "They had some suspicion about a policeman an they investigated it."

The review follows Metro police chief William McCormack's offer to open any necessary files for the commission.

McCormack has rejected a 26-year-old former call girl's claim that the force had not thoroughly investigated two officers. She said the two were involved in the escort service she ran with Junger.

The chief maintains no evidence substantiates her claim that the two other officers performed sex acts for money. He has said that anyone who has information contradicting the findings of police detectives should file a complaint with Clare Lewis, the Public Complaints Commissioner.

The woman turned in Junger for operating the escort service. Junger quit the force on March 1, after hashish possession charges against him were dropped in court.

McCormack said the drug charges were withdrawn because the woman, who lived with Junger in the townhouse where hashish was found, said she would recant her evidence at the trial. The woman denies this.