IAPE Evidence Blog

Metro Van­cou­ver, metronews.ca
BYLINE: MATT KIELTYKA, METRO VANCOUVER
Link to Article

Burn­aby, BC, Canada

A City of Burn­aby employee has been fired and charged with theft for allegedly steal­ing cocaine out of RCMP evi­dence storage. 

Burn­aby RCMP announced yes­ter­day that Gary Read, a 56-year-old res­i­dent of Burn­aby and a city employee, has been charged with a sin­gle count of theft.

The alleged theft was dis­cov­ered when police con­ducted an audit of the Burn­aby detach­ment in the spring and noticed that 500 grams of cocaine was miss­ing from a drug exhibit.

Police launched an inves­ti­ga­tion that led to Read — who had over­sight of the exhibits — being charged.

Chief Supt. Dave Critch­ley said the detach­ment has revised its pol­icy and pro­ce­dures to pre­vent a sim­i­lar inci­dent in the future.

Deputy city man­ager Rick Earle said Read, a long­time city employee, has been ter­mi­nated from his job.

Read is expected to appear in Van­cou­ver provin­cial court on Dec. 13. 

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

Post­media Net­work Inc, Ottawa Cit­i­zen, ottawacitizen.com
BYLINE: Gary Dim­mock, The Ottawa Cit­i­zen, gdimmock@ottawacitizen.com

Chill­i­wack, B.C.

OTTAWA — Const. Matt Wright’s police work was any­thing but text­book the day he made an arrest in a street-level drugs and money bust.

The RCMP con­sta­ble, a for­mer mil­i­tary man, never fully doc­u­mented the bag of pills and wad of cash he seized.

Then two months later, after work­ing late at the Chill­i­wack, B.C. detach­ment, Wright, for what­ever rea­son, left with a box con­tain­ing files, his note­books, RCMP iden­ti­fi­ca­tion card, and the seized money and drugs.

He loaded the box into his per­sonal vehi­cle and later that same night reported it had been stolen from his car. Every­thing was recov­ered, except the drugs and money. It is impos­si­ble to know what kind or the exact amount of drugs because they were never fully doc­u­mented, nor was the cash. Wright says it was a bag of about 50 blue pills and a “thin wad” of cash, that con­tained at least one $20 note on the outside.

In an inter­nal dis­ci­pli­nary rul­ing in Ottawa dated March 28, Wright, who admit­ted the alle­ga­tions, was docked two days pay for neglect of duty.

“The lapse of judg­ment in the proper care, con­trol and stor­age of an exhibit may be out of char­ac­ter; how­ever, mem­bers must be vig­i­lant in prop­erly pro­cess­ing exhibits. The pub­lic and the courts expect noth­ing less than per­fec­tion,” the dis­ci­pli­nary board ruled.

It wasn’t the only prob­lem the board had with Wright.

In July 2007, months after he reported the miss­ing drugs and money, the Moun­ties dis­cov­ered he had pur­chased a rifle but didn’t have a firearms certificate.

Wright had pur­chased a 1973 Win­ches­ter RCMP Cen­ten­nial rifle from a retired mem­ber in 2005.

At the time, he asked a col­league to reg­is­ter it while he tried to get a firearms certificate.

Two years later, his super­vi­sor learned Wright had a rifle in his pos­ses­sion that was not reg­is­tered to him. And Wright still didn’t have a firearms certificate.

His super­vi­sor seized the gun and Wright was charged with dis­grace­ful con­duct under the RCMP Act.

The dis­ci­pli­nary board stated: “We com­mit to uphold the law and by acquir­ing a firearm with­out the proper licens­ing, Con­sta­ble Wright is break­ing the very law he swore to enforce.”

It should be noted that Wright apol­o­gized to the dis­ci­pli­nary board and has shown remorse and regret for embar­rass­ing the national police force.

He also assured senior Moun­ties that he now processes crime exhibits “meticulously.”

“The board accepts that Con­sta­ble Wright has learned from his mis­takes and trusts he is indeed pre­pared to abide by a Code of Con­duct, while on and off-duty. He must keep this oblig­a­tion in mind at all times. Mem­bers of the force are expected to act in an exem­plary man­ner and their con­duct must be beyond reproach,” the board said in its March ruling.

The con­sta­ble was docked an addi­tional three days pay for hav­ing a firearm with­out a licence.

Wright did not return a mes­sage for com­ment on this story.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

The North­land North­ern
BYLINE: Kristin Edge
Link to Article

Whangarei, New Zealand

Bulging Bucket: Hun­dreds of sets of keys have been handed in to lost prop­erty offi­cer Joe O’Malley-Ostermeyer at the police sta­tion Photo/Ron Bur­gin

There’s one man at Whangarei police sta­tion who may unlock the mys­tery over your lost keys.

Lost prop­erty offi­cer Joe O’Malley-Ostermeyer has hun­dreds of sets of keys that have been found all round the city and he is urg­ing any­one who has mis­laid keys to check with him before order­ing a new set.

A green bucket is close to over­flow­ing with the mis­laid metal and colour­ful keyrings.

There is one solid brass key that looks like it could unlock the front door to a castle.

Keyrings include expen­sive elec­tronic car door openers.

Another has an orange plas­tic tiki, another a piece of sheep skin and a third a fam­ily photo.

What is clear from exam­in­ing the pile of keys is that Whangarei peo­ple are clearly a thirsty bunch with most key rings con­tain­ing a bot­tle opener.

Most of the keys were found in the cen­tral city or in super­mar­ket carparks.

Mr O’Malley-Ostermeyer rec­om­mended peo­ple write their name, but not their address, on their keys, so if they were handed in it would be eas­ier to track the owners.

“It’s vir­tu­ally impos­si­ble to find the own­ers for these keys.

“A name would really help us.”

He wel­comed any­one who had lost keys over the last six months to come and search through the bucket.

Peo­ple who have lost keys in other areas of North­land were advised to con­tact their local police station.

Dur­ing the sum­mer break numer­ous wal­lets con­tain­ing cash have been handed in by hon­est Northlanders.

“Peo­ple who come in and have their wal­lets returned are so grate­ful they often want to say thanks to the per­son who has handed it in,” Mr O’Malley-Ostermeyer said.

Other items miss­ing an owner include a green and black spear gun, two tapa mats and a con­crete drill.

Con­tact Whangarei sta­tion on 09 430 4500 if you think any of these items belong to you.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org