IAPE Evidence Blog

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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