OPP probing RNC theft

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is investigating a shocking internal theft of a bundle of cash at the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) headquarters in St. John's, The Telegram has learned.

A source has told The Telegram $14,000 was taken, but the RNC has a policy of not confirming dollar amounts in investigations.

RNC Chief Joe Browne is shaken that there's a thief in the RNC "family."

He invoked the memorandum of understanding the RNC has with the OPP to do an independent investigation.

"I can't even begin to describe how disheartened I am about this whole event, I can tell you that," Browne said Monday in an interview with The Telegram.

"Someone doing that to us is ... I can't live with that. It's not a good thing. I'm going to find that person."

The arrival of the OPP comes on the heels of an unrelated, but publicly embarrassing incident for the RNC when a veteran officer had a gun and ammunition stolen from an unmarked police car during a rash of thefts in Mount Pearl Dec. 14. The gun and ammo were found by the Rovers search and rescue team during a search in a wooded area. The officer has been suspended pending a disciplinary review because of firearms policy.

Browne, in reference to the old adage trouble comes in threes, knocked on a wooden table in his office and hoped there would not be a third high-profile incident.

"We're under the microscope, obviously, and understandably so," he said, adding the RNC investigates internal thefts at companies all the time.

"Quite frankly, I was upset about the firearm incident. That's a public safety issue. An individual member totally ignored policy. The policy is sound - the member didn't comply with it. I was really upset with that, but I think I'm more upset with (the theft at HQ) because it's somebody who works here somewhere, and regardless if they are a police officer or not doesn't matter. They still work in a police station. ... This one is really hurtful. It cuts to the core of what we do for a business."

The theft happened after a lock on a temporary storage locker was jimmied Sunday morning, Dec. 13, sometime between 6:30-11 a.m. The lockers are for afterhours or short-term storage of seized and found items until the property control officer comes on duty. The lockers are in an area that's off-limits to the public.

That means the thief is among police officers, support staff, cleaners or certain contract providers who have access to the employees-only areas inside the RNC headquarters at Fort Townshend. At the time the theft occurred, there would have been fewer than usual people in the building because it was early Sunday morning.

Browne is far from being the only person upset by the incident.

"You wouldn't believe the number of phone calls I got from police officers who were on the shift that night or the next day saying, 'Sir, I'll volunteer to work on this.' They're that ticked and upset and disillusioned and mad that somebody, some employee - we don't know who yet - would do that," said Browne, adding that's why it's critical the OPP is handling the investigation.

"It was important, in my view, to bring them in. I want an independent, outside investigation done because potentially anyone who works here could have done it, including me," he said.

"It would be pointless for our own people to be doing this investigation."

Browne said the OPP's report will be handed directly to the Department of Justice once complete.

The team of OPP investigators arrived Sunday, including a polygrapher (administrator of lie-detector tests). The five officers were briefed Monday morning, said OPP spokesman D/Supt. Dave Cardwell in a phone interview from Orillia, Ont.

"The RNC have taken it very seriously," Cardwell said.

"They want to deal openly about it."

Browne did not get into the specifics of how the money had been obtained by the RNC, only to say that it was acquired during an investigative probe and the RNC has already cut a cheque for the person the money belonged to.

The RNC has a bank account of money from drug seizures, forfeited and unclaimed money.

Browne said the young officers who initially seized the cash followed procedure and are upset about what has happened.

"It would be grossly unfair for you or anybody else to link the two events together - the actual seizure of the exhibit and that it went missing. These young officers did nothing wrong ...," Browne said.

"They know what they did is exactly what they should have done, and they're totally distraught by (the subsequent theft). They are pleading with us - they want to help out. But they can't, because they are under suspicion (along with other employees) right now. Nobody wants it solved more than them."

Since the incident, security cameras have been installed in the storage locker area.

The lockers - which are of various sizes to accommodate various kinds of property - have solid core doors and locks.

During hours when the property control officer is not on duty, officers who seize goods or money place items in an individual locker and then fill out a form identifying the item and locker number, a copy of which is left in an in-basket for the property control officer. The keys to each locker are deposited in a secure area only accessible by the property control officer, but the in-basket is in view.

"The lock had actually been pried open," Browne said.

"They would have to intentionally defeat the lock to get at (the money). It wasn't just sitting in the open. Whoever did this set out to do it. ... Was it purely coincidental they saw (the form) or did they overhear the chatter? There could be any number of reasons."

The RNC checked to make sure the money hadn't been moved by identification officers for fingerprinting or photographing, the locker number wasn't mixed up or that the money hadn't fallen out. It soon became clear it had been stolen.

Years ago when Browne was on street patrol, evidence and seized property was deposited on a large table and there were no problems with theft. It was when DNA evidence became prevalent that the lockers were put in use - to ensure continuity and to prevent the cross-contamination of evidence.

"To me, it's the equivalent of having to lock your china cabinet in your house so a member of your family doesn't take your silverware. You shouldn't have to have a lock. This is not a public area, " Browne said.

He said other police forces and businesses where there have been workplace thefts have often found that gambling, drug addiction, financial crisis or relationship failures are at the root of the theft.

The crime is either motivated by desperation, opportunity, or both.

"The problem then is it then casts an eye on everybody who works with them. That's the real tragedy of all this," Browne said.

Some 550 people work at the RNC. Contractors who have access to the building at times include those dropping off or picking up vehicles for mechanical services, tradespeople and others.

Despite the large staff, Browne said it's a family atmosphere where everyone knows one another and where everyone rallies around their fellow employees when someone suffers misfortune or health problems.

Support staff and officers are screened before they're hired, and are fingerprinted. Employees of contract services aren't routinely fingerprinted, but must be bonded.

"You screen to the extent you can, but none of that stuff is fullproof," Browne said.

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