A lack of evidence has sparked a code of conduct and a criminal investigations within Nanaimo's RCMP detachment.
Supt. Norm McPhail, Nanaimo RCMP detachment commanding officer, announced Wednesday that Mounties are conducting an internal criminal investigation after it was discovered Dec. 2 evidence related to a drug investigation – $10,000 cash and .3 grams of cocaine – had gone missing.
The discovery was made when an exhibit custodian went to move the items from a temporary evidence storage locker in the Nanaimo detachment. The temporary exhibit locker is used to hold evidence exhibits that have not been fully examined or catalogued prior to being permanently stored in the detachment's main exhibit area.
McPhail said an internal audit was immediately conducted, but failed to turn up the missing evidence.
"As a result of that, a criminal investigation was initiated," McPhail.
The exhibits have yet to be accounted for and a code of conduct investigation was launched against a Nanaimo RCMP constable with eight year's service for alleged improper handling of the exhibits.
"All the protocols for handling of the exhibits were not necessarily followed," McPhail said. "The matter's under investigation, but on the face of it there was enough there for me to order a code of conduct and have a proper investigation done of that so I can deal with that situation as quickly as possible."
The constable was notified of the code of conduct investigation Wednesday.
Both investigations are ongoing.
"It's not alleged that this Mountie has taken the exhibits at this time," McPhail said. "It's alleged that he improperly handled those."
The constable was placed on administrative duties within the detachment pending while the code of conduct investigation is carried out.
If the investigation finds that the constable did mishandle the evidence, an RCMP hearing will be held into how the exhibits were handled.
McPhail has ordered changes to how exhibits are handled in the detachment.
He would not speculate on where investigators think the evidence might be and said he is not aware of any previous incidents of evidence going missing at the Nanaimo detachment, nor is he aware of any prior incidents of misconduct involving the constable.
The decision was made to publicly announce the criminal investigation, which had been underway for several weeks, after police were informed Wednesday the news media were tipped off about the case.
"There was an ongoing criminal investigation, however it did come to light from a media source that there was information in the public and given the fact that there was information in the public, I thought it was appropriate to address the issue immediately for the media and the public," McPhail said.