Pubdate: Wed, 14 Aug 2013
Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Nanaimo Daily News
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608
Author: Ben Ingram

REPRIMAND FOR MEMBER OF DRUG SQUAD

Evidence Missing From Storage Locker

A policeman who worked with a Nanaimo RCMP drug squad when $10,000 
and some cocaine went missing from a storage locker has been 
internally reprimanded for mishandling evidence.

Const. Tyler Jensen was docked a total of six days' worth of pay and 
given formal reprimands in a public decision handed down in Nanaimo on Tuesday.

The mystery of what happened to the money and the 0.3 grams of 
cocaine that disappeared from a temporary exhibit locker in February 
2011 remains unsolved.

An investigation found that Jensen failed to properly secure his 
storage key, and thus, the evidence he had stored in a temporary 
exhibit locker.

"He left them in a duty bag in his work area and didn't keep safe 
keeping on them," said Supt. Norm McPhail, the officer in charge of 
the Nanaimo RCMP. "That's the expectation. If you have exhibits in an 
exhibit locker, you don't have security of your key. ... Somebody can 
pick up your keys, open your locker and bring the keys back."

Jensen received a formal reprimand and lost four days' pay for that breach.

During the investigation he consented to a search of his personal 
locker where a set of brass knuckles were found.

For not properly documenting the weapon, Jensen was given a reprimand 
and docked two days' pay.

"They would have been seized in the course of an investigation, which 
he could not recall," said McPhail.

Jensen has been held to administrative duties and currently works for 
a southern Vancouver Island traffic unit. After the money went 
missing, Nanaimo RCMP did a review and installed a drop-safe for 
evidence deposits.

When items are placed in the safe, they can only be removed by an 
evidence clerk and no longer the officer who deposited them.

Surveillance has also been upgraded to include high-definition 
cameras with audio in the evidence area.

The investigation was conducted by police from the Island District 
RCMP in Victoria.
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