RCMP officer facing firearms charges appears in Regina court

Heather Polischuk, Regina, SK (Leader-Post) – The former detachment commander of the Lumsden RCMP will find out next month if he will avoid a criminal record in relation to two firearms charges.

Sgt. Doug Smith stood trial this week at Regina Provincial Court on charges of careless storage of a firearm and contravening regulations of the Firearms Act pertaining to storage.

At the time charges were laid, the RCMP said Smith — now a 22-year member — was posted at RCMP headquarters in Regina. According to information provided by the RCMP Tuesday, Smith is still a member but is on administrative leave.

Smith himself took the stand at his trial Tuesday, explaining how two firearms — a rifle and a handgun — came to be found inside his Lumsden apartment in July 2008.

Smith said the handgun had been turned in to him by a civilian prior to Smith’s relocating from Manitoba to Saskatchewan in 2004. Smith said the gun was supposed to be destroyed, but the workload at the detachment was such that the task fell onto the back burner.

He added he wasn’t sure about the Saskatchewan RCMP’s process for destroying weapons, and was unable to get clarification from some members he spoke with.

Smith said he owned the rifle since 1977.

Both weapons were kept locked up at the various RCMP detachments where Smith worked and were taken with him when he relocated. He said he took the rifle out just once in 2007 to shoot at problem skunks, but the gun wouldn’t fire.

Problems arose when Smith became the subject of what he described as an “unfounded” complaint laid by a friend of his estranged wife. He said the RCMP took the step, in December 2007, of removing him from his post with Lumsden RCMP. According to another witness, Smith was removed to keep the detachment from becoming involved in potential problems resulting from Smith’s then-crumbling personal life.

During a brief stint in professional standards at “F” Division, Smith took the two guns to his Lumsden apartment. The handgun was placed inside a locking trunk, while the rifle was placed in a closet, hidden behind piles of clothes, he told court.

When RCMP arrested Smith and searched his apartment in July 2008, the guns were found in those locations, he said. The trunk wasn’t locked; Smith said he didn’t think about it prior to rushing out the door to the hospital where his daughter had been taken just prior to the search.

Defence lawyer Foster Weisgerber argued the rifle shouldn’t even be considered a firearm since there’s some evidence it wasn’t operable at the time of the search — even though it was later able to be fired by an RCMP firearms technician. Weisgerber added Smith kept no ammunition for either gun at his apartment.

Weisgerber also said Firearms Act regulations shouldn’t apply to Smith in the case of the handgun, because the gun was turned over to him and he retained it in the course of his policing duties.

Even though the trunk wasn’t locked on the day of the search, Weisgerber said it was otherwise kept locked, and Smith had a reasonable explanation as to why it wasn’t on that particular day.

Judge Marylynne Beaton will give her decision Nov. 18.

According to the RCMP, Smith has been subject to an internal Code of Conduct investigation that has been completed and is awaiting a hearing date before an adjudication board. A date for the hearing hasn’t yet been set.