Calgary police officer with 'pattern' of negligence demoted after rifle stolen from car

When a police-issued C8 rifle was stolen from the personal vehicle of Cst. Stephan Baker, the Calgarypolice officer was already under investigation for negligence, CBC News has learned.

He has recently been demoted after pleading guilty to misconduct, police disciplinary documents show.

In April2015, Baker ignored all CPS policies when he took the rifle and left it in his car despite admitting he was "well aware" of the transportation and storage policies.

At that time, the five-year officer had been assigned to desk duty for four months, facing six charges of negligence of duty for incomplete reports and evidence found in his duty bag.

"He courted disaster and found it in spades," wrote Supt. Paul Manuel in Baker's penalty, obtained by CBC News.

• Calgary police officer whose rifle was stolen from car will not be charged

Baker was cleared of criminal conduct, but pleaded guilty to three counts of misconduct under the Police Act, including discreditable conduct, insubordination, and improper use of a firearm.

"The primary issue here is Cst. Baker's dismal effort to exercise reasonable judgement," said Manuel,who presided over Baker's disciplinary hearing.

"It was only due to the excellent police work of the investigators that we didn't find out what could have happened."

After his shift on April 5, 2015, Baker whose father is also a police officer drove to Schanks Sports Grill to have dinner with his sister, who was visiting from Edmonton.

He left the rifle and two high capacity magazines with ammunition on the back seat of his Subaru, along with a bag containing five police notebooks.

Baker covered the case with his motorcycle jacket.

When he returned to his car around 11:15 p.m., Baker discovered it had been broken into, and the weapon and notebooks were gone.

'Large mistake on my part'

After notifying his district sergeant, Baker said he began looking around the area and asked Schanks about CCTV video.

Investigating officers were told by Baker that he wanted to clean the weapon at his home and "run through drills" despite being on desk duty.

He said he thought it would be a good idea because there had been two recent officer-involved shootings.

Baker admitted leaving the rifle in his car was a "very high risk, dangerous thing to do," but said he did it anyway. He also acknowledged he did not have permission to have the rifle in his possession.

"Honestly, it was a large mistake on my part," Baker said in his testimony. "I made a mistake, it was an error in judgement,I should have left it at the office."

But it wasn't the first time Baker had taken the rifle home.He testified that he had been taking it to his house on a daily basis for four or five days.

"My primary concern was that my stupidity would have led to that weapon being used on a member of the public or one of my coworkers," said Baker in his testimony.

'Pattern' of negligence

Investigators with the guns and gangs unit recovered the weapon and notebooks.

Testimony from a detective in that unit was redacted in the document, but Bakerwas found to have a "repeated pattern" of negligent behaviour.

CPS firearms trainer Cst. KevinBrandner testified that when the C8 rifle is signed out, it is to be stored in the trunk of a patrol car never at home or in a personal vehicle.

Brandner said this was the first time he'd ever heard of that weapon being in a personal vehicle.

'Recognize your shortcomings'

Baker's actions not only had a "huge financial cost" for CPS, but the national news coverage resulted in damage to the reputation of CPS, the penalty document noted.

A joint recommendation was made to reduce Baker's rank from constable first class to constable third class.

"It is obvious that being a police officer is very important to him," wrote Manuel. "Recognize your shortcomings and work with them."

The demotion is a monetary loss of $22,000 per year before taxes.

In two years, he can return to his rank of first class constable.

If Baker keeps a clean record for five years, all record of discipline and misconduct will be removed from his file.