Police officer guilty of neglect of duty in gun incident:

Police officer guilty of neglect of duty in gun incident:
Date: Jun 24, 2006 11:58 AM
PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen
DATE: 2006.06.24
EDITION: Final
SECTION: City
PAGE: E3
BYLINE: Andrew Seymour
SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen
ILLUSTRATION: Photo: Jana Chytilova, The Ottawa Citizen / A
policeprosecutor did not oppose Staff Sgt. Kevin McCaffery's (above)
lawyer's submission for a sentence at the 'lower end of the scale.'
WORD COUNT: 564

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

Police officer guilty of neglect of duty in gun incident: Lawyer says
veteran reported incident quickly after youth fired single shot

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

An Ottawa police staff sergeant pleaded guilty to neglect of duty after
a single shot from his police-issued handgun was fired into the basement
floor of his home four months ago.

Staff Sgt. Kevin McCaffery admitted to improperly securing his
.40-calibre pistol with a proper locking device, in accordance with
police policy, during the Police Services Act hearing held at Ottawa
police headquarters on Elgin Street yesterday.

A second charge of discreditable conduct was withdrawn.

The Police Services Act charges were laid against the veteran officer
after one of four youths, who were in the officer's home after he went
out on the evening of Feb. 25, fired the gun into a laminate wood floor
in a basement computer room. No one was injured in the incident.

One of the youths has since been criminally charged. His name cannot be
released under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Staff Sgt. McCaffery had
returned from a community meeting at Ottawa City Hall at about 4 p.m.
that day and put his handgun, ammunition, magazines and pepper spray in
a banker's safe with a combination lock in the basement furnace room of
his home.

After removing the round from the chamber and depressing the trigger,
Staff Sgt. McCaffery placed his gun and ammunition inside the safe and
closed and locked the door. A short time later, Staff Sgt. McCaffery and
his wife returned to the safe and removed some travellers cheques before
relocking the safe and closing the door to the furnace room.

At about 10 p.m., while Staff Sgt. McCaffery was still out, one of four
young people who were at the house went into the furnace room and came
out with the pistol, according to the agreed statement of facts.

Standing near the door to the computer room with the pistol pointed
downward and away from two of the other young people, a shot was
"unintentionally" fired and passed through the laminate floor into the
concrete subfloor.

Immediately after learning about the shooting the following morning,
Staff Sgt. McCaffery called his brother, acting Insp. Pat McCaffery, who
visited the residence and interviewed the young people. Acting Insp.
McCaffery then contacted the duty inspector and advised him of the
incident.

A later consultation with the Crown attorney determined there was no
public interest in prosecuting the officer criminally and Staff Sgt.
McCaffery was charged under the Police Services Act.

Following the guilty plea, Staff Sgt. McCaffery's lawyer, Bill Carroll,
asked hearing officer Robert Fitches for a sentence at the "lower end of
the scale" that would dock the officer three days' pay and require him
to take additional training.

Mr. Carroll, who presented more than a dozen character reference letters
from Staff Sgt. McCaffery's colleagues, argued his client had "stepped
up to the plate" by immediately contacting the police about the incident
and fully co-operating with the investigation.

Mr. Carroll said Staff Sgt. McCaffery has shown "genuine remorse" for
what happened and the incident has taken a toll on him and his family.

While a "serious matter," police prosecutor Robert Houston did not
oppose Mr. Carroll's submission for a lower sentence, agreeing that
Staff Sgt. McCaffery had suffered as a result of the incident, had fully
co-operated with the police investigation and entered a guilty plea at
his first opportunity to do so.

"I will be treating this as it was recommended to me, at the lower end
of the scale," said Mr. Fitches. "Accidents happen. The consequences
could have been tragic."

Mr. Fitches is expected to make his ruling on the sentence July 21.