LATE IN TURNING IN SEIZED CRACK, POLICEMAN SUSPENDED FOR 20 HOURS

(CNS) A veteran Edmonton constable was handed a 20-hour suspension
yesterday after forgetting to turn in nine grams of crack cocaine and
$155 in cash seized from a drug dealer.

Constable Cory Huculak led a team of eight officers in May, 2006,
when they stopped a vehicle, arrested two people and made the seizure.

It wasn't until September that the police drug custodian got notice
of one of the two drug charges being withdrawn and saw that he had no
drugs to match the charge.

For the next six months he repeatedly e-mailed and personally asked
Const. Huculak for the drugs, to no avail.

They weren't submitted until after a professional standards division
started investigating his complaint.

"A case like this can do nothing but negatively affect the public
trust," said Superintendent Mark Logar, delivering his decision at a
police disciplinary hearing yesterday.