Last week it was a stolen motorcycle at the repair shop and tonight it is a detainee's gold chain at the pawnshop as another police constable has been caught behaving badly. Today 32-year-old Hattieville Resident and Police Constable Richard Arnold was charged with theft. The official report is that Arnold, who was on duty at the Queen Street holding cell on July 28th, took custody of a detainee's $199 Nokia cell phone and $386 gold chain, as is the regular procedure. Constable Arnold was supposed to return the detainee's property on his release but he didn't.
The matter was reported to the Internal Affairs Division which eventually tracked down the chain to JEC Pawn Shop where the constable had pawned it in his own name and with his own ID. The constable later handed over the cell phone. The detainee refused to pursue charges but Constable Arnold was still charged and arraigned this afternoon. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $2,500 bail and a surety in the same amount. His is to return to court on October 6th.
