Officer was target of sting operation, court told
Calgary police used an undercover sting operation to target one of their own for allegedly stealing seized drugs, court heard Tuesday.
Det. Jeff MacQueen testified Const. Robert Cumming was made the subject of an investigation after texts were discovered between the accused and another officer during an unrelated operation.
“I was asked to look into Const. Cumming’s dealings on drug calls,” MacQueen told provincial court Judge Jerry LeGrandeur.
MacQueen, a member of the anti-corruption unit, said police eventually launched an undercover sting called Operation Smoke.
Cumming, 44, faces charges of theft, possession of marijuana and breach of trust in connection with the investigation.
On June 3, 2016, MacQueen said Cumming was under the watch of members of Strike Force, the Calgary Police Service’s mobile surveillance unit.
At 9:33 a.m., MacQueen was told a backpack containing two packages of marijuana had been handed over to Cumming by an undercover officer posing as a regular citizen.
That afternoon, Cumming indicated on the computer automated dispatch system that he was going to his residence in northeast Calgary, although he was supposed to be on patrol in the southwest quadrant of the city.
“I was already aware that he had been given a backpack with marijuana in it,” MacQueen said. “It was my belief he was heading home possibly to drop this backpack off.”
He was told the undercover officer provided the backpack with two packages of marijuana in it.
“Surveillance would follow him to see what he did with that backpack.”
MacQueen said he and members of the anti-corruption unit then went to the area around Cumming’s home.
Before their arrival the surveillance unit had checked the garbage can behind Cumming’s residence.
“The backpack and drugs were in there,” he said, adding he later looked into the garbage container and observed the same thing.
After Cumming went off duty at 6 p.m., MacQueen and two other members of his unit waited at a Tim Hortons restaurant near the accused’s home. At 9:13 p.m. they were “notified Const. Cumming was arriving home.”
“I was advised that he attended the rear alley at the garbage can and then drove around to the front of the home,” he said.
“Part of the information was that he selected the marijuana out of the garbage can and then drove around to the front.”
Uniformed members of the gang suppression unit then did a door knock and arrested Cumming, he said.
The trial continues.