Local cop found guilty of forgery, unlikely to face jail time

A Hamilton police officer has been found guilty of forgery in relation to his work.

Const. Darren Smith was convicted of two counts of forgery and two counts of using forged documents in court Tuesday.

He is not expected to face jail time and his lawyer Kevin McGilly told the court he will be asking for an absolute discharge, which would spare Smith a criminal record.

Ontario Court Justice Joe Nadel said that despite finding Smith guilty, he does not think the officer was being malicious.

This act of malfeasance was not I think intended to cause harm, I think a serious dereliction of duty," he said. The motivation is beyond me ... (the) inference to be drawn is astounding laziness."

Court previously heard that the charges relate to two firearms disposal waivers used by Hamilton police when a member of the public has a weapon they want police to collect and dispose.

On two occasions, in 2017 and 2018, Smith was sent to homes to retrieve old, unused hunting guns. Both times he did not have the waivers signed by the owners and later forged signatures.

On Tuesday, Nadel noted that these tasks were very modest" and yet they were not followed through. He said he was interested to know why.

McGilly noted that he would require information from Smith's psychiatrist and a pre-sentence report was ordered.

The matter returns for sentencing submissions March 23.

Nicole O'Reilly is a Hamilton-based reporter covering crime and justice for The Spectator. Reach her via email: noreilly@thespec.com