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OTTAWA — Leaving her police duty belt, including her loaded service pistol, in the changing room of a Mississauga clothing store saw a cop in Peel Region get docked 15 days of pay.

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Peel Regional Police Const. Zahra Yusufzay, 31, of Brampton, was docked 120 hours of pay for the mistake, which happened at the Mango clothing store in Square One on Dec. 16, 2024.

According to an agreed statement of facts released by Peel Regional Police, Yusufzay was charged with unsafe storage of a firearm in connection with the incident, which saw Yusufzay – working on a plain clothes detail at the busy Mississauga mall – enter the store on her lunch break to try on pants she says were needed for work.

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Firearm, magazine left in change room

While trying on the pants, she removed her duty belt – containing her firearm, a spare loaded magazine and a set of handcuffs.

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“While in the change room, Cst. Yusufzay received a phone call from PC Hamza Mohammad to do a translation by phone,” court records state. “Constable Yusufzay then exited the change room and left the store in order to do that translation in her car in the parking lot by phone, inadvertently leaving her police-issued equipment unattended in the change room.”

Yusufzay’s duty belt and firearm were located by a store employee, who turned the items over to mall security, who then notified police.

Upon realizing she’d left her belt and firearm in the change room, Yusufzay made phone calls to both mall security and the store before being reunited with her missing equipment by her supervisor, who attended the scene in response to the found equipment.

She was arrested by Internal Affairs on March 11, 2025.

“In leaving her police-issued use of force equipment, including a loaded firearm, unattended in a public area, it is alleged that Cst. Yusufzay conducted herself in a manner that undermined, or is likely to undermine, public trust in policing, contrary to section 10 of the prescribed Code of Conduct,” the court documents state.

She subsequently pleaded guilty to the charges, and was sentenced to forfeit 120 hours, or 15 days of pay.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
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