POULSBO — Stacey Lee Smaaladen, a 23-year veteran of the Poulsbo Police Department, will appear in court on March 21 on charges of felony possession of a controlled substance and theft in the third degree.

She is accused of stealing prescription drugs from a public drop box in the police department lobby.

Poulsbo Chief of Police Dan Schoonmaker said she is on paid administrative leave.

Schoonmaker said that, by all accounts, Smaaladen has done an exemplary job as the department’s crisis intervention officer.

“She goes out of her way to help people that are in need. I would say even above and beyond what a typical police officer does,” Schoonmaker said. “There was nothing that would indicate that there was a problem prior to us seeing what we saw. There’s certain behaviors we can’t tolerate but we also know there’s a human component to this.”

He added, “Our goal right now is to rally around her … Stacey’s on a tough journey right now and we’re going to support her.”

In early November, Schoonmaker was approached by a city employee with what appeared to be surveillance footage of Smaaladen stealing prescription medication from the drop box, in which residents can deposit unused and unwanted medication.

“Once I had the ability to view the footage, that’s when we called Bremerton Police Department and Stacey was put on administrative leave that day,” Schoonmaker said, adding that the phone call to Bremerton was a tough one to make.

“Even though I’ve been here 14 months, it’s a small agency. We all know each other, we all care about each other. The department, the reputation and the trust in the community has to come first. I think even Stacey would tell you that.”

Schoonmaker said that before the department makes a decision on whether Smaaladen gets to keep her badge, a separate internal investigation of her actions would be conducted, immediately following the criminal investigation. The findings of the departmental investigation, Schoonmaker said, would factor into determining possible disciplinary action.

“We have our own independent administrative investigation. We wait on that until the criminal investigation is done. That is just going to be getting underway here in the next week or so,” Schoonmaker said. “Where that investigation leads will be based on internal policies, not necessarily on the same legal guidelines that the prosecutor is going to use.”

— Nick Twietmeyer is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. Contact him at ntwietmeyer@soundpublishing.com.