by TChris

A police officer assigned to a South Jersey high school has been arrested for having several sexual encounters with a 17 year old student. Officer Eric Allen, who (like all arrestees) is presumed innocent, had been assigned to the Absegami High School as a resource officer.

An officer in Lacey, Washington was reinstated after the Police Guild grieved his termination. Keith Mercer's superiors complained about his poor work habits, alleging that he allowed two sexual assault investigations to "slip through the cracks." After Mercer jokingly put a gun to his head in front of an officer who asked him how he was handling the stress of the investigation, Mercer was fired. An arbitrator decided that the incident involved "horseplay" rather than "misconduct," warranting only a three day suspension. Horseplay with a gun isn't misconduct?

by TChris

Did Police Chief Edward Whitlock of Ridgeville, S.C. check Timothy Graves' references before hiring him as a police officer?

Last month, James Williams and two other town councilmen tried to fire Graves after The (Charleston) Post and Courier published articles about how officers who had committed crimes or were involved in misconduct have been hired at other law agencies. ... Graves was fired by North Charleston after an investigation found he accepted money for off-duty work while on duty for the city.

Whitlock defended the hiring, arguing that he has to overlook a few "blemishes" on an officer's record because the town doesn't pay well enough to attract law-abiding officers. He pointed out that Graves was the best of the three applicants. One had unspecified "financial problems" while the third was indicted for reckless homicide. But there's reason to believe that Whitlock isn't the world's best judge of character.

by TChris

Government employees, apparently seeking to further the government's plan to bury nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, acknowledge in emails that they made up facts and withheld data in reports to quality assurance inspectors. A subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Reform released redacted copies of the emails yesterday.

The chairman of the panel that released the messages, Representative Jon Porter, Republican of Nevada, pointed out that the Energy Department and the White House had repeatedly said that their recommendation of the Yucca Mountain site was based on "sound science."

"If the project has been based upon science, and the science is not correct, it puts the whole project in jeopardy," said Mr. Porter, a longtime opponent of Yucca Mountain plan. "I believe these e-mails show science is not driving the project; it's expedience to get the job done."

The subcommittee plans to hold a hearing on the Yucca Mountain plan on Tuesday.

by TChris

This is what happens when the United States sends troops to Columbia to help fight its unwinnable war on drugs:

Five American soldiers have been arrested for trying to smuggle hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine into the United States on a U.S. military aircraft, the U.S. military said. The five unidentified Army personnel were detained on Tuesday and are being held in the United States for "allegedly trying to transport approximately 16 kilograms (35 lb) of cocaine," U.S. Southern Command said in a news release late on Thursday.

This isn't the first time that the military's drug warriors have taken advantage of their easy access to drugs.

The wife of a U.S. Army officer who headed anti-drug operations in Colombia was sentenced to five years in prison in 2000 for trying to mail $700,000 worth of heroin to New York. Her husband admitted he knew she was laundering drug proceeds and was sentenced to five months, angering Colombian legal officials who complained this was too lenient.

by TChris

More than 200 lawsuits have been filed against the City of Los Angeles by individuals alleging that they were "framed, shot or beaten by officers in the Rampart division's anti-gang unit."

The scandal once involved the investigation of 82 incidents involving 50 officers and the reversal of more than 100 convictions tainted by police misconduct. Racial profiling, excessive force and the Rampart scandal caused the federal government in 2001 to impose a consent decree on the department mandating reforms.

Only 27 of those lawsuits have been dismissed. The city will end up paying an estimated $70 million to settle the rest.

The average settlement was $400,000 but 30 plaintiffs received $500,000 or more. Javier Francisco Ovando, a gang member who was shot by police and left paralyzed, received the largest settlement — $15 million. He had been sentenced to 23 years in prison after two officers testified he was armed when he was shot. His conviction was eventually overturned.

Taxpayers in Los Angeles might want to ask whether their tax money would be better spent reforming the police department rather than paying for officers' lawless conduct.

by TChris

After suffering a stroke in 1988, Albert Lane Sr. lost the use of his right shoulder. He still walks with a limp and speaks with a slur. The police in Sealy, Texas stopped him after they received a call from a woman who said Lane's passenger had stolen two bottles of beer from her store.

Lane, who said he drank a bottle of beer the night of his arrest and two beers earlier in the day, filed a complaint on Feb. 11 stating that the officers abused their authority when they pulled him from his truck, handcuffed him and dragged him face-down 35 feet from his truck to the patrol car in front of the store. ... "They scarred my knees and arms and knocked my front tooth out," said Lane[.]

Lane was arrested for public intoxication. The evidence of intoxication? Lane smelled like beer.

Lane is black. The Austin County Leadership Council, noting that the police department has no black officers, attributes the abuse of power to racism. The group would like Sealy "to form a citizens review committee, which would promote fair treatment and advancement of minorities."

by TChris

During her 2001 murder trial in Fort Worth, Texas, a prosecutor cross-examining Swanda Marie Lewis asked whether she had declined a police detective's invitation to discuss her husband's death. Judge Sharen Wilson granted a mistrial to remedy the improper reference to Lewis' exercise of her Fifth Amendment right to silence. Lewis' lawyer, Danny Burns, later moved to dismiss the case.

Burns ... argued that the mistrial was prompted by prosecutorial misconduct and that the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy barred Lewis from being tried again [for] the same crime.

When the government deliberately provokes a mistrial, double jeopardy generally protects an accused from a second trial. Judge Wilson denied the dismissal motion, but the state court of appeals ruled last week (for the second time) that the prosecutor's flagrant misconduct provoked the mistrial, saving Lewis from a second prosecution.

by TChris

Some regulatory agencies view their mission as "serving" a regulated industry rather than policing it. Cozy relationships between regulators and the regulated invite abuse. Agencies should help businesses understand and obey the law, but Darin Kosmak, the Texas official who safeguards rail crossings, "served" the railroads in a way that betrayed his responsibility to Texas motorists.

At the behest of the rail industry, Mr. Kosmak on about 100 occasions over the last 11 years signed sworn statements about warning signs at railroad crossings, according to court testimony. The affidavits were mostly drafted by the rail industry, which then used them in case after case as a critical defense against claims that unsafe crossings had caused deaths and serious injury, court records show.

Today's New York Times reports on a man convicted in a case in which the prosecutor was sitting on a mountain of exculpatory evidence. When the defendant dug up the information, the Bronx DA told him it had been exempt from disclosure during his trial because of a novel legal doctrine they cooked up on the spot. This new principle, called "law enforcement exemption" by the Bronx DA, sounds a little like Bernie Ebbers' defense: It was being handled by another part of the office and I didn't know about it.

The DA got 9 different state judges to buy into it before a federal judge started asking embarrassing questions which led to the defendant's release. Applause for Legal Aid lawyer Mitchell Briskey for his determination and ultimate success in this case. [Hat tip to Terry Kindlon]

by TChris

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a Democrat, has been kicked out of office by Florida's Republican Governor, Jeb Bush. The suspension followed the return of grand jury indictments against Dyer, his campaign manager, Patti Sharp, accused ballot broker Ezzie Thomas, and Circuit Judge Alan Apt. All except Thomas are charged with "providing pecuniary gain for absentee ballot possession or collection," while Thomas is charged with "accepting" payment. A Florida law, passed in 1998, prohibits payment for the collection of absentee ballots.

"The charges are without merit and are totally politically motivated," Dyer said this afternoon, relying on a "vague Florida statue that has never been applied." Dyer, a Democrat, was first elected mayor in 2003. Brad King, the special prosecutor who conducted the investigation, is a Republican.

by TChris

Two New York City police detectives, now retired, have been charged with participating in or attempting to commit eleven murders. At least five of those crimes, and a host of others, allegedly occurred during their tenure as police officers.

In one of the most shocking accusations of police corruption ever in New York, Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito were arrested on Wednesday evening for undertaking a series of Mafia murders, attempted murders, a kidnapping and various other crimes. The two were arrested in Las Vegas, where they now live.

Eppolito apparently took advantage of his work as cop-turned-hit man to prepare himself for a movie role. He played "Fat Andy" in "Goodfellas."

by TChris

Another Milwaukee police officer has been charged with a crime.

A Milwaukee police officer was charged Tuesday with a criminal civil rights violation for trying to shake down a parolee for money and guns, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Milwaukee. The officer, Ala W. Awadallah, 26, also threatened to plant drugs on the man and to have him sent back to prison, according to an FBI agent's affidavit filed in support of the complaint.

The complaint alleges that Awadallah searched a parolee's van without permission, discovering a controlled substance. The parolee, Earl Cosey, says that Awadallah planted the drugs, then threatened to arrest Cosey unless he "came up with two pistols and a 'chopper,' that is, an assault rifle, for Awadallah." Cosey was released (after, he says, parting with $200 that Awadallah confiscated) when he promised to provide the guns. That night, Cosey called Awadallah and said he wouldn't be able to get the guns until the next day. Cosey recorded that call and provided the tape to the FBI.

Cosey says Awadallah called him the next evening when Cosey failed to produce the promised weapons. Cosey provided the FBI with the voicemail that Awadallah left.

According to the affidavit, the voicemail from Awadallah said: "Yo, dude, you (expletive) up, player. You don't call me with an address in about four minutes, just want to tell you I'll find your ass and put a case on you. The case you should have had. Then you go back to prison. Alright. . . . Five minutes, man. Peace."