Two South Bend police officers suspended, one may be fired after gas station prank

SOUTH BEND – A South Bend police officer disciplined for punching an inmate at the St. Joseph County jail is in trouble again. This time, the interim chief is asking the Public Safety Board to fire Patrolman Theo Robert for interfering with an internal investigation.
It stems from a prank two other officers played on a local gas station clerk last summer on Miami Street.
WSBT sat down with the clerk a few months later, in October, to get his side of the story but chose not to report it until now because we wanted to wait for the truth to come out.
“I looked up to these guys,” 7-Eleven clerk Jonny Ferguson said in an interview last fall.
He said one big reason he respects police officers is he always wanted to be one.
“They’re protecting me and everything and I know when I’m there. I’m safe because of them,” he added.
Ferguson said he never minded when midnight shift officers stopped by the gas station to use the restroom or grab a cup of coffee while he worked the register, but one night last summer patrolmen Eric Mentz and Aaron Knepper took advantage of their friendship and his ADHD learning disability.
He also said the officers offered him money and a meal if he’d take the “cinnamon challenge” and eat a teaspoon of cinnamon without throwing up.
“The first one was like $32 and a free meal at Applebees,” he recounted.
When he couldn’t complete that, they challenged him to eat 10 saltine crackers in a minute, offering more money and another free meal.
“I puked for like a good four hours,” Ferguson added.
Knepper even recorded it on his cell phone then posted it to the internet but took it down when Ferguson expressed concern that he might lose his job.
At the time, Ferguson’s sister said she was angry.
“It makes me feel horrible. I may be his little sister, but I’m still his sister and I love him, but Jonathan would break his back for you and he doesn’t even know you. So just because he may have a disability he’s not retarded,” Amber Coppler told WSBT.
Interim Police Chief Chuck Hurley said an internal investigation determined those officers acted inappropriately, but he doesn’t think they took advantage of Ferguson.
“I think at that point in time, they should have said, ‘Hey, we’re police officers, we’re on duty, we have no business being involved in this,’” said Hurley.
Ferguson said he’s embarrassed but still sees the good in police.
“I still want to dedicate myself to being a cop. I know that at least I won't be one of those type of cops,” he said.
After an internal investigation, Hurley suspended Mentz for one day and Knepper for two for pulling the prank. In his disciplinary notice, Knepper wrote, “I would like to apologize for my actions – I never intended to act unprofessionally or attract any unwanted media attention on the department.”
Patrolman Robert is accused of making two trips to the gas station a few weeks after the incident, alongside a phone call to the manager identifying himself as a police officer and demanding the surveillance video be released to a local TV station, even though he had nothing to do with the prank itself.
Hurley recommended Robert’s termination because of his history on the department. He served a 30-day suspension after a July 2010 incident when he punched an inmate at the St. Joseph County jail.
The 7-11 incident has resulted in accusations that Robert violated the department’s code of ethics, used his position as a police officer to get information, lied to the department’s internal affairs officer and publicly criticized the department.
He has the opportunity to contest Hurley’s request to the Board of Public Safety. 

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Lawsuit alleges police brutality, use of racial slur

A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court last Thursday on behalf of a Cottage Grove resident accuses members of the Cottage Grove Police Department of excessive force, false imprisonment, battery and other rights violations.

Representatives of Matthew Susumu Waggoner filed suit alleging that officers beat Waggoner and that one officer used a racial slur during Waggoner’s subsequent time in the Cottage Grove Jail following an incident that occurred on Dec. 15, 2011.

The suit requests a jury trial and names the City of Cottage Grove and officers Tami Howell, Jarrod Butler, Doug Skaggs, David Burgin, Police Chief Mike Grover and two unnamed officers as defendants.

The lawsuit’s introduction describes its purpose as a “civil action for damages stemming from the unlawful arrest of Plaintiff without warrant, reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or exigent circumstances, and the excessive use of force in arresting and lodging Plaintiff Matthew Susumu Waggoner in jail based in part on Plaintiff’s Japanese ancestry.”

The suit states that on Dec. 15, 2011 at about 4:10 p.m., officers Howell, Burgin and Butler responded to a possible burglary in progress at a home on Adams Street in Cottage Grove. There, they spotted Waggoner walking away from them toward 10th Street. The suit states that it was already dark outside at that time and the plaintiff had been visiting a friend.

Anaheim to Develop Proposal for Greater Oversight of Police

The debate in Anaheim about police conduct has become so contentious that at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting Police Chief John Welter publicly accused a former council candidate of spreading “bullshit lies” during the public comments portion of the meeting.
The accusation came just after the City Council unanimously directed City Manager Bob Wingenroth to develop a specific proposal for a police oversight body that would include civilians.

A clearly angry Welter confronted Duane Roberts, a frequent critic of the Police Department on OrangeJuice Blog, in the crowded council chambers lobby and told Roberts to speak with the chief before maligning him at council meetings.
“Do I get a chance to refute all the bullshit lies you say at council? No,” Welter said.
That the police chief would publicly berate a resident and insist that the chief be allowed to vet the criticism before it goes public raised concerns among some about a possible chilling effect on residents who witnessed the confrontation.
West Anaheim resident Art Castillo, who was present during the exchange, called Welter’s tirade “intimidation” toward residents who want to make public their grievances about the police department.
Welter is “not listening to the people who are the victims,” Castillo said.
During public comments, Roberts challenged Welter’s claim in an Al-Jazeera documentary that he didn’t know about a military-style police unit that had been dispatched to patrol the city after a downtown riot in the wake of a string of fatal police shootings. Rioters damaged 20 downtown businesses.
In video aired by Al Jazeera, cadres of officers in military fatigues are seen brandishing assault rifles while hitched to sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks. Critics had said the scene looked more like a military occupation of a foreign country than an American police patrol.
Roberts had said during public comments that he saw an officer on a motorcycle who looked like Welter. Roberts speculated that he struck a nerve with the chief by indicating that Welter may have been overseeing what he acknowledged to Al-Jazeera was a regrettable and excessive display of force.
“Now you see why people don’t file complaints about police officers,” Roberts said.
Welter quickly departed after a Voice of OC reporter began taking notes during the confrontation. He could not be reached for comment later in the evening.
Mayor Tom Tait said that it’s “tough to comment” on an incident he didn’t witness. Wingenroth said that he would “look into it.”
Police Oversight
The council’s direction to Wingenroth to assemble a police oversight proposal — first proposed by Tait last month — is a response to weeks of unrest in the city last July that was sparked by a series of fatal police shootings.
“Accountability, transparency, independent oversight makes any organization better,” Tait said.
The council considered four police review models. They included an individual auditor or ombudsman with the power to conduct an investigation; an auditor who would have only the power to review internal affairs examinations; a civilian review board to review investigations; and an “investigative” model that would have an independent agency or board composed of civilian investigators.
Ultimately, the council directed Wingenroth to develop a proposal he thought was best and would include civilians in the process. Wingenroth said after the meeting that he hasn’t chosen a model yet but would consider council comments in his decision.
There are questions as to the effectiveness of civilian review boards.
While some cities across the state have civilian oversight bodies, public access to their findings and deliberations was significantly curtailed by the 2006 California Supreme Court decision in the Copley Press v. Superior Court case.
The court ruled against the San Diego Union-Tribune's request for access to transcripts and other documents relating to a San Diego Civil Service Commission hearing on the termination of a San Diego County sheriff's deputy. Open-government advocates said the decision effectively shut down civilian oversight in California.
Welter and Kerry Condon, president of the Anaheim Police Association, expressed opposition to a potential civilian oversight board.
Welter argued that the police department already has at least four layers of both internal and external oversight. He said he fears a civilian oversight board would inhibit officers from taking necessary action in dangerous situations.
There were eight homicides, 58 gun assaults and 48 non-gun assaults by gang members in 2012, according to Deputy Police Chief Raul Quezada.
Relatives of police shooting victims and other activists have contended that police officers shoot with impunity.
“It’s part of the job. We face people who are undesirable, and they want to kill us,” Welter said. “If the [district attorney] finds that an officer murdered someone, assassinated someone, like some of these people at the podium are alleging, I will be the first to ask them to prosecute.”
After a police shooting, the district attorney’s office conducts a criminal investigation, Welter said. Meanwhile, the police department conducts a review of the situation by its internal affairs department and Major Incident Review Team, which reviews training, policies and equipment, Welter said.
And while critics argue that the DA is too close to the police department to conduct an unbiased review, Welter argued that such concerns are not valid. He cited the DA’s prosecution of an Anaheim officer who had committed a sexual assault as evidence.
Welter described at least one of the police department’s oversight entities — the Los Angeles Office of Independent Review — as a civilian oversight body with experts in excessive force and civil rights law.
The city has for four years contracted, at Welter’s request, with the organization to analyze internal reviews of use-of-force incidents and make recommendations for improvement. The goal is to eliminate the conditions that lead to police shootings, Welter said.
Issuing more polite commands, like “please don’t move,” is among those recommendations so far, Welter said.
Also, Welter said that to involve the community with the Police Department he has been working with a 22-member chief’s advisory board of represntatives from activists groups like Los Amigos of Orange County and from faith-based organizations, nonprofits, among others.
Condon said that civilian review boards come to police departments that have been plagued with corruption and that Anaheim is “nowhere near” needing one. He noted that the DA, which he said is an independent oversight body, had cleared every police officer involved in a shooting.
“There has not been a bad shooting here in Anaheim ever,” Condon said.
Theresa Smith, mother of Caesar Cruz, who was shot and killed by police in 2009, reacted with joy after the council’s decision. She said that although the board might not be transparent because of the Copley decision, an unbiased review is important to restoring trust in the police department.
“They voted unanimously to look into it, and that’s great,” Smith said.

Chicago Closer to Settling Police Misconduct Suits for $32M

A Chicago City Council committee has preliminarily approved settlements in two police misconduct cases that would cost the city nearly $33 million, including $22.5 million for a California woman that apparently would be the largest payout to a single such plaintiff in the city’s history.
The full City Council is expected to sign off on the settlements.
The bigger of the two would go to the family of Christina Eilman, who will require care for the rest of her life for severe brain injuries suffered in a 2006 fall from a 7th-floor window at a Chicago housing project where she had just been raped.
The second settlement would pay $10.25 million to Alton Logan, one victim of the city’s notorious police torture scandal involving officers under former Lt. John Burge. Logan spent 26 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, and his award would be the biggest handed out in any case to stem from the investigation into the Burge unit, which framed black murder suspects and tortured many into confessing.
The aldermen voted unanimously to approve the settlements after Alderman Edward Burke said he was “embarrassed and ashamed” that the city had put Eilman’s family through a such a long legal fight, and another alderman suggested the city should have paid far more to Logan, who spent more than a quarter-century behind bars before he was released in 2008.
The alderman asked few questions before voting on just the latest Chicago police misconduct cases in recent years. Among other crimes, officers have been convicted of robbing suspected drug dealers of hundreds of thousands of dollars and beating a man who was handcuffed to a wheelchair. In November, a federal jury awarded $850,000 to a female bartender who was beaten by a drunken off-duty police officer, concluding police adhere to a code of silence in protecting rogue officers.
In often graphic detail, city corporation counsel Steve Patton outlined police actions or inaction that justified the size of the settlements.
Eilman, he said, was trying to fly back to California in May 2006 after visiting Chicago but wasn’t allowed to board her flight at Midway International Airport because she was acting strangely and violently. Police took her to the airport’s train stop, but she began disrobing, danced suggestively and verbally attacked people around her, including a blind man.
Police took her to a bus stop, but the behavior continued, so they arrested her. She continued acting strangely while in custody, babbling and even smearing menstrual blood on the holding cell’s walls. Her parents repeatedly phoned police from California to tell them not to release the 21-year-old college student because she was bipolar and clearly having a breakdown. Still, Eilman was released to fend for herself near the last standing high-rise of the Robert Taylor Homes, a notorious South Side public housing complex that since has been demolished.
Patton said Eilman ended up in a vacant apartment on the high-rise’s seventh floor, where a man raped her at knifepoint.
“She was thrown or jumped out of a seventh-story window,” Patton said. Authorities still don’t know exactly what happened because the fall caused massive brain injuries, leaving her with the mental capacity of a child, according to court documents.
Eilman’s case was to go to federal trial next week. Patton suggested a jury could have awarded her family far more money than the settlement amount.
Burke, who chairs the finance committee, said he was embarrassed by the officers’ behavior and ashamed he and other members didn’t order the city to settle with the family sooner. Cleary angry, he read from a federal appellate court opinion allowing Eilman’s lawsuit to proceed last year.
Police didn’t so much as walk her to a train station, warn her about the dangers of the neighborhood or “even return Eilman’s cellphone, which she might have used to summon aid,” he read. “They might as well have released her into the lions’ den at the Brookfield Zoo.”
Logan’s lawsuit is one of several stemming from one of the darkest chapters of the Chicago Police Department’s history.
Logan was arrested in 1982 in the slaying of an off-duty Cook County corrections officer, who was shot to death at a McDonald’s while working as a security guard.
Logan and another man were convicted, even though there was no physical evidence linking Logan to the crime. Logan was freed in 2008, months after two attorneys representing the other man came forward with a confession from their client that attorneys did not reveal until he died because they were bound to honor the attorney-client privilege.
According to Patton, there were many problems with the investigation, including there being no evidence Logan even knew his co-defendant. While there was no evidence Logan was tortured by Burge’s detectives, another man gave authorities information implicating Logan after being tortured. Furthermore, Patton said Burge has admitted he believed Logan was innocent. Burge has been convicted of lying under oath by testifying in another case that he never witnessed or participated in the torture of suspects.
Alderman Ray Suarez suggested the city was getting off easy with a settlement that, after attorneys’ fees, will pay Logan less than $8.75 million.
“He spent 26 years in jail (and) I think $8 million is really not enough,” Suarez said.
But Logan himself said the money will “bring a measure of happiness because it will allow me to live in a comfortable manner.” Besides, he said at a news conference at his attorney’s office Tuesday afternoon, his eyes welling with tears, “Nothing, no amount of money will ever make up for the time I lost…. I lost everything.”

3 Schaumburg Cops Arrested In Federal Drug Probe

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (CBS) – Three Schaumburg police officers have been arrested, following a federal drug investigation.
The officers were placed on administrative leave, pending the results of the criminal investigation. They’ve been accused of stealing money and drugs from narcotics dealers, and then selling the drugs themselves.
The officers have not been identified, but sources told CBS 2′s Pamela Jones they are tactical officers, who are members of a special investigation unit. They were being held at the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton.
The DuPage County State’s Attorney’s office said the three officers were scheduled to appear for a bond hearing Thursday morning at 8 a.m.
Sources said federal investigators have been searching lockers and an inventory room at the Schaumburg police station.
Wednesday night, armed officers descended on the Algonquin home of one of three Schaumburg police officers who was arrested. Police taped off the property and searched for evidence, then later allowed a woman and two children to enter the home.
It was all quiet at the Streamwood home of another of the accused officers Wednesday night, but neighbors said hours earlier the street was lined with unmarked police cars.
In a statement, Schaumburg Police Chief Brian Howerton said, “The Village and the Schaumburg Police Department have been in contact with the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office and it has pledged its ongoing assistance to investigators going forward.”
The village also launched an internal investigation of the officers’ actions.

Todays criminal charges against your local police

Louisville man alleges police brutality in lawsuit
The Courier-Journal
A Louisville man has filed a lawsuit in federal court against two Louisville Metro Police Department officers he said beat him severely on Dec. 7, breaking his nose. Johnathan Masters, 20, of the 300 block of Iowa Avenue in Louisville, admits in the ...

Anaheim to Develop Proposal for Greater Oversight of Police
VoiceofOC
City Manager Bob Wingenroth presented the council with four models of police oversight that are implemented by other police departments, which involve a mix of civilian input and professional consulting services. The current oversight committee already ...

CPRB Finding: Police Brutality
There has been a miracle in Albany…a miracle I didn't think I'd live long enough to witness...the CPRB sided with the Citizens. It started out routinely enough at ...
newyorkcitizenone.com/.../8872-cprb-finding-police-brutality...

Officer suspended for leaving weapon in public restroom
News Sentinel
Det. Dale A Wilson of the Fort Wayne Police Department was suspended for three days for leaving his weapon in a public restroom in December. Wilson's suspension was one of the items on the Board of Safety's Agenda Monday. According to Police Chief ...

Boston police officer charged with rape Boston.com A veteran Boston police officer who has been suspended in the past for a domestic altercation pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of raping and indecently assaulting a woman, officials said. Henderson Parker, 45, of Roslindale, entered his plea in ... See all stories on this topic »

Delco Swat Officer Charged as Wife-Beater, Chesco DA Says Patch.com Editor's note: The story below contains language some readers might find upsetting. All defendants are innocent until proven guilty. Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced Monday the arrests of two men in separate domestic assault cases.

Chester officer charged with assaulting wife
6abc.com
January 14, 2013 (WPVI) -- A City of Chester police officer is behind bars on charges of aggravated assault and terroristic threats allegedly made against his longtime wife. Veteran officer Ernest Manerchia was arrested for the second time on Friday at ...

City prepared to pay $33 million in police police misconduct settlements
WGNtv.com
The City of Chicago is preparing to pay nearly $33 million dollars in settlements to two victims of police misconduct. $22.5 million may go to the family of Christina Eilman. Eilman was arrested in 2006 after she had a bipolar breakdown at Midway Airport.

 270 drug cases dropped by Philly DA
UPI.com
... unspecified misconduct by the arresting officers. The mass dismissal is one of the largest in Philadelphia history and exceeds an epic scandal in the late 1990s surrounding corruption at the 39th Police District station that led to 250 prosecutions ...

Jefferson County, West Virginia: The sheriff was charged with violating suspect’s civil rights, and has since resigned. The sheriff is accused of kicking and stomping on a suspect after a police chase, and falsifying records during the subsequent investigation. http://ow.ly/gNiw2

Camden County, New Jersey: A judge has sentenced a former police officer for leaving the scene of a hit-and-run crash. She hit a man with her car, and didn’t report it until 14 hours later. The victim suffered serious injuries, and had to re-learn how to walk. ow.ly/gNMgf

Update: Honolulu, Hawaii: An officer has been sentenced to 4 months in jail for lying to FBI agents about revealing the name and identity of an undercover police officer, the description of an undercover police vehicle, and information and techniques for identifying and eluding police surveillance. ow.ly/gJBkc

Portland, Oregon: A couple has filed a lawsuit against the Portland Police Bureau, saying five officers unlawfully entered their apartment while they were sleeping, tased the man, and forced the woman to stand in her underwear during a search. Police went onto the couple’s balcony and shined lights into the apartment, where the couple was sleeping. After an hour on scene, police decided to enter the apartment through an unlocked front door. “The police said they could enter the home to investigate a possible emergency, not a crime. The heart of this lawsuit is after the police found the couple in bed, they knew that there was no emergency. They should have left the home Instead they turned it into a confrontation and escalated the violence until they had total control.” http://ow.ly/gK0xW

Update: Salt Lake City, Utah: A trooper who was handing out false DUIs has been fired. There is a lawsuit pending against her as well. ow.ly/gJutQ

Boulder, Colorado: An officer who has been suspended over his role in the killing and disposal of an elk called in sick the night of the shooting and operates a website advertising taxidermy. He, and one other officer, is now a part of a criminal investigation. The other officer shot the elk while on duty. ow.ly/gIcuY

Washington, DC: An officer is now on probation. He has already served 14 months in jail for shooting at a car full of transgender prostitutes who refused to pick him up. http://ow.ly/gJIKd

Battle Creek, Michigan: An officer will face only one misdemeanor charge after allegedly driving drunk and speeding when his car slammed into mailboxes and signs. Officers on the scene did not draw blood or have the officer perform field sobriety tests, which made it more difficult to charge him with being “super drunk,” which carries more severe penalties. http://ow.ly/gJR4e

Update: Chicago, Illinois: An officer was sentenced to 19 years in prison for stealing drugs, cash and guns for the Latin Kings street gang – often, while on duty. ow.ly/gNLAZ

Mayflower, Arkansas: The former police chief can no longer be a law enforcement officer in Arkansas, and he faces a charge of tampering with public records. ow.ly/gNdUC

Seattle, Washington: An officer in under investigation for alleged excessive force. A video shows he made threatening moves to a handcuffed man. ow.ly/gN97W

Jennings, Louisiana: The former police chief is under arrest, and has been accused of stealing items from the department’s evidence room. He is now facing charges of theft, malfeasance in office, obstruction of justice, and injuring public records. http://ow.ly/gNf2u

Murray County, Oklahoma: A sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty to charges of deprivation of rights for using unreasonable force and violating the civil rights of an individual who was being booked into jail. http://ow.ly/gNgOU

Police Oversight Commission

Police Oversight Commission More Dysfunctional than Ever : Public ...
The commissioners sat silent while their chairperson forcibly ejected people from last month's ...
www.policecomplaints.info/.../poc_censures_richard_shine.ht...

Patrolman Louis Romano questions former movie actor Lawrence Tierney. Tierney was arrested on Sixth Avenue 1958...not a mark on the cop, wonder why?

Only 45 years ago, Virginia police invaded the home of the Lovings and arrested them for interracial marriage

Where the hell is the federal government? Why don't they do something?

Deptford police officer charged in shooting death
Philadelphia Inquirer
An off-duty Deptford Township police officer was charged with murder after a friend he is accused of shooting last weekend died Friday. James Stuart, a five-year member of the force, shot David Compton, 27, of Woodbury, once in the head in Stuart's ...

Protestors want a Waterloo police officer charged with murder - KWWL.com ...
kwwl.com
Protestors want a Waterloo police officer charged with murder - KWWL.com - News & Weather for Waterloo, Dubuque, Cedar Rapids & Iowa City, Iowa |. Member Center: Create Account|; Log In; Manage Account|; Log Out. SITE SEARCH WEB SEARCH BY ...


SAPD officer charged with DWI
San Antonio Express
This is a picture of San Antonio police officer Robert Romo, 26, a four-year veteran. According to San Antonio police chief William McManus, Romo was arrested early Friday January 11, 2013 for driving while intoxicated. The arrest took place near Loop ...


Officer charged with official misconduct in case involving 12-year-old ...
An LMPD officer is facing criminal charges for allegedly lying about an incident involving a child.
www.whas11.com/.../Lou-police-officer-facing-criminal-charg...

Hurst police Chief Steve Moore wrote

Hurst police officer suspended indefinitely thought shouting ... Hurst police Chief Steve Moore wrote in Officer Disraeli Arnold's letter of suspensions that the Arnold's actions were uncalled for under any circumstances. www.dallasnews.com/.../20130107-hurst-police-officer-suspen...

Lansford officer suspended | Times News Online A Lansford police officer has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of an investigation by Pennsylvania State Police, Lansford Mayor Ron Hood said ... www.tnonline.com/2013/jan/11/lansford-officer-suspended

When White Trash Attacks..............

• Marine City, Michigan: A high school student is still in recovery after a police officer hit him in a head-on collision. The officer’s Blood Alcohol Content was twice the legal limit. “There were witnesses that were behind the driver – they had been on the phone with 911. They had been following him. He was all over the road,” said the teen’s father. ow.ly/gHpe8

• Depew, Oklahoma: A police officer is in jail on complaints of first-degree burglary and assault with intent to commit a felony. ow.ly/gI6Xe
• 
  
• Update: Snohomish County, Washington: A sheriff’s deputy was fired in connection with a pending criminal case against him. He was charged with second-degree burglary, third degree theft, and third degree malicious mischief. ow.ly/gHo28
• 
  
• King County, Washington: The County agreed to pay $75,000 to a man who alleged that a deputy used excessive force during an incident. The man suffered a broken nose during the confrontation. ow.ly/gHnLV
• 
  
• Denver, Colorado: An off-duty patrol officer allegedly caused a rollover crash, and was subsequently charged with drunken driving. The officer is still on the job, but not on the streets, while the incident is investigated. ow.ly/gHnpZ
• 
  
• Springfield, Massachusetts: An officer was charged with criminal mischief, breach of peace, threatening and reckless endangerment after she allegedly attacked an acquaintance’s car. http://ow.ly/gHn5f

Deptford officer charged with murder after shooting victim dies
Philadelphia Inquirer
A Deptford Township police officer has been charged with murder after a man he is accused of shooting over the weekend died. David Compton, 27, was shot once in the head in Officer James Stuart's home at 5 a.m. Saturday, according to authorities.

Groups vow to make police oversight election issue

Candidates for the job of Omaha mayor can expect pointed questions about their positions on police oversight during their campaign stops, a group of concerned citizens said Thursday.
Members of Black Men United, Keep North Omaha Safe, Omahans for Justice and the Progressive Research Institute called Thursday for the elimination of arbitration when an Omaha police officer is disciplined. They spoke outside the Omaha Police Department Headquarters, where two officers have returned to work after arbitrators overturned their firings.
Police Officers Aaron Pennington and Jackie Dolinsky were fired for their participation in the beating of Robert Wagner as he was resisting arrested outside the Creighton University Medical Center on May 29, 2011. Both challenged their firings before an arbitrator, which is allowed under the police union contract.
“Under the Omaha police union contract, the arbitration process is completely secret,” said Willie Hamilton of Black Men United. “We cannot know what evidence the city's lawyers made in defense of the two firings or the details of the arbitrator's reasoning.”
Hospital surveillance videotape of Wagner’s arrest sparked community outrage and led then-Omaha Police Chief Alex Hayes to fire Dolinsky and Pennington for using excessive force. The police union has said Hayes’ actions were politically motivated because the chief didn’t act until after the surveillance video was released to the public.
Wisconsin-based arbitrator Sharon K. Imes said city attorneys did not submit persuasive evidence that Pennington, the officer most recently reinstated to the force, used excessive force.
Hamilton said the arbitrator ruling undermines discipline and accountability in the police department.
“Two officers who committed completely unjustified use of force, documented by video evidence, are now back on the force,” he said. “Every officer who is fired now knows that choosing the arbitration process will likely win reinstatement.”
Wagner has a pending federal lawsuit against the city and a number of police officers, alleging that his civil rights were violated during the arrest.

He was sentenced to 60 days in jail for a misdemeanor attempted assault on Officer Scott Zymball. Wagner was found guilty of throwing a punch at Zymball.

Ohio Gang Rape: DOJ Found Steubenville Police Misconduct in 1997

Turns out, the protests claiming a “police cover-up” or “corruption” by the Steubenville Police Department and City Leaders to protect a group of local “Big Red” high school football players allegedly involved in the gang rape of a teenage girl were to be expected.

Why?

In 1997, the US Department of Justice found a “pattern or practice of” civil rights violations by the Steubenville Police Department including excessive use of force, false arrests, false charges, tampering with evidence, false reporting, and political corruption resulting in a lawsuit against the City of Steubenville, the Steubenville Police Department, the City Manager, and the Civil Service Commission.
The DOJ alleged in the Steubenville lawsuit, “that officers of the Steubenville Police Department have engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives persons of rights, privileges,or immunities secured and protected by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and that the City of Steubenville, the Steubenville Police Department, and the Steubenville City Manager (in his capacity as Director of Public Safety) have caused and condoned this conduct through inadequate policies and failure to train, monitor, supervise, and discipline police officers, and to investigate alleged misconduct, all in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 14141.” (US v. City of Steubenville, Steubenville Police Department, Steubenville City Manager, in his capacity as director of Public Safety, and Steubenville Civil Service Commission, Civil No. C2 97-966, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, August 28, 1997.)
Over a twenty year period, the city (Steubenville) lost, or settled out of court, 48 civil rights lawsuits involving its police force. The city paid out more than $800,000, $400,000 of which was between 1990 and 1996. As a result, the city’s police force became the second city in the United States to sign a consent decree with the federal government due to an excessive number of civil rights lawsuits, as stated on wikipedia.com. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steubenville,_Ohio)
Ouch.
As a settlement, the City of Steubenville agreed to a Court Consent Decree allowing for monitoring of the Steubenville police department by the DOJ and the implementation of an extensive list of changes to the police department’s training program, police procedures including the creation of an internal affairs unit to handle police complaints. Read full consent decree here.

This all may just be old news from 14 years ago, but, when the DOJ finds a “pattern or practice’” of civil rights violations and police misconduct, most attorneys will continue to look under the hood, especially, given that the current gang rape investigation was done and remains in the hands of the Steubenville Police Department. As we all know, cases can be won or lost depending on what a police officer/investigation did or didn’t do. Just ask OJ Simpson.

So, what’s changed in Steubenville? Has there been a significant reduction in the number of civil rights lawsuits and police complaints? Have the players changed? I can’t tell by the City’s new “transparent” website, but, I did find out that the current police chief and others did not go to the same Big Red high school as the defendant football players. (http://steubenvillefacts.squarespace.com/).
However, I did notice that Steubenville’s attorney has not changed. Mr. Gary Rapella, Steubenville’s law director, was the attorney of record back in 1997 for all the Steubenville defendants during the DOJ lawsuit and his name appears today as the law director. (http://www.clearinghouse.net/chDocs/public/PN-OH-0002-0003.pdf) Having been a deputy city attorney myself, I presume that Mr. Rapella continues to provide legal advice to the Steubenville Police Department, City Council and the City of Steubenville on the handling of their current police cases including the current gang rape investigation, media scrutiny and public protests.
On most days, police departments and city officials walk a tough line. Yet, these days, it may be wiser to call in an outside agency to handle the prosecution and the investigation of a potentially high-profile case (think Penn State and Duke) to avoid allegations of a “cover-up”, the intense media scrutiny and the expected public protests (Anonymous’”Occupy Steubenville”) especially, when the jurisdiction has a marked history of police misconduct and civil rights violations. Not to mention, the potential of jeopardizing the underlying case.
The question remains has Steubenville learned the lessons of the past.
Simply my opinion, what say you?

(Update 1/10/2013: Please read the comments, including those from Steubenville Attorney (and NAACP chair) Richard Olivito whose case “kicked” off the DOJ police misconduct investigation…he is still shining the light…)
(Update: 1/8/2013: As to what’s changed? It was not until 2005 that the Steubenville police department was found in full compliance with the 1997 court-ordered consent decree. During those 8 years, the court-appointed auditor Charles Reynolds filed quarterly reports, noting problems including with “supervision and discipline” of officers.http://www.parc.info/client_files/Newsletters/2002/7%20-%20novemberbpr02.pdf. The current police chief, William McCafferty, has been with the police department since 1989, thus, he was on the force during the time of the “excessive” “pattern or practice” of civil rights violations resulting in the consent decree. He was promoted to acting police chief in 2001, as many officers had left as they “didn’t want any part of the consent decree”. In 2003, he became the permanent police chief when the DOJ allowed him to be sworn in. His interview is worth the read. I wonder if it may have been a better idea to have an outside police chief, rather than promote one who was “trained” and “raised” in an environment that required a DOJ (taxpayer) lawsuit to get the police officers and the police department in compliance with the law. 
http://www.parc.info/client_files/Newsletters/2005/4%20-%20aprilppr05.pdf. Also, I wonder if the Steubenville police training includes the proper recovery and preservation of certain forensic evidence like cell phones, videos and tweets.

(Update 1/6/2013: As just reported on CNN, a defense attorney claims that the alleged victim sent a text to his client stating that the “rape didn’t happen” and that the attorney doesn’t think “she (victim) thinks she was raped”. The other defense attorney when asked about the issue of consent and alcohol, stated that the victim “was conscious”. What? This is an alleged gang rape case–who consents to a gang rape? Speaking as a former DV prosecutor, rape is about power, control, humiliation and violence. It is not about love or sex, and given those dynamics, alleged victim recantation is not a surprise and it doesn’t stop a prosecution in light of other physical and witness evidence. BTW in Ohio, it’s not a statutory rape case if the victim is 16, the age of consent. The defendants were charged as juveniles as the age of an adult is 18 and charging as an adult is up to the judge. Lastly, as to the police department, I wonder why no adult including the football coach who reportedly hosted one of the parties that August night where alcohol was allegedly served hasn’t been charged with any offense. Apparently, as reported on CNN, no other defendants will be charged in the alleged gang rape case. For rape crisis services, please contact http://www.rccmsc.org/faq.aspx or National Sexual Assault Hotline 800-656-HOPE; suspected civil rights violation contact US DOJ at http://www.justice.gov/crt/complaint/#one )      

The problem of mentally unstable cops in America

Silent But Deadly: School Cops Arrest Students for Talking Too Loudly ... VICE And a 2009 study found that the rate of students arrested for disorderly conduct was 100-percent higher at schools with police on-campus than at schools where the copshave to be called in to make an arrest—suggesting that officers criminalize ...

Where the hell is the Justice Department? Why don't they do something?

Police brutality trial could start despite missing key witness Fresno Bee A jury was picked Wednesday evening for the federal criminal trial of a Fresno policesergeant and three former officers who are accused of using excessive force against a domestic-violence suspect seven years ago and covering it up. But before lawyers ... Off-duty Denver police officer charged with DUI after crash Denver Post An off-duty Denver patrol officer allegedly caused a rollover crash on Interstate 25 Sunday night and was subsequently charged with drunken driving, a police spokesman said Wednesday. Jessie A. Espinoza, 39, allegedly entered the southbound lanes of ... Former high-ranking officer charged with DUI in a crash that severely injures teen WXYZ According to the police report officers quickly figured out the guy in the Ford SUV was drunk. At the hospital his blood alcohol content came back a .22. That's more than double the legal limit for driving. Witnesses said before the head-on collision ... WXYZ Jury selection to start for trial of DC police officer charged in deaths of ... Washington Post UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Jury selection is scheduled to begin in Prince George's County for a D.C. police officer charged in the deaths of a woman and her young child. Opening statements in the trial of Richmond Phillips are expected Monday after two ... Akron teen student reportedly with broken arm from police officer charged with ... NewsNet5.com AKRON, Ohio - The same 14-year-old girl whose arm was reportedly broken by an Akron police officer is now accused of assaulting a teacher at Litchfield Middle School. The incident happened around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. Police said the 14-year-old girl ... Norfolk officer is charged with DUI in Chesapeake The Virginian-Pilot State troopers arrested a Norfolk police officer early Wednesday and charged her with DUI, refusal to take a blood or breath test and felony assault on an officer, State Police said in a news release. Troopers responded at 1 a.m. to a crash on an exit ... Off-duty Denver police officer charged with DUI after crash | Video ... Watch the best video on the web covering Colorado News, Weather, Sports, and local community. www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=2084116751001 Winnsboro Officer Charged with Illegal Hunting | KATC.com ... A Winnsboro police officer is charged with malfeasance in office for illegally hunting a deer while on duty. State wildlife agents say Chester Coleman used a . 308 ... www.katc.com/.../winnsboro-officer-charged-with-illegal-hunt...   Officer Accidentally Shoots Gun in East Side Home | Indy's News ... Officer Accidentally Shoots Gun in East Side Home ... 30-year old Michelle Frougere called policeafter her intoxicated father threatened to shoot someone. www.wibc.com/news/Story.aspx?ID=1858152 IMPD officer accidentally shoots gun in ... - Indianapolis Star A police officer investigating a domestic disturbance on Indianapolis' Eastside ... IMPD officer finds jug of urine, bullet-riddled TVs, then accidentally shoots floor ... www.indystar.com/.../IMPD-officer-accidentally-shoots-gun-d...

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 01-08-13

• auls Valley, Oklahoma: A pregnant woman, Jamie Lynn Russell, who went to the hospital, has died after police took her to jail. “Jamie was seeking help; she was in extreme pain,” a family friend said. Hospital staff reported Jamie wouldn’t cooperate, in too much pain to even lie down, so employees asked a police officer to assist. When police found two prescription pills that didn’t belong to Jamie, police took her to jail for drug possession. That’s where she sat for less than two hours before being found unresponsive. ow.ly/gFU5s
• Chatsworth, Georgia: A deputy has been indicted by a federal grand jury for lying to federal agents and concealing information in order to impede an FBI investigation. ow.ly/gFWD8
• Lake County, Florida: An officer admitted that he used an agency credit card to purchase a laptop for his 16-year-old son and then paid the bill with the department’s investigative funds. He has since resigned from his post. ow.ly/gFVk3
• Little Canada, Minnesota: A man was charged with obstruction of legal process and disorderly conduct after he filmed officers from more than 30 feet away. “I wish the police around the country would get the memo on these situations,” said a professor of media ethics and media law at the University of Minnesota. “Somebody needs to explain to them that under U.S. law, making video recordings of something that’s happening in public is legal.” The courts have been “pretty clear” on the issue, the professor said. “Law enforcement has no expectation of privacy when they are carrying out public duties in a public place.” Said the man who was charged: “I’m in the right. If they don’t drop it, I’m definitely going to trial.” ow.ly/gFSIs
• Macon County, North Carolina: A detective has been served with two misdemeanor criminal summonses; she allegedly made threats to a former high school basketball coach in person, and also threatened a student over Facebook. She was assigned to administrative duties, pending the outcome of the investigation. ow.ly/gFIHA

LAPD Officers Punch Skateboarder in The Face, Alleged Police Brutality(C...

Couple Arrested For Asking Directions

Police Brutality Akron Officer Accused Of Breaking Teen's Arm

Man Tasered And Beaten by Palm Beach Police (Brutality)

Seattle Police UseToo Much Force? Police Brutality! Police Dash Cam

Police Take Pregnant Woman Out of Hospital; She Dies in Jail .

Settlement Reached in Police Brutality Lawsuit
A St. Paul man is set to receive a $30000 settlement from the city after being beaten by an off-duty cop in 2010 while in jail.
blog.aacriminallaw.com/.../settlement-reached-in-police-brutali...


Police Take Pregnant Woman Out of Hospital; She Dies in Jail ...
By Tim Lynch
Databases · Maps · Searchable Map of 2009 & 2010 Misconduct Incidents; Excessive force and police misconduct; Botched paramilitary police raids; Guns and self-defense. Scholarship · About · Reporting Project – FAQs · News Feed – FAQs ...
PoliceMisconduct.net

Board's definition of police misconduct will stick - The Columbia ...
The Columbia City Council Monday night approved the definition of misconduct to be used by the Citizens Police Review Board.
www.columbiatribune.com/.../article_54c3b102-c0d4-5548-8...

Former police officer charged with collecting benefits for fake injury IFAwebnews.com A former police officer from Illinois face charges for allegedly collecting almost $190,000 in false workers' compensation benefits. Richard Turner, 43, of Glen Carbon, faces two counts each of theft and violating Illinois' workers' comp statute ...

How can we curb police misconduct?: Minneapolis Issues Forum: E ...
An article "Cop misconduct payouts drop" in Sunday's Strib has been on my mind ever since ...
forums.e-democracy.org/.../12YBJWyXwaPnm8rDGpWmjs

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 01-08-13

• Vineland, New Jersey: An officer admitted to siphoning $40,000.50 from his union while serving as the treasurer, and then the president, of the organization. ow.ly/gDJ1m
•  
• Grand Junction, Colorado: The Colorado State Patrol has agreed to pay $1 million to the family of a man shot by officers in his home. The ACLU director stated that not only did the troopers violate the man’s Constitutional rights when they kicked open his door, shot and killed him, but that the supervisors at Colorado State Patrol were responsible for “recklessly deficient training that was the ultimate cause of this needless and preventable death.” ow.ly/gDIzH

• Seneca County, Ohio: An officer was arrested, fired, and sentenced to 6 months in prison for stealing from the village while he was in office. ow.ly/gDJYv

• Newtown, Massachusetts: Three officers were caught egging the house of a police sergeant, who is their superior officer. ow.ly/gBZPI
•  
• San Antonio, Texas: A police officer has been arrested after federal officials accused him of blackmailing a person with drug possession charges to obtain a $500 payoff. ow.ly/gBZud

Justices Look at Legality of Drunken-Driving Test

WASHINGTON — Prosecutors in Missouri, supported by the federal government, came to the Supreme Court on Wednesday with a big request: They wanted the justices to rule that the police do not need warrants to obtain blood samples in drunken-driving investigations.

There seemed little enthusiasm among the justices for that categorical approach. Instead, the argument turned into a search for a middle ground that would take account of the practical realities of roadside stops, body chemistry and the administration of justice in the digital age.
On the one hand, the natural dissipation of blood alcohol means that time is of the essence when people suspected of drunken driving are pulled over and refuse to consent to a breath test. Obtaining a warrant, moreover, takes time.
On the other hand, several justices expressed discomfort with what Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. called the “pretty scary image” of government-sanctioned bodily intrusions involving sharp needles.
The case arose from the arrest of Tyler G. McNeely, who was pulled over for speeding on a Missouri highway and exhibited, the State Supreme Court said, “the telltale signs of intoxication — bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and the smell of alcohol on his breath.” He performed poorly on a field sobriety test and was arrested.
Mr. McNeely refused to take a breath test or, after being taken to a hospital, to consent to a blood test. One was performed anyway, about 25 minutes after he was pulled over, and it showed a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent, almost twice the legal limit.
The state court suppressed the evidence, saying there had been no “exigent circumstances” that excused the failure to obtain a warrant. “Warrantless intrusions of the body are not to be undertaken lightly,” the court said in an unsigned opinion.
In 1966, in Schmerber v. California, the United States Supreme Court said no warrant was required to take blood without the driver’s consent after an accident in which the driver and a passenger were injured. The fact that alcohol levels diminish over time figured in the court’s analysis, as did the time it took to investigate the scene of the accident and move the injured people to the hospital.
The question in the case heard Wednesday, Missouri v. McNeely, No. 11-1425, was whether the dissipation of blood alcohol by itself justifies taking blood without a warrant when there are no additional factors complicating matters.
Much of the argument concerned how long obtaining a warrant actually takes these days and whether the Supreme Court should encourage streamlined procedures. In some places, the justices were told, warrants can be obtained by phone in as little as 15 or 20 minutes; in others, the process can take two hours or longer.
Nicole A. Saharsky, a lawyer for the federal government, said the day might come when warrants could be obtained so quickly that courts should perhaps require them. “If the world changed,” she told the justices, “so that every police officer had an iPad and that judges were always on duty and that the warrants could be gotten that quickly, you would consider that.” But she said that was not the reality in most of the country today.
That concession, Justice Antonin Scalia said, supported a case-by-case approach. “If it would have taken too long, then it’s O.K. without a warrant,” he said. “If it wouldn’t have taken that long, it’s bad.”
Later, though, Justice Scalia asked Steven R. Shapiro of the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents Mr. McNeely, whether warrants played an important role in stopping unreasonable searches if they were quickly and routinely available.
Mr. Shapiro responded that “the privacy safeguards of the Fourth Amendment benefit by having a neutral and detached magistrate review the evidence before the state does something as intrusive as putting a needle in somebody’s arm.”
The justices also explored other ways of obtaining the required evidence.
“Breathalyzers in my mind have a much different intrusion level,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said. “They don’t intrude into your body.”
But John N. Koester Jr., a lawyer for Missouri, explained that “it’s very difficult for practical reasons to force someone to blow into the Breathalyzer.”
“You have to take a very deep breath,” he said. “And one police officer told me it’s sort of like you can put a balloon in front of somebody’s mouth, but you can’t make him blow it up.”
Justice Scalia later proposed a second idea: that drivers “in a paddy wagon and on the way to the hospital” could be told a warrant had been requested and that, one way or the other, blood would be drawn unless they agreed to a breath test.
Ms. Saharsky said such drivers might nonetheless “take their chances that the evidence is going to dissipate.”
Justice Elena Kagan said it was also possible that the drivers would not make rational calculations.
“Maybe they’re drunk,” she said.