Police oversight isn't the answer, raising standards is the answer with IQ checks and mental health testing

Bainbridge council to get first look next week at proposed police oversight board

by BRIAN KELLY

Although the concept found little support from a special task force set up to study the idea, Bainbridge Island may still create a citizen advisory group that will oversee the city's police department.

The Bainbridge Island City Council will consider an ordinance at its meeting next week to establish a Citizen Police Advisory Board.

The board, if set up by the city council, would review complaints about the conduct of police officers as well as general complaints about the police department.

The new Citizen Police Advisory Board will build trust and strengthen ties with the community, said Police Chief Matthew Hamner.

"Transparency breeds trust," Hamner said.

"I'm willing to be very open and transparent about what we're doing. Quite honestly, it's important that the citizens have an opportunity to see what's going on in the department in a much more magnified way," he said.

Calls for an independent citizen oversight committee intensified in 2012 as the city found itself the subject of a federal civil rights lawsuit prompted by the fatal police shooting of a mentally ill Bainbridge Island man in October 2010.

Douglas Ostling was shot and killed by a Bainbridge police officer after officers went to his family's home to investigate a 911 call and Ostling met officers at his apartment door with an axe.

The jury in the federal case decided the shooting was justified, but also found that the Bainbridge Island Police Department had not adequately trained its officers and the family's civil rights had been violated. The family was awarded $1 million.

Earlier this year, the city formed a 10-member task force to examine the idea of creating an oversight commission.

Though all but one of the task force members said a commission wasn't necessary at the end of their review, city officials noted that two different independent consultants hired by the city in recent years supported the idea of a citizens advisory board.

Hamner is also asking the city council to create the advisory board.

"I want a full turnaround of the ship. I want everyone in the community to know that this police department is accountable to the public," Hamner said.

Citizens on the seven-member board will be appointed by the city manager and confirmed to their posts by the city council, and are expected to represent a cross section of the community.

The city attorney will serve as advisory counsel to the board, and an officer of the police department is also expected to serve as a non-voting liaison member.

The board will look into complaints submitted to the city manager. Complaints about specific events must be filed within 45 days of the alleged incident, though general complaints can be filed at any time.

The board will not have jurisdiction to review complaints that are the subject of civil lawsuits or are connected to criminal actions that are pending.

According to the proposed structure of the board, the board chairman will dismiss any complaints when:

A civil or criminal action relating to the complaint is pending, regardless of whether complainant is a party to the action;

The complainant has filed a civil action based upon the event or alleged police conduct upon which the complaint is based;

The complaint is redundant to other complaints previously filed by the same party;

The complaint is filed out of time;

The complaint is filed against parties other than members of the Bainbridge Island Police Department;

The complaint relates to events that were the basis of prior complaints handled by or pending before the board; or

The complaint is wholly frivolous on its face.

Decisions by the board chairman to dismiss complaints can be reviewed by the full board at a following meeting and upheld or overturned.

According to the ordinance that creates the new committee, complaints will be investigated within 60 days of being submitted.

The board chairman will conduct an initial review, which will be followed by an investigation conducted by two members of the board.

The police chief will also designate one or more officers of the police department to investigate any complaints on behalf of the department.

After the board reviews reports on complaints, it will decide whether the city manager or police chief need to take corrective action, and the board will put its findings in writing, as well as any recommendations for improvements.

The board will also review all complaints at an annual meeting to determine if a pattern of misconduct has occurred or if particular police department policies "are being met with significant disapproval by a substantial number of citizens."

The city council will review the ordinance to create the commission at its meeting on Monday, July 28. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at city hall.

Police oversight isn't the answer, raising standards is the answer with IQ checks and mental health testing

Albuquerque agrees to court oversight of police

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The city of Albuquerque has agreed to let both a court and an independent monitor oversee reform of its troubled police department, officials said Thursday.

The Department of Justice and Mayor Richard Berry signed off on a framework of principles for addressing the eight problem areas Justice officials identified in a scathing report on police practices earlier this year.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the agreement "marks an important step forward in addressing the unreasonable use of deadly force uncovered in our investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department."

Among the findings released in April: officers too frequently used deadly force on people who posed a minimal threat and used a higher level of force too often on those with mental illness.

Albuquerque police have shot 41 people since 2010, 27 of them fatally.

The agreement calls for improvements in recruiting, training, use of force policies, interactions between officers and the mentally ill, the handling of internal investigations and civilian complaints, management and community engagement.

It also say the city is committed to working with the Justice Department to craft a court-enforceable agreement to address the problems, and to have an independent monitor brought in to oversee the reforms once the plan is approved and filed with a federal court.

Berry said the agreement shows "we are rolling in the same direction."

U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez said the idea is "to go to court together, instead of as adversaries."

Albuquerque joins a growing list of cities targeted by the Justice Department over allegations of brutality and violations of constitutional rights. Seattle, Denver, New Orleans and Los Angles are among others whose departments have operated under oversight from independent monitors amid similar complaints.

In the Albuquerque probe, federal investigators focused on 37 shootings, finding that the majority were unreasonable and violated constitutional rights. They also uncovered a significant number of instances in which officers used less lethal measures such as Tasers in an unconstitutional manner.

Shortly after the results of the nearly two-year investigation were released in April, the department saw a new spike in fatal shootings, including that of a homeless camper who was fired on as he appeared to be surrendering. Video of that shooting sparked national outrage and led to series of sometimes violent protests, an attempted takeover of a city council meeting and a sit-in at the mayor's office.

The latest shooting came this week, when officers killed a 33-year-old man who they say pulled a gun as they were attempting to arrest him on a federal warrant. Jeremy Joe also was facing charges of aggravated assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon stemming for a case earlier this year.

The national epidemic of mentally unstable cops goes unchecked

Blackman-Leoni public safety officer charged with felonious assault against co-worker

 Theresa Ghiloni 

JACKSON, MI – A Blackman-Leoni Township Department of Public Safety officer accused of assaulting a co-worker with a dangerous weapon has been arraigned on related charges.

Brent Doxtader, 40, was arraigned on a felony charge of assault with a dangerous weapon in Jackson County District Court on Thursday, July 24.

Doxtader was arraigned in front of Jackson District Judge R. Darryl Mazur on the charge related to a Jan. 19 incident and has posted a $2,500 personal bond, according to court documents.

The charge is related to an investigation by the Michigan State Police First District Headquarters in Lansing at the request of Blackman-Leoni Public Safety Director Mike Jester, MSP Detective Sgt. Thomas DeClercq said.

In a news release Jester said Doxtader has been on unpaid administrative since the investigation began. 

DeClercq said his office completed an investigation that led them to believe Doxtader assaulted a co-worker with a "departmental weapon." In the news release Jester describes the weapon as a handgun.

Court documents list David Lubahn, a Blackman-Leoni township public safety officer, as the victim in the felonious assault case.

Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brenda Taylor was assigned the case after the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office deferred the case to the Michigan Attorney General's Office, DeClercq said.

A felonious assault conviction carries with it a sentence up to four years in prison, according to the Michigan Penal Code.

In 2009, a U.S. District Court Judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Doxtader that stated he and Blackman Township Public Safety officer Kory Torbet used unreasonable force while restraining a man suffering from low blood sugar.

Doxtader was disciplined after an internal investigation of the complaint for being "very abrasive and unnecessarily confrontational in his handling of the incident," according to the opinion filed by Judge Marianne O. Battani.

In 2003, Doxtader resigned from a position as the Village of Pigeon Police Chief after holding the position for 13 months, according to a report from the Huron Daily Tribune. The report said Doxtader had been accused of abusing his power in multiple ways before he submitted his resignation.

A preliminary examination for Doxtader on the felonious assault charge has been scheduled for Aug. 7.

Theresa Ghiloni is a public safety reporter at the Jackson Citizen Patriot. Contact her at tghiloni@mlive.com. Follow her on Twitter.

The national epidemic of mentally unstable cops goes unchecked

Cop Stripped Of Gun After Allegedly Stomping On Man's Head During Arrest

A cop has been reassigned to desk duty after video surfaced showing him allegedly stomping on the head of a man he was trying to arrest.

Cops say Officer Joel Edouard was attempting to arrest suspect Jahmiel Cuffee in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Tuesday night, after he allegedly spotted the 32-year-old man rolling a joint. Video shows Cuffee resisting arrest after showing Edouard and several other officers his ID; the officers wrestle him to the ground, and witnesses say Edouard then got violent. "He abruptly stomped on top of the gentleman’s head,” Gary Dormer, who took a cell phone video of the arrest, told PIX11. “He lifted his foot with excessive force and came down like he was stepping on an ant or a roach or something at the time." 

The NYPD told reporters they were investigating the video, and yesterday Edouard was placed on modified assignment. He was required to surrender his gun and his shield. Cuffee, meanwhile, was treated for neck and head injuries at a local hospital; he has been charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana.

This week's incident occurred just a week after Staten Island man Eric Garner died after being put in a chokehold by an officer during an arrest. That officer, Daniel Pantaleo, has also been placed on modified desk duty, and has surrendered his badge and gun. Police Commissioner Bill Bratton called for the "retraining of every member in our city Police Department" following Garner's death.

We REALLY need national IQ standards for cops

Ex-cop denied parole in fatal shooting of friend

A former Eastchester police officer must remain in prison for at least another two years after he was denied parole in the fatal shooting of a friend while showing off a laser device on his Glock 9mm outside the victim's New Rochelle home.

James Pileggi, 34, went before the Parole Board for the first time last week, hoping to be released this October when he will have served the minimum of a three- to nine-years sentence for manslaughter in the Nov. 3, 2009, slaying of Andre Everett.

Instead, the panel of three commissioners ruled that "parole at this time is inappropriate," according to a decision released Tuesday by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

"The record indicates the weapon was your police department issued firearm which you carelessly waved back and forth while off-duty and sitting in a vehicle," the decision read. "This dangerous and reckless behavior demonstrated a blatant disregard for the safety and welfare of others. As a police officer, you knew better."

Everett was shot once in the throat as he stood next to Pileggi's car in the driveway of Everett's Albert Place home.

Everett's family has a pending wrongful death lawsuit against Pileggi, the Town of Eastchester and the Eastchester Police Department. They lauded the commissioners' decision, citing the "horrific" circumstances of the shooting as well as Pileggi's prior use of illegal steroids and his providing a steroid to a fellow officer.

"As our family continues to deal with the harsh and painful reality that we will never see Andre again, we do appreciate the limited comfort provided in knowing that Mr. Pileggi's parole request was denied," the statement read.

Pileggi's relatives and lawyers could not immediately be reached.

Pileggi is currently at Hudson Correctional Facility, a medium-security state prison in Columbia County. He has been incarcerated since Oct. 5, 2011, when the jury in his second trial convicted him of second-degree manslaughter. The first trial ended in a hung jury.

Pileggi insisted he had emptied his 9mm Glock 26 in the car while taking it apart to show Everett a laser device on the gun. But he acknowledged on cross-examination that he might have made a mistake in the order of emptying his weapon

Jailed cop Carl Casilli released on bail pending appeal

Nicole Cox

A corrupt WA Police detective who provided his lawyer lover with classified police information has been granted bail, pending an appeal of his sentence.

Casilli was sentenced to nine months in jail and fined $2000 on July 15 after pleading guilty to 17 charges of illegally accessing information on a police computer to pass on to lawyer Kristin Clohessy, with whom he was having an affair at the time.

On Wednesday, Casilli’s lawyer, Chris Miocevich, confirmed his client had been released from custody on bail on Monday but declined to comment further to Fairfax Media or provide the grounds of appeal.

The Corruption and Crime Commission investigation found that Casilli had handed Ms Clohessy sensitive police files including affidavits about telephone and surveillance intercept warrants, police incident reports and personal details about some of her clients. She also obtained a DVD of a police interview with a murder suspect.

He also repeatedly accessed personal information from the police database about Ms Clohessy - a one-time V8 Supercar model who works for Hammond Legal and is now married to outspoken Perth lawyer John Hammond - and her mother.

The offences occurred between 2008 and 2013.

Last week, the CCC defended its decision not to charge Ms Clohessy, saying there was insufficient evidence to pursue a case against her after a five-month investigation into the matter.

"After assessing all of the evidence available, it considered that there was insufficient evidence to sustain a prima facie case against the lawyer,” a CCC spokeswoman said.

The decision comes despite the WA Criminal Code stating that any person who is “party” to an offence can be charged for enabling, aiding or procuring another person to commit the offence.

In addition, the law states that when two or more people form a common intention to commit an unlawful act in conjunction with one another, each is deemed to have committed the offence.

Casilli was once described as a tenacious police officer who had worked on several high-profile homicide investigations including the death of Supreme Court registrar Corryn Rayney.

The detective sergeant quit the WA Police force after being charged with 17 offences, including 15 counts of unlawful use of a restricted-access computer system, unlawful dealing of intercept warrant information and supplying a video record of interview.

In sentencing Casilli, Deputy Chief Magistrate Elizabeth Woods said a term of imprisonment was the only option, noting that while he had not benefited directly from his actions the offences could contribute to “an erosion in public confidence” of the WA police force.

Magistrate Woods said release of the intercept warrant information was particularly serious and while she did not know the content of the affidavit, it was normal to include the names of informants and undercover officers as well as disclose police methodology.

Ms Clohessy declined to comment last week but Mr Hammond defended his wife on 6PR Radio, saying if he believed Ms Clohessy was dishonest or capable of doing anything illegal he would not have married her.

“From what I’ve seen, she’s done absolutely nothing wrong,” Mr Hammond told 6PR.

Ex-Cop, Boca Raton Resident Heading To Prison

by BocaNewsNow.com Staff • July 21, 2014 7:32 pm

BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Former Broward Sheriff's Deputy David Benjamin of Boca will spend five years in prison for his role in the Rothstein scandal.

From the US Attorney's Office:

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, Donnell Young, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Scott Israel, Sheriff, Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO), announce that David Benjamin, 48, of Boca Raton, was sentenced today in Ft. Lauderdale by U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Benjamin was also ordered to pay $22,071.00 in restitution for conspiring to commit crimes in connection with the operation of the former Fort Lauderdale law firm of Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler, P.A. (RRA). On May 13, 2014, Benjamin pled guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion and to violate civil rights, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. At the time of the offense, Benjamin was a Lieutenant and served as Executive Officer to then Sheriff Al Lamberti.

When he entered his guilty plea, the defendant admitted that he utilized his position within BSO unlawfully to further the interests of RRA, its Chairman and CEO, Scott W. Rothstein, and other persons associated with Rothstein. Specifically, Benjamin admitted that he received approximately $185,000 in money and other things of value from Rothstein and RRA in return for providing his assistance when needed, including arranging with another deputy to arrest the ex-wife of an attorney who was engaged in a child custody dispute with her, arranging to use force and threats of force against the boyfriend of an escort who was threatening to expose the illicit relationship which existed between the escort and one of the partners at RRA, and assisting Rothstein in loading cash and jewelry onto a private airplane which was used by Rothstein to flee to Morocco on October 27, 2009, as the Ponzi scheme being conducted through RRA was beginning to unravel.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, IRS-CI and BSO. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lawrence D. LaVecchio, Paul F. Schwartz, and Jeffrey N. Kaplan.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls.

More drug dealing cops

S. Phila. addict who conspired with cop gets 10-month sentence

BY JULIE SHAW

A SOUTH PHILLY drug addict who conspired with a Philly police officer to steal drugs from dealers was sentenced yesterday in federal court to 10 months behind bars.

Robert Nagy, 26, was awarded for cooperating with the government, and as part of his sentence was ordered to continue cooperating with the feds.

The identity of the cop with whom he conspired was not revealed in court and has not been revealed in public court documents. He has been identified only by the initials C.S.

Nagy pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit extortion. He had been charged in February by criminal information, a process that indicated he was likely to plead guilty.

According to the charging document, Nagy and the cop entered into a scheme "to extort drugs and or money from drug sellers."

The document detailed a May 2012 transaction in which Nagy and the cop stole OxyContin from a drug dealer identified as L.C.

Just before Memorial Day 2012, Nagy arranged to buy the OxyContin from L.C. around 12th and Fitzgerald streets in South Philly. As soon as L.C. arrived, the cop pulled up in uniform in a police car and falsely claimed to have seen a drug transaction even though there had been no exchange between Nagy and the dealer, according to Nagy's charging document.

The cop then ordered the dealer to retrieve the bag of OxyContin that the dealer threw to the ground. The cop then pretended to arrest Nagy, and the two drove away in the cop's car, the document says.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Arlene Fisk yesterday asked U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno to sentence Nagy to eight months in federal prison, below the original guideline range of 15 to 21 months.

She also told the judge that as part of any sentence, Nagy's cooperation with the government "would have to be ongoing, as this is a continuing investigation."

Robreno considered the government's eight-month suggestion to be "very generous." He noted that Nagy "has lived on the margins of society for all these years." The judge said this was "a serious crime" in which Nagy "conspired with a police officer."

Fisk told the judge this was not a onetime offense. There were 10 to 20 different extortions in a period of more than a year, she said.

Nagy and his attorney, assistant federal defender Kai Scott, expressed to the judge his remorse, his desire for drug treatment, and his hopes to be a productive member of society.

Patty Hartman, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said before the hearing that "no one else has been charged" in the case besides Nagy. The office doesn't comment on people who have not been charged.

Nagy was sentenced last month in Common Pleas Court in an unrelated robbery case.

‘The only thing I’m going to do is shoot it’: Michigan lawsuit claims cops coldly executed dog

A heartbroken woman is suing the city of St. Clair Shores and police after officers shot her dog dead in November. The encounter was filmed by the cops' dashboard camera.

BY PHILIP CAULFIELD

A heartbroken Michigan woman is suing her city and police after officers shot her dog dead while it was loose in her neighborhood in November.

Brittany Preston claimed the killing of her beloved 18-month-old puppy, Lexie, amounted to an execution after one of the cops was caught on his dashboard camera saying he'd "shoot the f----g thing," FOX Detroit reported.

"The only thing I'm going do is shoot it. I do not like dogs," one of the cops said during the Nov. 22 encounter.

Lexie, a 44-pound mix breed, got out of the St. Clair Shores home Preston shares with her grandfather at about 7:15 a.m. and was barking loudly, prompting a neighbor to call the cops.

Officers David Jacquemain and Jeremy Moskwa arrived at the scene and spent several minutes trying to find the dog's owner while the animal barked nearby, according to dash cam footage on YouTube.

In the video, one of the cops says, "Hey hey" and then three shots are fired. The dog begins whining in pain.

"You saw that f--- thing come at me, right?" one of the officers says.

"Absolutely," the other one says.

A few minutes later, an officer says they need to "put it out of its misery" and a fourth shot is fired. The dog whimpers again.

An animal control officer arrived later and used a snare pole to corral the wounded pooch into a truck.

Preston's lawsuit said the dog sat in the truck for 90 minutes and then died on the way to the hospital.

Police said the officers opened fire because the dog charged them. An internal investigation earlier this year found no wrongdoing.

Christopher Olson, Preston's attorney, said the cops planned to kill the animal the whole time.

"The first thing that they said out of their mouths was they don't like dogs; they don't do dogs; they're going to shoot the dog anyway. And that's exactly what they did," Olson told FOX Detroit.

"Then they shot the dog again, instead of trying to take care of the dog, getting some care of the dog to prevent it from dying … they made sure that the dog died," he added.

Preston's federal suit names as defendants Jacquemain, Moskwa, animal control officer Tom Massey and the city of St. Clair Shores. It seeks unspecified damages.

In a statement to FOX Detroit, St. Clair Shores officials said they were saddened by the dog's death, but called Preston's suit bogus.

"The complaint that was filed is filled with innuendo, speculation and half-truths, and I have no doubt when it's held up to the light of day, the truth will bear itself out in court," the statement said. 

St. Clair Shores sued over killing of dog by 2 officers

By Christina Hall

A St. Clair Shores woman whose dog was shot multiple times by city police last year has filed a federal lawsuit alleging two police officers responding to a barking dog complaint set out from the start to kill the mixed breed even though it was posing no danger.

Brittany Preston charges in the lawsuit that her dog, Lexie, was shot four times by police and then dragged away wounded to an animal control truck. Instead of being taken to a veterinarian for treatment, the dog was shot four more times, the lawsuit alleges.

Preston filed the lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court against the City of St. Clair Shores, police Officers David Jacquemain and Jeremy Moskwa, and animal control officer Tom Massey.

The lawsuit alleges that immediately upon arriving on the scene, one of the two officers was recorded on a dash cam as saying he was going to shoot the dog. The lawsuit claims the officers shot the dog three times as it stood on the side porch and then, after it ran into the bushes, yelping in pain, shot it a fourth time.

Officers used a neck noose on a pole to drag the wounded dog to an animal control truck, where the lawsuit says it was left for at least 90 minutes. A police report said the dog died as it was being transported to get medical help, according to the lawsuit.

But Christopher Olson, Preston’s attorney, said a later necropsy conducted by a veterinarian hired by Preston showed the dog at some point had been shot four more times.

“What really is shocking to me and upsetting to Brittany is after it was taken … it has 15 (entry and exit wounds).”

Warunek accidentally left the dog outside the home in the early morning hours of Nov. 22. About 7:15 a.m., a neighbor reported a loose pitbull at Princeton and Walton that had been barking for 90 minutes and was on someone’s porch.

Officers arrived and while the dog was barking from Preston’s front porch, an officer was recorded on police dash cam stating “The only thing I’m gonna do is shoot it. I do not like dogs.” Subsequent dash cam audio recording revealed an officer stating “I don’t do snares, I don’t do dogs … I’ll shoot the (expletive) thing.”

Police claimed the dog was shot because it attacked them, but the lawsuit alleges the dog was merely barking, not targeting the officers.

Aside from monetary damages, Olson said he wants to “make sure this doesn’t happen again.” He said because of the incident, which has gone viral and has a Facebook page “Justice for Lexie,” he is receiving many calls from people across the country relaying experiences of officers shooting dogs.

Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com

Today child molestation charges against you local police

Police officer accused of fathering a child with a teenager

A former police officer with Baldwin Police has been arrested after troopers say he fathered a child with a 14-year-old.

Troopers say in October of 2013, at the request of the Baldwin Police Department, they were asked to investigate allegations of a Baldwin Police Officer distributing illegal narcotics. The now former officer was identified as 39-year-old Joseph Brent. He left the force while still under investigation by State Police.

Detectives say they were ultimately unable to prove the narcotics allegation, but they did find out about a pregnant 14-year-old living with Brent and his wife. After the child gave birth in July of 2014, troopers say DNA evidence was collected and submitted to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab for analysis.

As a result, on the morning of July 24, 2014, Louisiana State Police Detectives located Brent at his place of employment and arrested him on charges of Molestation of a Juvenile, Malfeasance in Office, Sexual battery, and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Juvenile.