CMPD officer charged with DWI | WCNC.com Charlotte

CMPD officer charged with DWI | WCNC.com Charlotte
A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer was charged with Driving While Intoxicated on New Year's Eve in Union County.
www.wcnc.com/.../CMPD-officer-charged-with-DUI-1854688...


Friendswood police deny teen's brutality claim | khou.com Houston
The videotaped arrest of a teenage girl has sparked outrage among witnesses who believe the Friendswood police officer who made the arrest went too far.
www.khou.com/.../Friendswood-teen-claims-police-brutality--...

Texas officer suspended indefinitely for cursing outburst caught on tape CBS News A police officer from Hurst, Texas, is suspended indefinitely for violating department rules with a profanity-laced outburst caught on tape, CBS DFW reports. An investigation included that the officer, Disraeli Arnold, was extremely unprofessional when ... See all stories on this topic » CBS News

2 Muncie officers suspended over party gunshots WRTV Indianapolis MUNCIE, Ind. - Two Muncie police officers have been suspended over gunshots they fired during a Fraternal Order of Police lodge Christmas party. Police Chief Steve Stewart said Sgt. Brad Wiemer and patrolman Tyler Swain each admitted firing gunshots ... See all stories on this topic »

JPD officer charged with theft, misconduct; Attorney says Robbie Weems denies ... Jackson Sun A Jackson police officer has been suspended without pay after he was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on charges of theft and official misconduct, according to a news release from the Jackson Police Department. Officer Robbie Weems, 51, surrendered ... See all stories on this topic » Tucson correction officer charged with credit card fraud KVOA Tucson News Former Corrections Officer Mance was hired on August 30, 2010. On October 16, 2010, Mance was assigned to ASPC-Tucson until his resignation on December 26, 2012. On December 26, at approximately 2 p.m. ADC Investigators affected the arrest warrant ... See all stories on this topic » Boulder officers suspended over Elk shooting Fox 31 KDVR.com BOULDER, Colo. – Two police officers involved in shooting an Elk in a west Boulder neighborhood have been suspended, the chief of police said Friday. Chief Mark Beckner tweeted the officers were “placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of ... See all stories on this topic »

False Arrest Claim May Stick to Flipped Off Cop | Strike-The-Root: A .

False Arrest Claim May Stick to Flipped Off Cop | Strike-The-Root: A ...
False Arrest Claim May Stick to Flipped Off Cop. "A car passenger who gave the finger to an upstate New York police officer can sue for false arrest and ...

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 12/28/12 ...
Here are the 7 reports of police misconduct tracked for Friday, December 28, 2012: Detroit Lakes, Minnesota: A police officer has been charged in district court ...
www.policemisconduct.net/national-police-misconduct-newsfe...

Police brutality claimed - The Decatur Daily - Decatur, Alabama
The father of a man charged with felony domestic violence is accusing Decatur police of beating his son at the city jail following his arrest, but police say video ...

NJ township police officer charged in shooting

CMPD Officer Charged with DWI in Union County | Charlotte News ...
Police in Union County have arrested a CMPD officer for driving while intoxicated on New Year's Eve.
www.foxcharlotte.com/.../CMPD-Officer-Charged-with-DWI-i...

NJ township police officer charged in shooting
San Francisco Chronicle
The prosecutor's spokesman Bernie Weisenfeld said in a news release that Compton, who is not a police officer, was in critical condition at Cooper Medical Center in Camden. He said the 29-year-old Stuart was charged with two counts of aggravated ...
See all stories on this topic »

One of the highest paid police forces in the world, and this is what we get

Fairfax County Homicides Up in 2012
Patch.com
In 2012, the Fairfax County Police Department handled a total of 16 homicides in the area — five more than were reported in 2011. Fifteen of the 2012 cases have already been solved or closed, says police public information officer Lucy Caldwell. In ...

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 1/6/2013: 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 because 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 )

National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 01-04-13

• Hurst, Texas: A police officer has been fired after being recorded on video threatening a teenager and using profane language. “You can’t help but be embarrassed — not only for the officers that work in our department, but for anybody in the law enforcement profession,” The Hurst Assistant Chief said. “You just expect when an officer shows up, they’re going to be in charge. You don’t want the foul language, anything that looks like it might be overreaction. You just want to be professional, calm and in control of the scene.” ow.ly/gxILV
• 
  
• Charlotte Mecklenburg, North Carolina: A police officer was arrested and charged with drunk driving on New Years Eve, troopers said. ow.ly/gxLpT
• 
  
• Hearne, Texas: An officer is on paid leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation into a shooting in which he was involved that left a mentally challenged man dead. ow.ly/gxBr3

Middle Finger Flashed in ’06 Lives On in Suit

By BENJAMIN WEISER

John Swartz was arrested in May 2006 after he raised his middle finger upon spotting a police radar device in St. Johnsville, N.Y. An officer says he thought Mr. Swartz might be seeking help.

Take John Swartz, for example. In May 2006, Mr. Swartz was a passenger in a car in a rural part of upstate New York when he spotted a police car that was using a radar speed-tracking device.

Mr. Swartz, a Vietnam veteran and retired airline pilot, acted on instinct to show his displeasure: he extended his right arm outside the passenger’s side window, and then further extended his middle finger over the car’s roof.

The reaction was swift. The officer followed the car; words were exchanged; backups were called; and Mr. Swartz was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct.

He later filed a civil rights lawsuit, and although a lower court judge dismissed the case, the prestigious United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan reversed that decision on Thursday, ruling that Mr. Swartz’s lawsuit can go forward.

The appellate decision offers a rich thumbnail sketch of the history and significance of the raised middle finger, one that traces possibly the first recorded use of the gesture in the United States to 1886, “when a joint baseball team photograph of the Boston Beaneaters and the New York Giants showed a Boston pitcher giving the finger to the Giants.”

Mr. Swartz’s intent, 120 years later, was undoubtedly similar.

He made the gesture as his fiancée and now wife, Judy Swartz, was driving on the Sunday evening before Memorial Day through St. Johnsville, a village of under 2,000 people, about 50 miles northwest of Albany.

“I couldn’t see the officer, didn’t know who he was,” Mr. Swartz, 62, recalled on Thursday. He explained that his gesture was provoked by his anger that the local police were spending their time running a speed trap instead of patrolling and solving crimes.

“It was very disheartening,” Mr. Swartz said. “They’d do it constantly to the point where they ignored all of their other duties.”

The officer with the radar device, Richard Insogna, did see the gesture.

But in a curious instance of mistaken middle-fingered intent, Officer Insogna suggested in a deposition that he saw the finger as a potential call for help and followed the car because he thought Mr. Swartz “was trying to get my attention for some reason” and because he “wanted to assure the safety of the passengers.”

Thomas K. Murphy, a lawyer representing the officer and a sheriff’s deputy who was also sued in the case, said that Mr. Swartz’s gesture toward the officer was not common for their community and that Officer Insogna “had a concern and decided he should act on the concern.”

“This is St. Johnsville, New York,” Mr. Murphy said. “Not the Bronx. Not Manhattan. It’s a sleepy little town.”

Indeed, Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the New York Police Department, suggested that if its officers “locked up everyone who gave the middle-finger salute, traffic would grind to a halt.”

According to Mr. Swartz’s account, Officer Insogna appeared behind them as the couple arrived at a relative’s house. There, Mr. Swartz got out but was ordered back into the car by the officer, who said he was making a “traffic stop.”

After more officers arrived, Mr. Swartz was arrested after muttering to himself about his own behavior, the ruling said.

The charge was later dropped.

The 14-page opinion, written by Judge Jon O. Newman for a three-judge panel, expressed skepticism at the officer’s explanation of why he had followed the car.

“Perhaps there is a police officer somewhere who would interpret an automobile passenger’s giving him the finger as a signal of distress,” Judge Newman wrote.

“But the nearly universal recognition that this gesture is an insult deprives such an interpretation of reasonableness,” he added.

In the ruling, Judge Newman wrote that the act of “giving the finger” dated back centuries. He cited, for example, sources that trace the use of the gesture to ancient Greece, when it was used by Strepsiades to insult Aristotle and by Diogenes to insult Demosthenes.

The ruling also noted the work of Ira P. Robbins, a professor of criminal law at American University who has studied the history of the gesture and is the author of the article “Digitus Impudicus: The Middle Finger and the Law.”

The lifting of the middle finger has a long history in popular culture, covering a president (George W. Bush), a vice president (Nelson A. Rockefeller), a Super Bowl halftime performer (M.I.A.) and even a possible future mayoral candidate in New York (Joseph J. Lhota was described in a 2000 article as cheerfully making the gesture at a reporter in City Hall while he was deputy mayor).

The ruling, which was joined by Judges Gerard E. Lynch and Raymond J. Lohier Jr., makes no finding on the merits of Mr. Swartz’s claim of an illegal traffic stop, false arrest and malicious prosecution.

His lawyer, Elmer Robert Keach III, said Thursday that he had written to the judge in Utica who dismissed the suit to ask that it be placed on the trial calendar.

Regardless of the outcome, Mr. Swartz said that giving an officer the finger was a one-time occurrence. “I never did it before and I haven’t done it since,” he said, adding, “It’s not something I’m proud of.”

Wendy Ruderman contributed reporting.

SWAT Team Kills Man Accused of Betting on Football Games

F.C.P.D. officer assaults citizen then arrests him for it

Fairfax County Police tried to set me up

At what point do you think we should have a police oversight board?

Hey Sharon:

At what point do you think we should have a police oversight board?  When the cops pull off another bank robbery? (One of them robbed a bank once, no kidding)  A mass murder? Wholesale looting? What’s the starting point to spark the Board of Supervisors into stopping police misconduct in Fairfax County?

There is no need to be scared, the federal government will protect you, and if it’s a matter of having to explain the 250 assigned union contributions under different spouses names to various campaigns to get around those annoying campaign laws (Yeah, we know about that, it’s an old trick) just say you didn’t know who they were when you took the money and give it back, pretend outraged when you do it, that helps.

Do something.

In the past 12 months…………………

October 24, 2011 Fairfax Cop arrested for drunk driving

November 14, 2011, two Fairfax cops accused of beating an unarmed man walking home from work.

September 2011, Fairfax cop charged with domestic assault

Feb 2012, several Fairfax County cops accused of beating up teenager in a McDonalds.

March 2012 Police Captain gets a five figure pay out due to interoffice pissing match

March 2012, a cop who “Resigned from the force for reasons that can not be released” two years ago, killed himself and teenage daughter with a pistol.

May 2012: Fairfax cop arrested for sexual assault.

And those only the incidents the cops HAD to explain to the public…

Here is an idea for Fairfax County

Spend $90,000 on cameras to rope in the cops and save the people of Fairfax County several million paid out in law suits caused by the punks within the police ranks....cameras cost is less than the Fairfax County Police Royal Entitlement Navy and AirForce...but unlike the Fairfax County Police Royal Entitlement Navy, the cameras actually do something.

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Albuquerque police are going to require officers to use cameras to record all encounters with the public.

The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://bit.ly/KO6kVn) that the department is slated to put the new requirement, an expansion of a current policy, into effect Sunday.

Presently, officers are required to use small, digital lapel-mounted cameras to record searches and disorderly conduct arrests. But under the new requirement, the small cameras will be on every time an officer interacts with a member of the public.

Police Chief Ray Schultz said the change was recommended by the Police Oversight Commission. He said the department has purchased about 200 of the newer pen cameras for about $60 apiece.

"Hopefully, this will help to resolve some of the issues that have been ongoing," Schultz said, referring to officers' versions of events, particularly in use of force cases, being called into question by community groups.

The new cameras also come as the department faces heat from civil rights groups for 24 officer-involved shootings — 17 fatal — since 2010. They have been pressing for a U.S. Justice Department investigation into the shootings, but federal officials have not said if they would probe the department.

Meanwhile, the Albuquerque Police Department has instituted a number of reforms, including raising the requirements for incoming officers and having an independent

review panel look into all officer-involved shootings.

By last summer, each of the more than 650 uniformed officers had been issued a lapel camera, Schultz said. The department has bought more than 1,200 of the easily breakable cameras for about $100 each since the department began ordering them in 2010.

Schultz said the new pen cameras will help with investigations. "We continue to see good results where the officers are exonerated after having false complaints made against them," he said.

Schultz said the policy change is likely to create a "logistical nightmare" for APD administrative staff. The department's officers respond to more than 1,500 calls for service per day on average.

"The technology still continues to emerge, and it is not yet perfect," he said. "We're trying to work through the bugs, and the biggest problem for us is going to be how to copy and retain the video from the cameras."

Officers can be reprimanded for not turning on their recorders, Schultz said. An officer could be fired if he or she repeatedly fails to record encounters.

Lapel cameras hold about six hours of video. The pen cameras hold less than two hours.

Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr.strikes again

August 21, 1989Fairfax County found no evidence implicating Randall Lee Breer in the death of Rhiannon "Rosie" Gordon in a search of his Dale City residence over the weekend, Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said in a telephone interview last night. Undercover investigators arrested Breer, a 28-year-old Dale City construction worker, Thursday afternoon at a used car lot in Woodbridge."There's not sufficient evidence to charge him," Mr. Horan reiterated last evening. "I basically happen to be a believer that if you have proof, you charge them. If you don't, you don't. In my business you realize you need evidence."  

Trivial Pursuits and Predatory Policing

August 15, 2004 Sunday

Trivial Pursuits and Predatory Policing

 Falls Church Police Chief Robert T. Murray imposes a quota on his officers: They must write an average of three tickets or make three arrests per 12-hour shift. The most obvious way to fulfill the requirement is to focus on trivial infractions. "Traffic is a big issue" in his community, says Murray, because serious crime is not. That may surprise the two men who were assaulted and robbed recently on Monticello Drive. One victim, who was riding his bicycle to his Falls Church home, happened upon six suspected gang members as they brutally assaulted another Falls Church man. After robbing the first victim, these hoodlums assailed the cyclist and stole his bike. Fairfax County police logged that incident about 2 a.m. July 30. About the same time, according to other police reports, criminals were robbing an Arlington business and stealing a car from Kirkwood Street; breaking into a warehouse and a school in Alexandria; and stealing another car. Later that day, an Arlington man was robbed at gunpoint by thieves who shot him -- out of annoyance because he was carrying so little money -- and then stole his car. And what were Fairfax County police doing that day? At least some were conducting a sobriety checkpoint in McLean. This checkpoint produced predictably paltry results -- of the 591 cars that passed through the blockade between 11 p.m. and 2:15 a.m., police found only three drivers to cite for driving under the influence. Why, with vicious thugs on the loose, do police waste time on trivial pursuits and ineffective tactics? It isn't as though serious crime is hard to find in Northern Virginia. In a single week earlier this month, Fairfax County police logged 159 cases of larceny and 21 auto thefts. Open-air drug markets -- well known to police -- operate with impunity. Yet citizens who dislike seeing their taxes wasted have no one but themselves to blame. We have created a climate that hinders -- even hamstrings -- effective policing. For instance, the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, provides stunningly specific data about the distribution of illegal drugs in Northern Virginia. "West African and Middle Eastern criminal groups are the primary transporters of Southwest Asian heroin into Virginia," the NDIC reports. "Mexican brown powdered heroin and Mexican black tar heroin available in Virginia typically are transported into the state from southwestern states and North Carolina by Mexican criminal groups. "Dominican and African American criminal groups are the dominant wholesale and mid-level distributors of South American heroin in Virginia." The average cop on the beat in Virginia almost certainly is aware of these patterns, but an officer who targets the likely suspects risks being excoriated for "profiling." Is it any wonder cops turn to menial matters when they are criticized for intelligent policing? Citizens also bear the blame for tolerating tactics that use law enforcement to produce revenue. For example, sobriety checkpoints not only yield negligible results, they may even be counterproductive. How many more tragedies could be prevented by patrolling for impaired drivers? Nonetheless, Virginia police set up roadblocks weekly because that allows them to collect millions of dollars in grant money from the federal government -- and profits from a windfall of tickets. Consider that Fairfax's 316 checkpoints last year yielded only 770 arrests for DUI, but 7,209 citations for other infractions -- e.g., incorrectly installed child seats, expired property stickers, non-use of safety belts, etc. Corralling citizens to sift for a few miscreants is precisely what the Fourth Amendment prohibits, but officials promote it and citizens acquiesce because dragnets are so lucrative. Most police officers are courageous people whose talents are wasted in setting trivial traps. And, surely, most Virginians would prefer being protected to being harassed. But effective law enforcement needs a political climate in which facts can prevail over political correctness -- and where local officials are willing to eschew the revenue produced by predatory policing. Criminals in Northern Virginia, sleep soundly.    

August 11, 1994,4 Female Workers Sue Fairfax Police;

3 Officers, Civilian Accuse Lieutenant of Repeated Sexual Harassment Three female police officers and a civilian employee sued the Fairfax County Police Department yesterday for $ 1 million, claiming a male supervisor sexually harassed them at times during the last 12 years. The women alleged that Lt. Larry Jackson repeatedly made unwanted suggestive remarks and overtures. Two of them said he retaliated after they complained about his behavior to his superiors by filing petty or phony disciplinary charges against them."This has been a recurring pattern," said Carla Markim Siegel, an attorney for the women. "These women didn't know each other. They complained independently, and the department didn't take adequate measures to prevent it from happening again... . It creates a hostile work environment." The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, rekindles a controversy surrounding the treatment of women in the 1,036-member department. Two years ago, 10 female officers complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about a "locker room attitude" in the department and said they had been denied promotions and key assignments because of their sex.Although the county drafted a policy against sexual harassment last year, the suit contends that women continue to be subjected to abuse. Police Chief Michael W. Young and Jackson also were named as defendants.Maj. Richard Rappoport, a police spokesman, said the department has acted swiftly in cases involving workplace harassment. All supervisors underwent training last year in ways to detect and address sexual harassment, he said. He declined comment on the allegations against Jackson, saying he had not seen the lawsuit.Jackson referred questions to his attorney when reached at his office in the department's West Springfield station. The lawyer, Kristin R. Blair, said the allegations are false and stem from a "racially hostile" work environment that "encourages unfounded claims and promotes exaggerations against minorities."Jackson filed an EEOC complaint alleging racial discrimination seven months ago, and that case is pending, Blair said. "I feel that Larry is just being made out as some fiend and he's really a straight arrow," she said.The suit was filed by Officers Susan Long, Cynthia McAlister and Elizabeth Dohm and Andrea Moss, a civilian communication aide, all of whom worked under Jackson's supervision at various times during his 17-year police career.Their lawyer, Siegel, said race had nothing to do with the lawsuit.Among other things, Long said Jackson once ordered her back to the office while she was on the way to a burglary call to ask her out to lunch. He also suggested she use her "sex appeal" to get him new uniforms, the suit said.McAlister said that Jackson made advances while the two took a private airplane ride in 1982 and that her colleagues later ridiculed her about the incident. Moss said Jackson made up a list of phony disciplinary charges against her last year after he learned she complained about him to the department's internal affairs unit. On another occasion, she said she found computer records that falsely showed Jackson had disciplined her.Dohm also said she was disciplined by Jackson after talking about him to internal affairs investigators three years ago.   

Fairfax County's first black cop sued the police

August 7, 1989

 Christopher Stokes, 48, a youth counselor and Realtor who in 1967 became Fairfax County's first black police officer, died Aug. 4 at Fair Oaks Hospital. He had sickle cell anemia. He left the Fairfax police in 1973. Since 1974, he had been a youth counselor with the Fairfax County courts and a part-time Realtor with Mount Vernon Realty in Fairfax. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he had testified for federal attorneys against Fairfax County. It was charged that the county discriminated against blacks and women in its hiring and promotion policies. In 1982, the Justice Department accepted a settlement offer by Fairfax County that involved the distribution of $ 2.75 million to 685 discrimination victims. Mr. Stokes was among those who received awards.  

Labor union? When was the lst time you saw one of these weasels outside a cop car? You have to labor to have a union

August 4, 1990 Fairfax Cops form labor union

Overpaid and unhappy Fairfax cops formed a union called Fairfax COPS Local 5000 as an alternative to the Fairfax County Police Association, because they don’t like working shifts. In retrospect, the Chupaz Union would have been a more befitting name 

Introducing the Fairfax County Police Officer Robert M. Bauer I'll lie and keep my job award

Fairfax County Police Officer David Ziants award for kill somebody and the worst thing that happens to you is you get fired.

North Chicago fires one officer, suspends another in death of man in custody

North Chicago fired one police officer and suspended another today for their roles in the violent arrest of a man who died a week after he was taken into custody.

Officials immediately dismissed Officer Brandon Yost and suspended Officer Arthur Strong for 30 days without pay. Four other officers and one sergeant involved in the arrest who had been temporarily placed on desk duty were returned to regular duties without penalty.

The action comes in the case of Darrin "Dagwood" Hanna, 45, who was arrested Nov. 6 in his North Chicago apartment, where police said he slapped and tried to drown his pregnant girlfriend. He died in a hospital of multiple factors, according to the Lake County Coroner, including physical restraint and Taser shocks, as well as chronic cocaine abuse, hypertension, kidney disease and sickle cell disease.

His death prompted a public uproar, which led to an investigation by Illinois State Police. The Lake County State's Attorney's office concluded officers committed no crime, saying they acted "reasonably and appropriately" to subdue a large man police said rushed them with clenched fists yelling, "Shoot me."

Yost was fired for repeatedly punching Hanna in the face, which was unnecessary force, and for an unspecified falsification of reports on the incident, interim Chief James Jackson said. Strong's reported use of force, kneeling on the back of Hanna's legs, was considered acceptable, but he was disciplined for falsifying a report by indicating Hanna was swinging a flashlight.

Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. and Jackson made the announcement at a news conference at North Chicago City Hall, where a crowd of protesters led by civil rights leader Jesse Jackson greeted the news angrily. People in the crowd yelled "cover up" and chanted, "murderers."

"These six officers should be fired and charged with murder," Jackson said.

TheU.S. Department of Justiceis conducting a preliminary inquiry into the case, which is a step short of a full investigation.

85-year-old woman dies in police custody

There is nothing even REMOTELY suspicious about this………….

No, really, there isn’t.

Really.

Okay, maybe just a little suspicious.

Gosh jeepers….maybe we should have the Fairfax County Police investigate the Fairfax County Police in this matter, you know, just to be sure nobody did anything wrong.  

By Justin Jouvenal

 

An 85-year-old Oakton woman died during a police transport early Tuesday morning, Fairfax County police said.
Mary Jean Martin, of the 11100 block of Stuart Mill Road, suffered medical distress while in a police cruiser on the way to Woodburn Mental Hospital in Annandale for a mental evaluation, police said.

Martin’s family members had called police to Inova Fairfax Hospital around 3:30 a.m. after family members became concerned for her safety because she was acting irrationally and was confused, said Officer Bud Walker, a Fairfax County police spokesman.
Officers placed Martin in the cruiser without incident and began driving her to the mental hospital, which is only a short distance from Inova, Walker said. Martin was not handcuffed during the trip, Walker said.
After Martin went into distress, officers immediately summoned rescue personnel and began performing CPR on the woman, Walker said. She was then transported back to Fairfax Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
The Virginia medical examiner will determine the cause of the woman’s death and the investigation remains ongoing.

airfax County Police Officer Larry A. Jackson award for false arrest. Fairfax County Police. Police brutality

3 APD officers face discipline in woman's wrongful jailing

Three Atlanta police officers face disciplinary action in the case of a woman wrongly jailed for nearly two months, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Teresa Culpepper spent 53 days wrongfully incarcerated in Fulton County Jail because she had the same name, Teresa, as a woman wanted by authorities in an aggravated assault case.

Culpepper was taken into custody Aug. 21. She was released Oct. 12 after her public defender got the crime victim to come to court and say the woman in custody was not the attacker.

Atlanta police investigated the incident and acknowledge in documents obtained by Channel 2 that Culpepper was wrongly arrested. The department also issued “notices of final adverse action” against three officers.

Officer Nicole Aguinaga faces 30 days’ suspension. Records list her as being the arresting officer, but she did not personally interview Culpepper, request a lineup or have fingerprints taken "to dispel any questions regarding her identity," APD documents state.

Though Aguinaga expressed her concerns about discrepancies in Culpepper’s identity to someone in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, “you did not contact a supervisor to seek guidance,” documents addressed to her say.

Officer Jaidon Codrington faces 14 days’ suspension for having “transported Ms. Culpepper to Fulton County Jail without attempting to dispel questions regarding her identity,” documents say.

Another document says Officer Justin Strom could be suspended for 10 days because “by directing Officer Codrington to transport Ms. Culpepper to Fulton County Jail immediately, the process of Officer/Prisoner verification was eliminated.”

Kliff Grimes, with the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, told Channel 2, “All three are appealing to the civil service, so we really can’t speak on the specifics.”

Ken Allen, president of the union’s APD local, said the incident sheds light on problems with the existing system for handling suspects in custody.

“What we’re trying to do is get round-the-clock, 24-hours system in which the officers can take the suspect, go before a judge,” Allen told Channel 2. Such a system, he said, could help prevent incidents of mistaken identity.

The Fairfax County Police Officer Jeffrey Hand Award for Creative Income Production. Fairfax County Police. Police Brutality

A Honolulu idiot cop is in federal custody

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A Honolulu police officer is in federal custody on federal drug possession, distribution, and conspiracy charges. Officer Michael Chu, 41, is accused of being involved in a marijuana growing operation. The 13-year HPD veteran patrols Wahiawa, Mililani and the North Shore. Now he has been placed on leave without pay. He is due in court on Wednesday for a detention hearing along with another defendant in the case.

Wayne and Ellen Autele have lived on Puneki Street in Mililani for 18 years. News of their neighbors being arrested came as quite a shock, especially since Wayne is a retired Honolulu police officer.

“Everything was closed. You couldn’t tell if anyone was home, really. Once in awhile when I get up at two in the morning you could see a light on. That was it. No noise, nothing, and no smell,” said Wayne Autele.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents found roughly 10 to 20 marijuana plants growing in the master bedroom, according to a criminal complaint. They also recovered documents showing that Chu and Athena Lee lived there. Chu used the address when he registered for a medical marijuana card. According to the Autele’s, the Mililani house is owned by another HPD officer. The suspects moved in just a few months ago, and the home has been rented to different tenants in the past.

“Totally surprised. In fact, I’m embarrassed as a policeman for 32 years and I cannot even pick up a criminal right next door to me,” said Wayne Autele.

“I just couldn’t like even imagine it. I was thinking, wow, right next door!” said Ellen Autele.

Authorities moved in after a security manager at FedEx seized a suspicious package on Thursday that was flown to Honolulu from California. The parcel, containing eight young marijuana plants, was being sent to an apartment at the Moana Pacific on Kapiolani Boulevard. A day later, DEA agents executed a federal search warrant of the apartment. A manager told agents that a woman by the name of Athena Lee lived in the unit and may be living with Chu. While searching the apartment, DEA agents said they recovered more than 20 marijuana plants and large amounts of US currency. Lee showed up with Chu during the raid. She was carrying $12,000 and he was holding a bag with material used to grow plants indoors, according to court documents. Chu’s subsidized police vehicle in the parking garage contained a pound of marijuana and several money orders, authorities said.

According to the criminal complaint, Chu waived his constitutional rights and answered questions from authorities by stating that he just works for Lee and helps her carry things for the grow operation.

“It’s scary. I didn’t event think or imagine about that. Surprised,” said Moana Pacific resident Keiko Ishino.

Chu also told authorities that he lives in an apartment in a building on Young Street. Last July, DEA agents intercepted a package containing 14 pounds of marijuana addressed to the same unit.

Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha released the following statement:

“This is a very serious allegation, and we are cooperating with the DEA in its investigation. The HPD has also initiated its own internal administrative investigation into the alleged activity. In the meantime, the officer’s police powers have been removed, and he will be placed on leave without pay. Any officer or civilian employee who violates the public trust by engaging in this type of activity should not be a part of the Honolulu Police Department.”

“I’m sad it had to be a policeman, but it’s one of those things. But I’m glad anytime you have criminals caught,” said Wayne Autele.

As for Chu having a medical marijuana card, HPD said a permit does not exempt an employee from drug testing, and that using marijuana is a violation of policy.

Had enough?  Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into the police problem in America.  Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent  DOJ office on Police Misconduct.

Fairfax County Police Sgt. Weiss Rasool award for Terrorism Against the People…yeah, the Fairfax cops actually hired a terrorist

Just thought we would remind you

The Fairfax County Police Officer Jeffrey Hand Award for Creative Income Production. Fairfax County Police. Police Brutality

Court Records in Corruption Arrests Raise Questions About Cops

Court records in Miami Beach corruption arrests raise questions about cops
The Miami Herald by David Smiley - April 12, 2012

Miami Beach police are concerned that one or more of their own may have provided “protection” for cocaine drops staged by undercover federal agents. Recorded statements and details laid out by the FBI in a criminal complaint against Miami Beach fire inspector Henry Bryant allude to illicit relationships between Bryant and Miami Beach officers, and raise questions about whether department officers escorted Bryant through city limits while he carried kilograms of “sham” cocaine. “I’m concerned of any allegation or impression that a Miami Beach police officer would do that,” Police Chief Raymond Martinez said Thursday. “We’re certainly going to be working with the FBI to follow up on any information they may have.” Martinez and federal agents have talked about meeting early next week. The FBI and local authorities arrested Bryant, a second Miami Beach fire inspector and five city code compliance officers Wednesday. The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office accused the Beach employees of extorting an unnamed South Beach nightclub owner out of $25,000 over several months. In return, agents said the employees allowed the club to avoid inspections and stay open despite hefty tax debts. Authorities also arrested Miami-Dade Police Officer Daniel Mack and said he and Bryant were paid $25,000 to transport duffel bags of fake cocaine for undercover agents posing in the club as drug dealers. No Miami Beach officers have been arrested.

Bryant allegedly boasted about his contacts with as many as four Miami Beach officers and four Miami-Dade County officers, court records show. He also told agents he would transport cocaine with unmarked Miami Beach police escorts within city limits — he said department cruisers were marked with GPS — and Miami-Dade County police escorts through the rest of the county, according to court records. Sgt. Alejandro Bello, president of the city’s police union, said the details in Bryant’s criminal complaint raise a number of questions. “Was he being truthful?” Bello said. “Should we be concerned? Are they looking at other police officers? Or were they just friends who didn’t know what was going on?” An FBI spokesman said he could not elaborate on details in the criminal complaint. According to court records, Bryant transported a duffel bag stuffed with kilograms of fake cocaine from South Beach to North Dade on Dec. 21 and on Jan 14. During the first run, court records say an unmarked, gold four-door sedan “appeared to be following Bryant” in Miami Beach before Mack picked up the escort outside city limits. During the second run, agents say Bryant met them at the club and introduced them to an “identified police officer” after they asked about the whereabouts of his “other associate.” Court records don’t name the officer or his department, but say he escorted Bryant in his personal black Chevrolet Impala from South Beach to the 62nd Street exit of Interstate 95, where Mack began tailing the fire inspector. “That’s part of what we’ll be meeting with the FBI and working on follow-up information about,” Martinez said. “I don’t know if from that complaint that police officer is a Miami Beach police officer or from another department.” The investigation remains open. Said Martinez: “We have a lot of questions.”

Posted byLaw Enforcement Corruptionat6:19 AM

Had enough?  Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into the police problem in America.  Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent  DOJ office on Police Misconduct.

Another cop shoots himself dead

NYPD Cop Shoots Self In Head; Four NYC Cops Have Committed Suicide in 2012

An off-duty NYPD cop reportedly shot himself in the head inside his Bronx home Wednesday, The Daily News reports. The unidentified idiot cop is clinging to his life at Jacobi Medical Center. Cops responded to his Holland Ave. address in Van Nest after a 911 call at 9:45PM Wednesday.

“He was always smiling and happy,” Nathan Vellon 20, whose family owns the home the cop was living in, told The News. “He seemed like a nice guy.”

Four NYPD cops have committed suicide with a gun in 2012.

On January 15th, rookie cop Patrick Werner, only 23, killed himself inside his parents' Westchester County home after getting into a car crash and fleeing the scene. Sources say he'd been arguing with his girlfriend on the phone when he crashed.

On January 19th, Terrence Dean, 28, of the 111th Precinct in Queens, shot and killed himself while on duty after his fiancee warned the precinct of his worsening depression.

On Super Bowl Sunday, idiot cop Brian Saar died in his Long Island home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after having a fight with his wife at a party.

And on February 13th, a 14 year veteran of the NYPD, 39-year-old Matthew Schindler pulled over on the side of the Long Island Expressway near Jericho and shot himself in the head. Minutes before he texted his sergeant to say his goodbyes.

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Had enough?  Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into the police problem in America.  Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent  DOJ office on Police Misconduct.