Corruption

[jonb83]

Ok, I know this subject is going to get a lot of heat but I just want to find out everyone's opinion and experience with this subject. We see it a lot in movies and such, but I want to ask all of the LEO's on this forum something.

Have you ever had an experience where there was corruption mounting and have been witness to it. What was your reaction to it and how did you handle the situation.

For example, in the movie Training Day where they kill the guy on the recliner and take some of that cash. I'm sure that not anyone on this forum has seen something of that magnitude but what have you experienced.

Please do not mention any names of any people or departments in this thread for complete confidentiality.

Edit: The reason why I'm asking this is because when one day I become a LEO, I want to know what is the best and most reasonable way to handle a situation like this.

[SIGman1]

The reason why I'm asking this is because when one day I become a LEO, I want to know what is the best and most reasonable way to handle a situation like this.

Don't tolerate it. Corrupt cops make all of us look bad. Whether it is accepting a couple bucks to let someone out of a ticket, stealing evidence, or shaking down criminals, it is all disgusting and should never be tolerated.

I don't think that corruption is anywhere near the levels that it used to be years ago, but don't kid yourself; it still exists.

[irishlad2nv]

Ok, I know this subject is going to get a lot of heat but I just want to find out everyone's opinion and experience with this subject. We see it a lot in movies and such, but I want to ask all of the LEO's on this forum something.

Have you ever had an experience where there was corruption mounting and have been witness to it. What was your reaction to it and how did you handle the situation.

For example, in the movie Training Day where they kill the guy on the recliner and take some of that cash. I'm sure that not anyone on this forum has seen something of that magnitude but what have you experienced.

Please do not mention any names of any people or departments in this thread for complete confidentiality.


Edit: The reason why I'm asking this is because when one day I become a LEO, I want to know what is the best and most reasonable way to handle a situation like this.

I am going to say this and hope others come along wiht me on this one. This is not the smoothest or wise topic to discuss in here or even in general. I would advise you to look up this information elsewhere...i.e do a broad search on the net for depts. that have had some corruption, etc. To me you asking about this in here is either going to **** some people off or get others in trouble.

[BrickCop]

I once arranged for the Mob bossses from several different crime families to meet in a high rise function room. I then ordered a helicopter to hover outside and machine gun all the occupants inside so I could take over....oh, wait a minute that was The Godfather III...never mind.

The only corruption I've seen firsthand is at the movies. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but the average cop with longevity usually has the integrity and forsight to stay away any shady guys on the job.

[retired]

Corruption in any form is totally unacceptable, period!

[Cruiser]

I have never seen any type of corruption that involved more than one officer. I have only heard of it once that I know it happened and that was In Jacksonville Fl. and they were caught and sent to prison with one getting the death penalty and the cops I know around here we glad they got such harsh penalties. I did see two officers in my career that ended up dirty and both were stealing from their off duty jobs and stealing clothes. Both were caught and sent to prison. Zero tolerance and when you know a cop is guilty he is no longer a brother or sister and is the lowest thing on earth right down there wil a child molester as far as many of us are concerned. Remember that WE are the ones that caught him and arrested him. If you ever see it, either arrest him/her and call your supervisor or just call the supervisor immediately. A dirty cop is a terrible stain on all of us and is never tolerated by any of the guys I knew. :mad:

[Stan Switek]

I am going to say this and hope others come along wiht me on this one. This is not the smoothest or wise topic to discuss in here or even in general. I would advise you to look up this information elsewhere...i.e do a broad search on the net for depts. that have had some corruption, etc. To me you asking about this in here is either going to **** some people off or get others in trouble.

What is to hide? Police corruption is unacceptable. It's a fact of life that it happens though rarely. And who brings the corrupt cops to justice? Honest cops, who represent the vast majority of us.

[Bart]

To me you asking about this in here is either going to **** some people off or get others in trouble.

it aint gonna get me in trouble. i keep my nose clean. corruption exists but the number of bad cops is so minute, youd probably go your entire career without experiencing corruption first hand. for example, we had maybe 5 guys convicted of some type of corruption within the last 2 years. 4 of the guys i never knew. one guy i knew of but didnt know him personally.

but when those numbers are put in perspective, those 5 guys represent less than half a percent of my department. thats pretty damn good compared to how it was in the eighties when 25 percent of the department was made up of mariel boatlift refugees. out of that 25 percent, half of them were criminals in their former lives in cuba.

[Pedro56]

Unfortunatley earlier this year one of the tact teams in my district nailed stealing drugs/money from drug dealers. Some are out on bond and one is in the federal pen. The area I work in is very hateful towards the police, but when this came out it was worse. I have no room or sympathy for corrupt people. I wouldn't stand for it at all. It was very disheartening for me. I would never tolerate it.

[Perdure]

Unfortunatley earlier this year one of the tact teams in my district nailed stealing drugs/money from drug dealers. Some are out on bond and one is in the federal pen.
Right there should be the main reason not to do something stupid. Let a cop be sentenced to prison and then have the inmates find out he's a cop...not a good thing.
Police corruption is unacceptable and makes not one cop look bad, but all cops.

[Stan Switek]

Former officer Perez gives testimony in suit by man he shot, helped to imprison

By Paul Chavez
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Disgraced former police officer Rafael Perez testified Monday in a legal malpractice lawsuit brought by a man whom he shot, planted a gun on and helped wrongly send to prison.

It was the first time that Perez and Javier Francisco Ovando had been face-to-face since Perez falsely testified against him in 1997 in a case that led to a corruption scandal at the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Oct. 12, 1996, shooting left Ovando paralyzed and his lawsuit against Deputy Public Defender Tamar Toister claims that she knew that officers in the Rampart division had a pattern of falsifying and planting evidence.

Ovando, who is seeking unspecified monetary damages, was released from prison in September 1999 after serving nearly three years of a 23-year, four-month sentence for assault on two police officers.

His conviction was overturned after Perez, who sought a lighter sentence after pleading guilty to stealing $1 million worth of cocaine from an evidence room, told authorities about the Ovando shooting and alleged corruption among other officers in an anti-gang unit in a tough area just west of downtown.

Moreno solicited testimony from Perez in an attempt to show jurors that the cover story given during Ovando's original criminal trial had been not been thoroughly investigated.

Perez told jurors that he and former partner Nino Durden planted a .22-caliber gun on Ovando after shooting him. He told the court that they obtained the gun from an informant a few weeks earlier and ran it through a computer system before Durden shaved off its serial number.

Moreno asked if the computer system kept a log of who ran checks on particular guns and Perez answered that it did.

"Did anyone look into where the weapon came from?" Moreno asked.

"No, sir," Perez answered.

Girard Fisher, a private lawyer hired by the county to defend Toister, declined to comment and referred questions to County Counsel officials. A telephone call Monday afternoon to a County Counsel spokesman was not immediately returned.

The city so far has paid out more than $66 million to settle lawsuits and Ovando received the largest settlement $15 million.

More than 100 convictions tainted by police misconduct were reversed.

Perez is free after spending time in prison on both state and federal charges related to his drug theft and civil rights violations as an officer.

Durden was sentenced to a five-year prison term for his role in the Ovando shooting.

[JB2245]

DETROIT -- Seventeen Detroit police officers were charged today by the federal government with extortion and robbery, the outcome of a widespread investigation into police corruption.

Most are police officers assigned to the 4th (Fort) Precinct on the city's southwest side.

The officers are accused of stealing money and drugs from drug dealers and prostitutes, searching houses without warrants and reselling drugs. The charges stem from a yearlong joint investigation by the Detroit office of the FBI and the Police Department's internal controls unit. Police Chief Jerry A. Oliver Sr. has made rooting out corruption a top priority since he took office in January 2002.

The indictment unsealed today is the latest in a string of Detroit police corruption cases and comes a week after the department agreed to make sweeping reforms in order to settle a civil rights complaint by the federal government. On June 12, the city signed two consent decrees that call for oversight by an independent monitor and a federal judge until 2008.

The indictment, which would charge one of the largest groups of officers in the department's history, won't be the last one to come out of the joint FBI-Detroit police probe, officials said. The task force is conducting at least three other investigations into allegations of police misconduct, they said.

Paula Wendell, then acting chief of the Detroit FBI, said in October that there were "a number of ongoing criminal investigations into the Detroit Police Department."

In May 2002, four months after he took office, Chief Oliver told The News: "I'm going to tell you right now we are going to run off a lot of people, because we've got some criminals that work for us here."

Two months later, the FBI and Detroit police created the task force to jointly investigate allegations of public corruption by the Detroit Police Department. About eight Detroit officers are assigned to the task force.

Former Deputy Chief Gary Brown, who headed the department's internal affairs unit until he was fired May 9 by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, said he helped oversee the investigation that is expected to produce today's indictments.

"I'm happy for the men and women in the corruption unit because this is a feather in their cap. Those officers did a lot of leg work," said Brown, who believes the indictments were delayed because of the controversy over his firing.

A separate team of state investigators led by Thomas Furtaw, head of the criminal division of the state Attorney General's Office, is investigating Brown's firing and allegations of wrongdoing by members of Kilpatrick's security detail. Brown has filed suit against the city claiming he was wrongly fired.

Cmdr. Donald Parshall, in charge of the internal controls division, and Deputy Chief Harold Cureton, director of the professional accountability bureau, declined to comment Wednesday about the indictments.

FBI commonly at 4th

Fourth Precinct Cmdr. Charles Barbieri said none of his supervisors told him that several of his officers were to be indicted.

"There may be substance to these allegations," Barbieri said. "The sad part is these investigations take too damn long. I won't sleep too well thinking about it tonight."

Alfred Gomez-Mesquita, who headed the 4th precinct until July 2002, said FBI investigations at the precinct weren't uncommon.

"The FBI would be in almost monthly," said Gomez-Mesquita, who now heads the 12th (Palmer Park) Precinct. "We had all sorts of investigations in my 81/2 years there, but nothing significant ever came from them."

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey G. Collins was expected to make an announcement today, along with the government's lead prosecutor, R. Michael Bullotta. Bullotta declined comment Wednesday, as did an aide to Collins.

The investigation began about a year ago when a former prostitute complained that Detroit police officers had stolen money from her, officials close to the case said. Others made similar complaints against the same officers.

Other police accusations

In the past decade, Detroit police officers have repeatedly been accused of stealing money from drug dealers and others.

The cases include:

In October, nine people were named in a 17-count indictment, including a civilian employee, John Cole Sr., who was accused of stealing 222 pounds of cocaine from the police department's evidence room and replacing it with flour. Also indicted was a Michigan State Police lieutenant and a Detroit police officer. The case is awaiting trial.

The indictment came 18 months after the FBI learned of the missing cocaine and five years after the police department received anonymous tips that Cole was selling drugs.

In 2000, two 8th (Grand River) Precinct officers were convicted of drug charges. The pair approached another officer and told him they had stolen 2.2 pounds of cocaine while on duty and sold it to a drug dealer.

In July 1999, two officers assigned to the department's narcotics section were caught by FBI cameras stealing cash from a drug raid in an FBI sting.

In 1998, seven officers who worked at the 6th (Plymouth) Precinct were found guilty of corruption. The government said they kept money, guns and drugs seized from crack houses, planted phony evidence and falsified police reports between April 1995 through March 1997.

In 1998, three 5th (Jefferson) Precinct officers were convicted of charges that they plotted to rob a bookie in Southfield. They planned to simulate a police raid, the government said. All three were sentenced to at least five years in prison.

Perhaps no Detroit police corruption case is more infamous than the conviction of former Police Chief Wiiliam Hart. In 1992, Hart was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $2.3 million for looting the police secret service fund, designed to pay informants and make drug buys.


You can reach David Shepardson at (313) 222-2028 or dshepardson@detnews.com.

[Pedro56]

It is a 118 pages long I know nobody will read it through and through, but if you go through it and do some spot reading it is pretty interesting. This is the actual affidavid that the Feds had against those officers I mentioned ealier http://www.ipsn.org/police_corruption/police_affidavit-word_newest.pdf

[Stan Switek]

I read a good part of it. The good cops must really feel betrayed by what these other guys are alleged to have done.