Free Republic

Prior to the bombshell arrest on Thursday of Rex Heuermann over several of the Gilgo Beach murders, the case had been hampered by a series of scandals inside the police department leading the investigation. The disgraced former chief of Suffolk County Police Department, James Burke, was at the center of the storm, which culminated in his imprisonment in 2016 for 46 months for battering a thief who stole a bag from his police car which contained porn and sex toys. Shocking details emerged about Burke's alleged fondness for drugs and prostitutes. He has also been described by colleagues as a...

A county police chief on Long Island, New York, resigned on Tuesday amid an ongoing federal probe into whether he beat a suspect accused of stealing a duffel bag from his car in 2012. James Burke, the chief of Suffolk County, one of the state’s largest by population, stepped down on Tuesday after a 31-year career, his attorney confirmed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the beating allegations, according to a source familiar with the matter. …