Posted on 03/10/2010 2:35:40 AM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An I-team investigation has uncovered more than 100 cases of people with criminal records becoming police officers in Tennessee.
Some of these officers are even accused of committing new crimes once they are hired. So how are convicted criminals still getting badges, guns, and the power to arrest members of the public?
An audit found that the police chief and mayor of Burns, Tenn., hired a convicted felon as a police officer. The mayor soon stepped down and his whole department was almost decertified. "Was it a classic example of the good-old-boy network?" asked reporter Jeremy Finley. "I think so,” said Brian Grisham, head of Police Officers Standard and Training Commission (POST).
And you might suspect the "good-old-boy network" might get a felon hired in one small town. But the I-Team found that convicted criminals have become cops in cities large and small, all over Middle Tennessee.
Our investigation found more than 100 people with criminal records became police officers in Tennessee over the past three years. 29 had DUI records, other convictions and charges ranged from assault to theft to illegal drug possession, even solicitation of prostitutes. Most disturbing was that four of the officers hired were felons
Officers like John Brannon was sentenced for aggravated assault and went on to work for three local police departments including Robertson County, Ridgetop, and Greenbrier. Carlton Owens is an officer who is a convicted drug felon who carried a badge in Burns, Tenn. Rodolfo Castro who's now a cop despite felony convictions out of California.
Officer Robert Schmidt was recently indicted in Memphis for illegal weapons possession.
All of them are felons who would normally be prohibited by state law from carrying any guns are carrying police-issued guns.
Even now, the state is investigating four police departments accused of improperly hiring criminals: Spring City, Piperton, Gallaway, and Centerville where a federal lawsuit claims the police chief knowingly hired a felon. "For someone to do something like this, it's unreal,” said Jason Warden, who is suing a local police department.
Warden's lawsuit strikes at the heart of the concern about cops with criminal backgrounds. WSMV found cases of officers with records accused of committing new crimes after they got a badge.
The lawsuit claims the Centerville officer kidnapped Warden's wife after arresting her during a family fight over child support. "This man has no business wearing a gun or being a police officer," said Warden.
And then there is Dennis Goltz.
He has a record of misdemeanor offenses in Illinois. After being hired as a cop in Hickman County, he was charged with theft and later impersonating a police officer.
He said all his new charges were dismissed, but he was still stripped of his badge. "Some people will say, 'He's a crook,' " said Finley. “They say they can say what they want. I'm willing to take a polygraph. I didn't do it. I've maintained my innocence the entire time," said Goltz.
Goltz is among the 13 police officers across cities and counties in Tennessee who have been decertified by the state because of their criminal records. So with officers stripped of badges, entire departments under investigation and pending lawsuits, why and how do people with these criminal records get hired in the first place?
The I-Team reviewed all the files of people with criminal records who asked the state to become police officers. WSMV also looked at officers lost their badges because of their previous crimes.
One common thread was prevalent... " The bottom line is that a lot of times these guys lie," said Finley. "They lie," said Grissom.
They lie by simply checking "no" in the criminal background box on the applications. But they get away with it when departments take the fingerprints but never do complete background checks.
That is what happened with the case of convicted drug felon Carlton Owens becoming an officer in Burns, according to state investigators. Another way some criminals become officers is that they get a judge to expunge their records so their criminal convictions no longer exist on the books anymore.
And there's still a third way people with records become police officers. They actually get the blessing of the state in the form of the POST Commission. Over the past three years, the I-Team found that the POST commission granted 110 waivers to people with criminal backgrounds wanting to be cops. Like in the case of one prospective officer who has an old misdemeanor assault charge.
The POST Commision gives, but it also takes away.
In the past three years alone, the commission has stripped more officers of badges than any time in the past 24 years combined. One of those badges was stripped from John Brannon. His felony assault charge didn't stop him from getting police jobs in Robertson County then in Ridgetop.
But a background check did stop him from keeping a third job when Greenbrier's police chief saw the felony assault conviction, and fired him. "Once a person has proven themselves to be a threat to the public, it has to be addressed," said Chief Richard Hatfield of the Greenbrier Police Department. Brannon said he only checked "no" criminal background because he thought his conviction was wiped away from his record. He said he is innocent although he is still considered a felon. "I can't find a department that will hire me on until I get this cleared up, and I can't get this cleared up until I find a department who will hire me on," said Brannon.
Brannon and Goltz are fighting to get their certification back.
But POST members say their tolerance is getting lower by the day. "To enforce the law, you've got to obey the law, and we've got to police ourselves first," said Grisham.
The head of the POST commission suggests that the number of cops with criminal records looks high now because his agency has done a better job of finding them. The director of POST also points out that 3,600 police officers were hired in that same three-year period with clean backgrounds.
It’s Okay For a Cop (the New Key West Police Chief) To Have sex With a Minor (17 yr old boy) in a patrol car and at his home
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This Attorney after having been convicted for three nickels with mandatory jail time is given community service to work on land development deals for the city and county .... precisely what he was convicted of feloniously doing for his clients
Convicted on FBI Tapes @ Nudist Bar, Key West Bag Man Gets Only Probation From Retiring Judge
You can't make this stuff up
Key West PD
In June 1984, the Key West Police Department in Monroe County, Florida was declared a criminal enterprise under the Federal RICO statutes after a lengthy United States Department of Justice investigation. Several high-ranking officers of the department, including Deputy Police Chief Raymond Cassamayor, were arrested on federal charges of running a protection racket for illegal cocaine smugglers. At trial, a witness testified he routinely delivered bags of cocaine to the Deputy Chief's office at City Hall.
Click on Headline:
Key West Police Department Called a 'Criminal Enterprise' - New York Times
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I can see if someone is convicted of a violent crime; however, tif someone is convicted if something as a youth, then gets it expunged and remains clean for a prolonged period, it is not right to continue to treat them as a criminal. In Michigan, it is a misdeameanor to disclose or publish a felony that’s been expunged, and the law says a conviction that’s been set aside is as though it never occurred. However, in contrary to the law, the state will still hold “what never occurred” against you if you apply to become an officer. It’s a double standard, and its not fair.
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