In Mexico, reversing legacy of police corruption is a tall order

By Ken Ellingwood, Tribune Newspapers
November 18, 2009

SAN LUIS POTOSI, Mexico – — Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s 3-year-old drug offensive has laid bare the extent to which crime syndicates have infiltrated police agencies at virtually every level. By blurring the line between crime fighters and gangsters, rampant graft stands as one of the biggest impediments [...]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Former NYPD Officer Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 78 Months in Prison for Armed Bank Robbery

For Immediate Release
November 12, 2009 United States Attorney’s Office
Southern District of New York
Contact: (212) 637-2600
Former NYPD Officer Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 78 Months in Prison for Armed Bank Robbery
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that former New York City Police Officer CHRISTIAN TORRES was sentenced [...]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Problems found with some LAPD probes of officers’ alleged bias

by Joel Rubin (LA Times)
November 10, 2009

An independent examination of how the Los Angeles Police Department investigates officers accused of profiling people based on race, gender or sexual orientation found serious problems with a third of the sampled investigations, the inspector general for the L.A. Police Commission reported Tuesday.
In six of 20 LAPD investigations into [...]

Popularity: 5% [?]

Burbank police chief steps down amid FBI probe

by Andrew Blankstein
November 10, 2009

Tim Stehr, who became chief in 2007, did not give a reason for his resignation. Several current and former officers at the department are being investigated by the FBI.

The chief of the Burbank Police Department announced Monday that he is stepping down, a month after the FBI revealed it was investigating [...]

Popularity: 9% [?]

Ex-Inglewood officer pleads no contest in off-duty gun brandishing incident

by Baxter Holmes (LA Times)
November 4, 2009

A former Inglewood police officer who allegedly flashed a firearm at a motorist in a threatening manner while off-duty pleaded no contest today, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced.
Officer Michael Lewis Robinson, 44, was charged with one felony count of brandishing at a person in a motor [...]

Popularity: 13% [?]

Veteran LAPD officer surrenders after being indicted on weapons charge

by Scott Glover (LA Times)
November 3, 2009

A veteran Los Angeles police officer who owns a private security company in Belize surrendered to federal authorities Monday after being indicted on a weapons charge.
Johnny Augustus Baltazar, 50, is accused of illegally shipping 10 handguns and 1,500 rounds of ammunition to the Central American nation, where he owns [...]

Popularity: 12% [?]

L.A. is seeing its police officers in a new light

by Scott Gold, Catherine Saillant and Joe Mozingo (LA Times)
November 1, 2009

Hilda Samayoa did something a few weeks ago that would have been highly unusual in her South Los Angeles neighborhood not too long ago: She called police to report that a gang had set up shop in a nearby house.
She did so, in part, [...]

Popularity: 7% [?]

LAPD officers won’t be charged in MacArthur Park melee

by Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein (LA Times)
October 31, 2009

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office will not file criminal charges against any of the LAPD officers who discharged rubberized bullets and wielded batons during the 2007 May Day melee at MacArthur Park, officials announced Friday.
After a lengthy review, prosecutors said there is insufficient evidence [...]

Popularity: 9% [?]

Burbank cop in FBI probe commits suicide

Associated Press
Thursday, October 29, 2009
BURBANK, Calif. — A police sergeant who was being investigated as part of an FBI probe into police misconduct shot and killed himself on the corner of a residential street Thursday, authorities said.
Neil T. Gunn, 50, was found dead around 11:40 a.m. after he committed suicide as he stood at the [...]

Popularity: 13% [?]

L.A. County sheriff’s sergeant pleads not guilty to sexual assault

by Richard Faturechi (LA Times)
October 28, 2009

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant pleaded not guilty this morning to sexually assaulting a woman and inappropriately searching two others while on duty last year, prosecutors said.
Mark Fitzpatrick, 39, allegedly assaulted the women during traffic stops in Compton and threatened one with arrest or deportation during one incident.
Fitzpatrick [...]

Popularity: 7% [?]