As reported on NewsOn6.com, a key witness in the Tulsa Police corruption case is hoping to get $400,000 from authorities after helping the FBI to build a case against corrupt Tulsa Police officers. There will always be controversy over paying convicted criminals to provide information to law enforcement, but it is surely impossible to put a price on the value to society in rooting out corrupt officials.
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Posts Tagged ‘corruption’
Legalising drugs probably wouldn’t reduce police corruption
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011I have to conclude that Radley Balko’s article “War on Drugs Corrupting America’s Cops” fails to fully understand the reason behind corrupt behaviour in narcotics law enforcement. It is not the “war on drugs” causing police corruption – it is process failure and lack of accountability. If processes are properly followed and senior law enforcement officers have proper oversight of covert activity, there is little opportunity for corrupt behaviour to occur. Every example that Balko uses could probably have been avoided if systems were in place to properly record and monitor covert activity.
Removing drug prohibition does not solve the problem – accountability issues will still remain. The answer is to improve management oversight across all covert operations and make it harder for police officers to stray away from acceptable behaviour.
San Francisco Police to review use of confidential informants
Thursday, March 10th, 2011The tensions between the operational need for confidential informants and the requirement to maintain police integrity have made themselves clear in yesterday’s San Francisco Examiner article.
Police Captains clearly see confidential informants as an essential part of policing. However, police bosses have to balance this with the need to operate in a safe, legally compliant and transparent way. The Examiner article reveals that the way in which confidential informants are managed is currently being reviewed at San Francisco Police Department. By improving management processes and officer training, SFPD will hope to reduce opportunities for police misconduct whilst still allowing the agency to benefit from the invaluable intelligence that confidential informants provide.
Cop leaks confidential informant details to family
Friday, February 18th, 2011The Trentonian has reported that a police dispatcher for Dover Police (New Jersey) looked up criminal records of friends and relatives and revealed the identity of a confidential informant to one of his relatives. Such behaviour is clearly against law enforcement agency policy and the officer faces a four year prison term. Although the police say that his actions did not compromise any investigations, they will undoubtedly have a negative impact on citizens’ confidence in the agency’s ability to protect data and, more importantly, the identity of confidential informants.
Law enforcement agencies should learn from this that secure and reliable systems to enforce policies and protect informant data are an essential component of modern-day policing.
After 16 years, superior court finds that police allowed key witness to lie in under oath
Friday, December 17th, 2010As reported by KTVU, Caramad Conley was convicted in 1994 of two counts of first-degree murder and 11 counts of attempted murder for a 1989 drive-by shooting in San Francisco. Last week a superior court judge ruled to overturn the murder conviction after she found that San Francisco police witheld the fact that the prosecution’s key witness, Daniel Polk, was paid thousands of dollars in exchange for his testimony and that the witness was allowed by homicide inspector Earl Sanders to testify under oath that he was no longer in the witness protection program which he was receiving cash and other benefits from. Polk died in 2007. Conley has already served 16 years in prison.
Such cases illustrate the need to maintain strong management oversight of the use of confidential informants. Let’s hope that San Francisco police have improved their practices since then…
Police steal funds for informants and lie in drugs investigations
Friday, November 26th, 2010Two former Deputies at Bexar County Sheriff’s Office were found guilty on Wednesday of stealing funds for informants and lying in drug investigations. In 2008 and 2009 the two Deputies routinely requested money to pay informants for information but pocketed half of it for themselves.
The damages to the Sheriff’s Office are far greater than a few thousand dollars of stolen informant funds. The former deputies’ convictions throw a number of drugs convictions into question – 239 letters were sent to defense lawyers by the District Attorney advising them that there may be cause for appeals. If it goes the same way as the recent Tulsa corruption scandal, many convicted drugs felons may have their convictions overturned. According to the San Antonio Express article, there has also been significant restructuring the Bexar County Sheriff’s office, with all the deputies on the 15 member narcotics unit being replaced.
Management oversight of financial transactions in the necessarily secretive area of confidential informants may be difficult, but it’s far from impossible. Robust policies and procedures enforced in conjunction with reliable source management software can make it relatively easy for law enforcement agencies to improve the management of this area of covert operations.
Don’t get too close to your confidential informants…
Friday, November 12th, 2010Good relationships between undercover officers and confidential informants deliver better results. Building up mutual trust and understanding encourages informants to provide more valuable and useful information leading to more numerous and robust convictions.
But what happens when a strong, professional relationship goes too far? WDTN reported yesterday on the dismissal of Montgomery County Sheriff Deputy Steven Gardiner’s dismissal after it turned out that he was covering up a sexual relationship he was having with a paid confidential informant. The disgraced, and married, deputy even invited the informant on a holiday to Hawaii. It seems that the Sheriff’s office acted swiftly and strongly to fire Gardiner, and rightly so. Inappropriate relationships of this nature reek of corruption and abuse of power and do little to instill confidence in law enforcement.
$900,000 bill for police corruption lawsuits
Monday, November 8th, 2010Tulsa’s budget will have to accommodate between $700,000 to $900,000 to handle a wave of lawsuits which are arising as a result of a corruption scandal in the city’s police department. As reported by Tulsa World, three lawsuits have already been filed against the Tulsa police for wrongful imprisonment. This is because police officers allegedly stole drugs and money, planted drugs in houses, falsified search warrants and made up confidential informants.
Life sentence dismissed in police corruption probe
Thursday, October 28th, 2010Demario Harris must be a happy man. On Wednesday his life sentence for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute was thrown out by a U.S. District Judge because two police officers allegedly used a fabricated confidential informant and a falsified search warrant to justify his arrest. As reported by Tulsa World, Harris is the 21st person to be released early from prison as a result of an investigation into corruption within the police.
It must be highly frustrating for Tulsa Police to see convicted drug dealers having their sentences dismissed. However, it emphasises the point that shortcuts should never be taken to secure an arrest. Take a moment to think about the communities in Tulsa though – 21 people that police and the judicial system said were criminals are now exonerated and back in the community – faith in the judicial system really must be at an all time low, and all because of a few over-zealous cops…
Dodgy Sheriff accused of sharing drugs profits
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010The Sheriff of Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office, Raymond Martin, has been on trial for drug trafficking and witness tampering accoring to Courier Press. The Sheriff allegedly gave marijuana to a confidential informant, Jeremy Potts, on several occasions (sometimes up to 20 pounds a time) so that Potts could sell it and share half of the profits. Eventually Potts wanted to get out of the arrangement and became a confidential informant for Illinois State Police, allowing evidence to be gathered in order to arrest the corrupt Sheriff.
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