Cop Breaks Law to Enforce it
Jan 15, 9:42 PM (ET)

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) - A motorist who paid a speeding ticket he got from a state trooper who used out-of-state license plates on his unmarked patrol car wants his money back. "What gives the police the right to drive illegally on the highway?" said Dave Milbrandt, a company finance manager. "Do they have a special exemption?"

Milbrandt told The Columbian newspaper of Vancouver that he planned to see a lawyer about the $247 he paid after Washington State Patrol Trooper Bradford A. Moon, driving an unmarked Dodge Charger with Oregon plates, caught him going 56 mph in a 35 mph zone on State Route 4 in Longview last month.

"Did they write me a ticket illegally?" Milbrandt said. "If they did, I'd like my money back and my record cleared."

Moon, who removed the Oregon plates after the incident came to light, was trying to be creative in catching speeders but should have told his superiors, patrol Sgt. Randy L. Hullinger said Monday.

"It's not typically something that is done," Hullinger said.
"We encourage our troopers to look at innovative ways to catch people," he said, "but it's always good to run innovative ideas past somebody else so we can consider all possible outcomes.
"He went out on his own. He was attempting to use some initiative to solve a problem, which is our job, but in this case it looks like maybe judgment-wise he should have run it by somebody else."

Moon failed to consider that "the first thing the motoring public might think is, 'Is this a police impersonator?'" Hullinger said. "When they see a nonstandard police car, we want people to understand that when all the lights go on ... this is for real - but if there are Oregon plates on the car, there's just that much more concern in the public's eye it might not be a police car."
Moon, who had removed the plates from a personal vehicle after moving to Washington from Oregon, will not face disciplinary action, and the ticket will stand unless Milbrandt is successful in persuading a judge otherwise, patrol officials said.

Moon decided on the tactic after reading on Myspace about a boy who claimed he regularly drove 100 mph on Interstate 5 and avoided detection by knowing how to spot patrol cars, relying partly on whether the plates were in-state, Hullinger said.

The young driver was never caught.

Security Deputy Forgets Inmate for Two Days
Jan 15, 9:41 PM (ET)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A court security deputy was fired and two others suspended after an inmate was left in a holding cell for more than two days without food.

The three deputies were disciplined for dereliction of duties, the Marion County Sheriff's Department said Monday.

Deputy Tucker M. Parker forgot to take James Logan back to the county jail Friday following a sentencing hearing on cocaine dealing and possession charges in Marion Superior Court, said Julio Fernandez, a spokesman for the sheriff's department.

"He completely forgot," Fernandez said. "He just forgot that the guy was in there."

Logan, 21, spent more than 48 hours in the court holding cell, a news release said. The cell had running water and a toilet, but no food was available, the sheriff's department said.

"He told me that he was going to come back and get me, but he never came back," Logan told reporters in a jailhouse interview Monday.

Logan was discovered by other officers Sunday and transferred to the jail.

"This could have been a diabetic who could have been in a coma," said Kenneth Falk, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana. "Obviously, this is a problem that should be looked into immediately."

Chief Deputy Kerry Forestal said deputies now will check each holding cell at 8 p.m. and again after 11 p.m. to make sure they are empty.

Parker was fired, Deputy Richard A. Edgemont was suspended two days and Lt. James L. Wampler was suspended 10 days, Fernandez said. Wampler also will be demoted to sergeant and transferred out of the courtroom security detail, officials said.

"Mr. Parker was really responsible to come back and move this prisoner. The other gentlemen left shift without checking with him and that's where the suspension came about," said Fernandez.

The deputies' home phone numbers were not available in published listings for Indianapolis and they could not be reached for comment Monday.

Logan was sentenced Friday to two years in jail with a recommendation that the time be served in work-release.

Colorado Legislator Kicks Photogragher
Jan 15, 5:06 PM (ET)

DENVER (AP) - The Colorado Legislature launched an investigation Tuesday into whether a state lawmaker should be disciplined for kicking a newspaper photographer.

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff said he will form a special committee with powers similar to an ethics committee, which can recommend discipline ranging from a reprimand to expulsion, against Rep. Douglas Bruce.

House leaders said they were looking into the specific authority they could give the panel, including subpoena power, and whether the meetings would be public.

Bruce, a Colorado Springs Republican, accused the photographer of causing a disruption by snapping his photo during the traditional session-opening prayer on Monday morning, hours before Bruce was sworn in as a midterm replacement.

Bruce refused to apologize and called the kick "just a nudge."
Romanoff, a Democrat, said the committee will be formed with the help of GOP Minority Leader Mike May.

"We both take this very seriously," Romanoff said.

The inquiry must be done by a special committee because an ethics committee can investigate only actions by standing lawmakers.

The committee's recommendations are due Jan. 25. Any action would require a two-thirds vote of the House.

Bruce said he's done nothing wrong.

"I don't think it's unethical to ask somebody repeatedly not to disrupt the prayer and particularly my prayer and participation," Bruce said after Romanoff announced the investigation.

"He didn't have any injury. He didn't fall over, it was just a nudge," Bruce said.

Bruce was standing during the prayer when Rocky Mountain News photographer Javier Manzano knelt down and snapped his photo. Bruce brought the sole of his shoe down hard on Manzano's bent knee and said, "Don't do that again."

"I think that's the most offensive thing I've seen a photographer do in 21 years," Bruce said later. "If people are going to cause a disruption during a public prayer, they should be called for it. He owes an apology to the House and the public."

Rocky Mountain News Editor John Temple said Manzano had a right to take Bruce's picture. Temple said he would discuss the incident with House leadership.

"The House floor is a place where journalists are allowed to operate. It's outrageous for Mr. Bruce in a public place to assault a photographer," Temple said.

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/519/police_drug_corruption

The Detroit drug squad is under investigation, a Pennsylvania police chief is accused of stealing money from drug busts, and a Wisconsin prison has a problem with pill-stealing guards. Let's get to it:

In Detroit, the Detroit Police Department has invited the FBI to join its investigation of the department's Narcotics Unit. The move comes as the department digs into the unit's "conspiracy crews," teams of narcotics officers who work on long-term investigations of big-time drug dealers. Some members of one of the crews are suspected of stealing as much as a half million dollars. The accused officers have been reassigned to other duties pending the results of the investigation. A minimum of four officers are alleged to be involved, and perhaps more.

In Lykens, Pennsylvania, the police chief was arrested Monday for stealing money seized in drug busts. Chief W.R. Wade, who was suspended with pay two months ago, is charged with two counts of theft for stealing the money, as well as another count of unsworn falsification, for lying about a previous arrest on his job application. He is now suspended without pay. Wade went down after he announced the arrests of 21 people on drug charges, but in the end only arrested seven and failed to provide any evidence. Investigators found $3,800 in missing seized cash from one case and $200 from another in his home.

In Portage, Wisconsin, a prison guard was arrested January 7 for stealing narcotic drugs intended for sick prisoners. David Yatalese, 53, a guard at the Columbia Correctional Institution, is charged with theft, possession of a controlled substance and possession at or near a prison, a felony. According to prison officials, an internal CCI investigation tracked missing oxycodone, methadone and hydrocodone back to Yatalese after another prison worker noticed prisoners' prescriptions coming up in need of renewal too quickly. Yatalese is the third guard caught stealing prisoners' drugs in the previous 20 months. One is awaiting trial, and the other got two years probation and drug treatment. Prison officials said they have a "serious problem" and are working on solutions.