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| NEWS > 01 August 2006 |
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Police seek subpoena to find o
Lawrence police are seeking a subpoena against MySpace.com, demanding it reveal the name of the person who posted a fake - and lurid - Police Department Web page on its site.
Police Chief John Romero said he is "outraged" and if an officer is behind the Web page, the officer could face disciplinary action. If it is not an officer, Romero said he will seek criminal or civil sanctions against the responsible party for pretending to be police.
"Some of the stuff and language on that Web site is pretty raunchy. It's offensive, there's no question about it," said Romero. "For ... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Sun-Sentinel.com - Fort Lauder
01 August 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Former Chief Albert Dowdell
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Former Belle Glade chief surre
Former Belle Glade Police Chief Albert Dowdell was charged Monday with two counts of perjury in the wake of a critical grand jury report that led to his suspension and a decision by the city to hand over law enforcement to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
Dowdell, 51, surrendered at the sheriff's Belle Glade substation shortly before noon. He was released on $3,000 bail on the two felony charges.
According to a grand jury indictment handed up last week, Dowdell "did unlawfully make a false statement, which he did not believe to be true" when he appeared in March before another grand jury looking into the Belle Glade Police Department's handling of an Oct. 7 shooting.
The indictment did not specify the alleged falsehood. Mike Edmonson, a spokesman for the Palm Beach County state attorney, said he could provide no details.
However, a 30-page report issued by the grand jury in May charged Dowdell with repeated evasions and "feigned memory loss" during his testimony, and recommended that he be investigated by a subsequent grand jury for perjury, criminal contempt and corruption.
A second count alleges that Dowdell on May 12 "did unlawfully sign an affidavit of compliance ... knowing that said declaration was false."
Neither Dowdell nor his attorney, Dan Paige, said they knew to what declaration that charge pertained.
Dowdell called his indictment "a sad state of affairs, knowing that my entire career has been based on integrity.
"For this to happen to me I can't really believe it. I'm innocent, and I'll be proven innocent," he said.
Named in the same indictment was former Belle Glade police Sgt. Jeffers Walker, 43, charged with two counts of perjury and one count of issuing a false written statement. Walker turned himself in Friday and was released on $5,000 bail.
On the release of the grand jury report, City Manager Houston Tate immediately suspended Dowdell and Walker pending hearings.
But the hearings were postponed, the Police Department was abolished, and Tate was later fired.
A Belle Glade native, Dowdell became the first black to head the Police Department in the majority-black city when he was named to the post in May 2004.
He succeeded longtime Police Chief Michael Miller, who retired after a highly publicized suicide by hanging of a young black man.
The death of Feraris "Ray" Golden roiled racial tensions in Belle Glade despite a coroner's inquest that found no evidence of the lynching that some residents believed had taken place.
Dowdell, a former city commissioner and police detective known as "Secret Squirrel," was a popular choice for chief, particularly in the black community.
But some residents, including Commissioner Don Garrett, alleged that burglaries and drug dealing had become more widespread under Dowdell's leadership.
Contacted at his vacation home in Tennessee, Garrett said he was "stunned, really," to hear of Dowdell's arrest. "He's innocent until proven guilty," said Garrett.
Former Commissioner Sherrie Dulany, who petitioned to have the Sheriff's Office replace the Police Department, lamented that Dowdell "had a great opportunity to do something here in the community, so it's sort of discouraging."
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