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NEWS > 29 October 2006

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Top cops' new charges
NEW charges of assault by kicking and assault with an instrument have been laid against the former head of the axed armed offenders squad.

The charges are among 15 assault-related charges Insp Bernie Rankin will face.

Three of Det-Insp Rankin's armed offenders squad members have also had new charges laid against them by the Office of Police Integrity.

The charges follow an OPI raid on the armed offenders squad office at the St Kilda Rd police complex last July.

Sen-Det Robert Dabb, Sen-Det Mark Butterfield and Det-Sgt Matthew Franc's new charges a... Read more

 Article sourced from

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Salt Lake Tribune - United Sta
29 October 2006
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Sex offenses ensnaring officer

Utah trend: Careers thrown away; Nearly half of the peace officers whose certifications were revoked in the past five years were in hot water for incidents involving sexual misconduct


Iron County jail guard Raydon K. Madson was spending a lot of time visiting with one particular inmate - so much time, according to investigators, he was neglecting other duties.
When the woman was released in June 2003, she and the guard met at least twice for oral sex, according to court and police records.
The relationship appeared consensual, but that didn't matter. With the first intimate contact, Madson broke the law.
He was eventually convicted of a misdemeanor "custodial sexual misconduct" offense and lost his police certification.
Madson's case is not unique.
Sexual misconduct by peace officers occurs frequently inagencies throughout Utah, from metropolitan police departments to rural county sheriff's offices, from the state Highway Patrol to the Department of Corrections.
It is the most common reason - more than excessive force, falsifying reports or driving under the influence - that Utah officers lose their certifications or are suspended from their jobs, according to a Salt Lake Tribune review of Utah Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Council records.
The offenses include rape; attempted sodomy; child sex abuse; and having sex with inmates, parolees or people on probation.
Some recent examples:

* Two Washington County jail guards had sex
with incarcerated women. Both pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor counts of sexual relations with inmates.
* A South Salt Lake officer pleaded guilty to sexual battery for improperly touching dancers at a saloon.
* A Davis County deputy resigned after being investigated for having a sexual relationship with a woman on probation.
* A Millard County deputy had a sexual relationship with an inmate while he was assigned to the county jail.
All of the officers' police certifications were revoked this year.
Over the past 15 years, the number of officers forced out of the profession or suspended for such incidents has climbed.
The Tribune analysis of POST records showed that of 94 peace officers whose certifications were revoked between 2000 and 2005, 43 were accused of sexual misconduct.
During the same time period, another 22 were suspended for the same reason. The suspensions ranged from six months to four years.
A review of another 1,000 disciplinary cases handled by the POST Council between 1991 and 2003 showed that 212 - or 21 percent - involved a sexual offense, such as rape or sex with a consenting adult in a patrol car.
That number dwarfs the number of excessive-force complaints - eight - that POST investigated during the same 12-year period.

"It has ballooned in the last couple of years, and it's alarming to us. We're very concerned about the trends," said POST Director Rich Townsend.
About 30 percent of the cases POST investigates are handled administratively and are never prosecuted criminally. The offenses, while considered a violation of police ethics, don't always fit neatly into the state's criminal codes, Townsend explained.
Other officers never appear in court - or before POST - because a small number of police chiefs and sheriffs strapped for staff deliberately fail to report their own investigations into officer misconduct, Townsend said.
Administrators may be afraid of losing an employee in whom they have invested thousands of dollars and training, he said. They also may fear ruining their officer's chances of finding work in another department.
"Law enforcement needs to be concerned," Townsend said. "Law enforcement administrators better wake up and be concerned because, again, so much hope is placed in the integrity of the profession."
The rash of recent police officer misconduct prompted one Logan City Council member to ask Townsend whether law enforcement was in a moral crisis.
"My response to that was, 'I hope not,' '' he said.


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