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| NEWS > 14 June 2007 |
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'He was just doing his job'
THE father of a detective accused of bashing a suspect with a phone says police bosses are to blame for the Armed Offenders Squad scandal.
In a sensational open letter to Premier Steve Bracks, former Det-Insp Bryan Dabb claims well-intentioned officers are being overworked to exhaustion in a dysfunctional force.
Now a few over-eager officers are being "hung out to dry" through the Office of Police Integrity public hearings into alleged bashings in order to cover up wider issues, he writes.
Officers and their families have been subjected to Orwellian-style phone tap... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Naples Daily News - Naples,FL,
14 June 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Cape Coral Police Department,
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Cape Coral police investigatin
The Cape Coral Police Department has launched an investigation against a detective, whose father is chief of the department, amid allegations the detective groped a teenage girl.
Days after prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges against Stephen Petrovich when the teenager abruptly changed her story, the police department has taken up pieces of the case for its own review. Police spokeswoman Dyan Lee would not specify what those pieces were Thursday, but she said investigators will look into new accusations and old ones against Petrovich.
Chief Rob Petrovich has recused himself from all proceedings against his son.
“I have not been involved, cannot be involved,” the chief said in an interview, noting he long believed the allegations were false. “Above all, what we have to maintain is the integrity of this department.”
Stephen Petrovich was thrown into a criminal investigation late in 2006 when the child reported he’d groped her three times last summer. An investigator for the State Attorney’s Office in Polk County took up the case, along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and interviewed the teen in April.
According to the investigator’s final report, the teen was consistent in her story for months; it was never “added to, exaggerated, or minimized.”
Petrovich, meanwhile, was equally consistent in denying any illicit contact with her. But he refused at least twice to take a polygraph test. Then in May the girl announced she’d had a conversation with Stephen Petrovich and now believed the alleged incidents were a dream. Her recantation effectively killed the criminal investigation. On June 5, State Attorney Jerry Hill said he wouldn’t pursue the case.
In that final report, the state attorney’s investigator noted that the girl, even while explaining it had all been a dream, said she didn’t think “the abuse will ever happen again ... Because next time Steve knows he will be in more trouble.”
Meanwhile, in a separate, civil proceeding, a judge in Lee County this month sided with Petrovich and found the teen had “set a tempest in motion” when she claimed he molested her, said Petrovich’s defense attorney, Kurt Streyffeler. The teen didn’t show fear and grief as a victim would, Streyffeler said, and when she recanted her story, it was her attempt to smooth over the trouble she’d caused.
Chief Petrovich said his son left town this week on vacation; Stephen Petrovich was unavailable to comment Thursday. But his attorneys and his father emphasized that the allegations, while serious enough to threaten his career, fell apart under scrutiny.
“It was like a load off his mind and shoulders,” the chief said.
If reporters were at the civil hearing, Streyffeler said, and heard the judge call the teen’s accusations a “bonehead move,” it would be clear how handily the case was tossed out.
Further criminal and civil proceedings are unlikely. But now Petrovich must face questions at work.
It’s unclear if Cape Coral police officials will look into any piece of the teen’s original allegations. But other, earlier claims against Petrovich that came up in the State Attorney’s report seem to be fueling the department’s query: In 2000, for instance, a woman complained that Petrovich masturbated in front of her during a ride-along.
A polygraph indicated she was lying in some of her statements, the report said.
The state attorney’s investigator also met with a Cape Coral woman who said she had a month-long affair with Petrovich in 2002. She reported having sex with him in stadium bleachers at Cape Coral High School while he was on duty.
Chief Petrovich said allegations like that, which could be a serious infraction, had to be investigated further. But he said he’ll have nothing to do with that review.
Streyffeler, the defense attorney, said the primary reason the case is still alive after it was dismissed in court and failed to produce criminal charges is that Petrovich is the son of the chief.
“He can’t be promoted because of nepotism, but he sure can be fired,” Streyffeler said. “I just think this is further character assassination.”
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