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| NEWS > 20 July 2007 |
Other related articles:
UK: police officers criticised in IPCC probe
Two Leicestershire police officers face misconduct proceedings following an investigation into the way they dealt with a victim of harassment.
A woman, 32, was stabbed five times outside Greenfield Primary School, Countesthorpe, last year by a man who she had repeatedly reported to police.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) examined the force's dealings with the man.
Police apologised for failing to recognise the threats to the victim.
The IPCC said six other officers have received or will receive management action by the force following th... Read more
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Sun-Sentinel.com - Fort Lauder
20 July 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Hollywood Police Department, F
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Hollywood morale recovers as c
HOLLYWOOD On the job, they continued making traffic stops, investigating burglaries and homicides and taking reports from residents. But inside the Police Department, the shock, shame and sense of loss overwhelmed the staff after they learned that four of their own took money from FBI agents posing as drug traffickers.
"One minute you think everything is perfect," said Sgt. William Ferguson. "And the next minute your friends are going to prison."
Today, former Detectives Kevin Companion and Thomas Simcox and ex-Officer Stephen Harrison are scheduled to be sentenced in federal court. Former sergeant Jeffry Courtney's sentencing has been pushed back to next month.
Each has pleaded guilty to trafficking drugs in the FBI sting and each faces about 10 years in prison.
"A part of me wanted to grab [Harrison] and shake him and say, 'What did you do?'" Officer Joseph Pendergrast, 34, said of his friend. "Another part of me wanted to give him a big hug. I just felt bad for him."
The scandal, which broke in February, set off an emotional "roller coaster" within the entire 590-member department, said Ferguson, a 20-year veteran.
"It was all a big family," he said. "Everybody did everything together."
Ferguson played golf with Simcox, 50, and was in the gym regularly with Harrison, 47. He supervised Courtney, 52, "the go-to guy" for hurricane needs.
But Ferguson said the hardest one for him to bear was Companion, 41. They met in 1987. Their kids were about the same age and Companion's wife baby-sat Ferguson's teenage sons when they were younger.
"These four guys absolutely brought us down to the pits," Ferguson said.
The FBI sting began about 2 1/2 years ago, when agents posing as mobsters got the officers to agree to provide protection for them. The videotaped exchanges were later shown to Chief James Scarberry, who called it "a kick in the stomach."
He then told some key members of his staff in confidence, but word soon trickled down to the corrupt officers, who abruptly resigned.
Those suspected in the leak, Maj. Frank McGarry, Lt. Chuck Roberts and patrol Officer Tammy Clyde, were suspended with pay while an internal investigation continues. Roberts resigned two weeks ago, police spokesman Tony Rode said, and has pleaded guilty to making a false statement to FBI agents. He's due in court July 25.
"It's been months and months since this has been looming over the department," said Officer Patrick Floyd. "We've been going out trying to do what we can, in every small way, in the community. I believe of the 330 officers that I work with, every one of them wants to polish the badge instead of tarnish it."
Pendergrast, whose family and Harrison's were friends, said he went from denial to shock to anger when he learned what the officers had done.
"The temptation is real and it's in everybody's life," he said. "I believe that if you commit a crime, that you should be held accountable. The sad part of it is that his family has to go through that with him."
Scarberry said no law enforcement agency should ever discount that there may be members of their staff who may "turn to the dark side."
"That's why you continue to instill a sense of ethics and accountability and responsibility," he said. "We hear from people that the rest of us should feel that we can hold our heads high."
Still, the scandal's aftershocks are likely to linger.
"It's an overall negative impact that affects recruiting and something as simple as getting up in the morning to go to work," said John J. Sullivan, a Florida Atlantic University criminology professor. "It could have a tangible impact on the community's willingness to work with the police department."
Dean Fleming, one of the department's several chaplains, said about 20 staffers attended a prayer service in May at a Davie church. Some wanted to forgive; others did not.
"These guys ... tarnished the reputation of cops," Fleming said. "People were embarrassed to be a police officer for Hollywood."
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