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| NEWS > 14 February 2010 |
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Officers' Finances Demand Freq
Before Prince George's County police officers receive their guns and badges, they must pass a credit check and list all their debts. That basic financial disclosure is the last they will ever have to file unless they reach the upper echelon of the department.
The policy, designed to make sure that people strapped for cash and prone to corruption do not become police officers, is similar to that of every other major department in the Washington area. But as federal investigators continue to probe whether veteran Prince George's officers took money to protect a high-stakes gambling rin... Read more
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Charleston Post Courier
14 February 2010
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Cottageville Police Department
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Officer claims raw deal
Officer Randall Price understands why many police departments wouldn't hire him. After cycling through eight jobs in 11 years, his work history is marred by multiple firings, allegations of misconduct and brutality claims.
On paper, Price appears to be the quintessential "gypsy cop," an itinerant officer who hops from job to job, leaving turmoil and bad blood in his wake. Price, who now works for the Cottageville police, puts it even more bluntly.
"On paper, I am a big dirtbag," he said, shaking his head.
Price, 38, insists he is the victim of small-town politics and vendettas waged by municipal officials who got angry when he arrested their friends, relatives or neighbors. Stepping on powerful toes had a ruinous effect on his career, he said, producing a checkered work history that haunts him.
"I've never been ashamed about it and I've never tried to hide it," he said. "But it has cost me a lot of money and aggravation. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."
Price's travails earned him a spot in The Post and Courier's 2005 series "Tarnished Badges," which described how officers with problem pasts continue to find work, aided by police who protect their own and departments desperate for experienced, certified officers. The series spurred the state to tighten reporting and monitoring requirements for police misconduct. That has helped officials identify and remove several notorious cops.
But state officials concede it remains difficult to determine what to do in cases where misbehavior doesn't rise to the level of a crime and where allegations aren't backed by detailed documentation. That allows some officers to compile lengthy disciplinary records yet continue carrying a badge and gun.
A raw deal?
Price's boss, Police Chief Anthony "Shane" Roberts, said he had serious reservations when he first learned of Price's past. He's now convinced Price got a raw deal from small-town officials. Roberts describes him as "an outstanding officer."
State Criminal Justice Academy Director Hubert Harrell said political interference in police matters happens a great deal in small towns throughout the state. In a cursory review of Price's file last week, Harrell noticed a curious lack of documentation to support the allegations against him.
"I am getting a picture here of someone who worked for a lot of small departments and just wasn't playing the game," he said.
But not everyone is buying Price's tale of woe.
Blackville Mayor Jackie Holman canned Price six years ago for allegedly using excessive force in the Barnwell County community. Price was accused of slamming a handcuffed suspect against a car and onto pavement, state records show. Holman said his reasons for firing Price were sound and that he never has regretted that decision.
"He had anger-management issues," he said. "You are supposed to treat people with some sense of decency, but he seemed to have a problem doing that. He had a problem with being a professional."
Still, Holman wasn't surprised Price found more police work. "No matter what happens, he seems to always have a way of wiggling in somewhere."
A bad start
Price said he grew up in a law-enforcement family -- his father and uncle were police officers -- and it just seemed a natural fit for him to carry on that tradition. After two years as a state prison guard, he landed a job as a McCormick County sheriff's deputy in September 1998.
Price lasted about a year before he was fired for unsafe driving. Price said he got pulled over for speeding in Georgia while taking a short cut to a call in an unmarked police car with blue lights flashing. "Did I deserve that? Absolutely," he said.
Price moved on to the Wagener Police Department, lasting 13 months before he was fired again, this time for insubordination, state records show. Price said the mayor tried to manipulate an incident report on a confrontation stemming from a love triangle involving a town official and the relative of another town worker. Price said he was fired after he refused to go along with something he considered unethical.
Then-Mayor Steve Carver said he never asked Price to do anything untoward; the officer simply refused to write any report on the incident, despite orders to do so. Carver said the town had several problems with Price, but privacy policies prevent him from elaborating.
Price joined the Aiken County Sheriff's Office in September 2000, but he was fired just six months later after he was charged with criminal domestic violence, state records show. Price, who denies he did anything wrong, completed a pre-trial program that wiped the charge from his record, allowing him to ditch a truck-driving job and return to law enforcement in August 2003.
Brutality complaints
After a five-month stint with Burnettown police, Price moved to the Blackville Police Department for a job with better pay and better benefits, he said. He stayed there about two years before the mayor fired him, citing repeated excessive-force complaints. Price insists the mayor didn't like him and looked for an excuse to get rid of him.
Blackville Police Chief John Holston wrote to the state Criminal Justice Academy to protest the firing, indicating that the mayor "did not approve of Officer Price's zero tolerance approach to law enforcement." Holston said he found no evidence to support claims of excessive force by Price.
"The only work habit that has ever been mention (sic) concerning Officer Price was his aggressive style of policing which includes a fair but consistent enforcement of the law," Holston stated.
Allendale police quickly hired Price, but then fired him four months later, in December 2006. Then-Police Chief Michael Brewton Jr. cited several complaints about Price using excessive force, including one episode in which he allegedly pointed his pistol at an unarmed driver during a traffic stop that resulted in no arrests. Brewton also noted several complaints about Price's unsafe driving habits and said Price had lied about his past, according to state records.
Price said he was terminated because his no-nonsense policing style rubbed town officials the wrong way. He drew heat after ticketing a town council member's son for drag racing and initiating an investigation into possible drug dealing by another council member's relatives, he said.
A couple of weeks after he was fired, the town's grievance committee decided that Price should have been allowed to resign and filed an amended document with the state indicating that he had left voluntarily. A new Allendale police chief took over in 2007 and hired Price back, telling the academy he found nothing in Price's file to back up Brewton's claims of misconduct.
"He was a very aggressive officer who made numerous drug arrests in an infested area and that seems to be where the complaints are coming from," then-Chief Ralph Putnam stated.
Brewton did not return phone calls from The Post and Courier seeking comment.
Bill O'Neill, who was academy director at the time, initially ruled Price ineligible to work in law enforcement based on the excessive-force complaints He reversed his stance after a September 2007 appeal and allowed Price to return to police work on a probationary basis, state records show.
Price lasted less than a month in Allendale this time around. State records show he left voluntarily, but Price maintains he was forced out by Town Administrator Dewayne Ennis and others. That formed the basis of a federal lawsuit he filed last year against the town, Ennis and others, seeking at least $5 million in damages. The suit is still pending, he said.
Ennis declined to comment on Price's claims, citing the pending legal actions.
A new start
Price was on a probationary status with the police academy when he was hired in Cottageville in May 2008. Roberts, who inherited Price from his predecessor, said the officer has been a good fit. Roberts said he has seen no evidence of the unruly officer others claim Price to be. "That is not who he is," he said.
Price said he still enjoys working in small communities, where he gets a chance to know people and form tight connections with officers. He hasn't faced any political blowback in Cottageville, he said, and for that he is thankful. He knows all too well how situations like that can end up, he said.
"If you make somebody mad, you are going to have to deal with it," he said. "And I am the poster child for that."
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