101Scout
01-05-2008, 12:21 PM
How many times have we heard on the local or national news about Cops involved with domestic violence in the past 5-10 years? Lots! How many girlfriends and wives of Cops turns up missing? How many times are these cases involving Cops covered-up by their own dept? Many!
Please click on the url for more stories of abuse and cover-ups by the Cops. I'm sure this is just a tip of the iceburg with what really goes on and gets reported.
What's wrong with this picture... Cops, their weapons and dept connections when it comes to their love affairs??
Should Cops who are suspected of abusing 'others' be allowed to own weapons outside their workplace????
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
July 23, 2003
Cops who abuse their wives rarely pay the price
By RUTH TEICHROEB AND JULIE DAVIDOW
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
Their wedding cake shimmered with pearls, symbolizing marital bliss. Armfuls of roses, in shades of lavender and cream, scented the hall.
Less than two months later, the Seattle police officer found himself under investigation for domestic violence.
That night at their Burien home, Jenifer Rees watched in disbelief as King County sheriff's deputies handed her intoxicated husband back his gun and let him drive away -- so he wouldn't miss work in the morning.
"It was like, 'You're one of us, so you can leave,' " Jenifer Rees, 34, recalled. "He could have come back and blown my head off."
He'd flown into a rage and slammed her into a wall, she told deputies, according to the police report. She showed them a scrape on the side of her head and said he had hurled a dresser drawer at her. But rather than further incite his wrath, she refused to cooperate in the investigation.
Phil Rees denied the allegations. No charges were filed. The Seattle Police Department didn't discipline the veteran officer, who had been accused of domestic violence before, in 1998 and 1999.
Today, it could be Officer Rees who arrives at the door when a battered woman calls 911 in the city's Southwest Precinct.
It's a scenario being repeated every day in Western Washington.
Over the past five years, 41 officers in King and Pierce counties alone have been accused of assaulting, stalking, threatening or harassing their wives, girlfriends or children, a five-month investigation by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has found.
The officers, employed at 12 police agencies running the gamut from metropolitan to rural, were identified through searches of civil and criminal records, and public disclosure requests for internal investigations.
Most have paid little, if any, professional price. Only half faced charges.
The reasons for that sometimes have little to do with guilt or innocence.
Victims may refuse to pursue charges, fearing further violence or financial ruin if an abuser loses his job. Some police departments don't bother to take abuse allegations seriously.
The most horrifying reminder of that came on April 26 when Tacoma police Chief David Brame shot his wife, Crystal, in a Gig Harbor parking lot, then killed himself moments later. The murder-suicide has exposed serious concerns about how city officials minimized signs of Brame's violent nature.
Top city officials promoted the veteran officer up through the ranks, handing him the top job in January 2002 -- even though they knew he'd been accused of raping a woman in 1988.
They defended Brame and refused to take action after his wife filed for divorce in February and accused him of pointing a gun at her and choking her four times in the previous year.
Seeking answers to what went wrong, Crystal Brame's family filed a $75 million claim against the city last month. Criminal and civil investigations are under way as the fallout continues: Acting police Chief Catherine Woodard was put on leave after being accused of misconduct related to the Brame divorce, and City Manager Ray Corpuz, who appointed Brame to chief, has been fired.
Puget Sound-area police officials want the public to believe that Brame was an aberration, that those entrusted with a gun and badge are held to a higher standard of conduct than civilians, following a strict moral code on and off duty.
But the P-I found that most police departments are falling short on a number of fronts in the way they handle domestic violence allegations against officers. The departments are:
* Creating a double standard by not immediately arresting officers accused of domestic violence. Ordinary citizens facing such allegations are routinely jailed.
* Putting victims at greater risk by not taking away the officers' guns. During the investigation, officers suspected of abuse should be taken off patrol and not allowed to carry weapons, according to model policies drafted by national experts.
* Failing to conduct thorough internal investigations of the incidents -- or, in some cases, not bothering with any review. That's how officers escape disciplinary action, experts say.
* Rarely determining there was wrongdoing in domestic violence complaints against officers, and meting out minimal discipline in the vast majority of those cases.
* Lacking specific policies on how to deal with officers accused of abuse.
Only one of the officers identified by the P-I was convicted of a domestic violence-related crime, and prosecutors and police officials in King and Pierce counties could not recall any other cases in recent years.
(much more in the article)
Please click on the url for more stories of abuse and cover-ups by the Cops. I'm sure this is just a tip of the iceburg with what really goes on and gets reported.
What's wrong with this picture... Cops, their weapons and dept connections when it comes to their love affairs??
Should Cops who are suspected of abusing 'others' be allowed to own weapons outside their workplace????
[Only registered and activated users can see links]
July 23, 2003
Cops who abuse their wives rarely pay the price
By RUTH TEICHROEB AND JULIE DAVIDOW
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
Their wedding cake shimmered with pearls, symbolizing marital bliss. Armfuls of roses, in shades of lavender and cream, scented the hall.
Less than two months later, the Seattle police officer found himself under investigation for domestic violence.
That night at their Burien home, Jenifer Rees watched in disbelief as King County sheriff's deputies handed her intoxicated husband back his gun and let him drive away -- so he wouldn't miss work in the morning.
"It was like, 'You're one of us, so you can leave,' " Jenifer Rees, 34, recalled. "He could have come back and blown my head off."
He'd flown into a rage and slammed her into a wall, she told deputies, according to the police report. She showed them a scrape on the side of her head and said he had hurled a dresser drawer at her. But rather than further incite his wrath, she refused to cooperate in the investigation.
Phil Rees denied the allegations. No charges were filed. The Seattle Police Department didn't discipline the veteran officer, who had been accused of domestic violence before, in 1998 and 1999.
Today, it could be Officer Rees who arrives at the door when a battered woman calls 911 in the city's Southwest Precinct.
It's a scenario being repeated every day in Western Washington.
Over the past five years, 41 officers in King and Pierce counties alone have been accused of assaulting, stalking, threatening or harassing their wives, girlfriends or children, a five-month investigation by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has found.
The officers, employed at 12 police agencies running the gamut from metropolitan to rural, were identified through searches of civil and criminal records, and public disclosure requests for internal investigations.
Most have paid little, if any, professional price. Only half faced charges.
The reasons for that sometimes have little to do with guilt or innocence.
Victims may refuse to pursue charges, fearing further violence or financial ruin if an abuser loses his job. Some police departments don't bother to take abuse allegations seriously.
The most horrifying reminder of that came on April 26 when Tacoma police Chief David Brame shot his wife, Crystal, in a Gig Harbor parking lot, then killed himself moments later. The murder-suicide has exposed serious concerns about how city officials minimized signs of Brame's violent nature.
Top city officials promoted the veteran officer up through the ranks, handing him the top job in January 2002 -- even though they knew he'd been accused of raping a woman in 1988.
They defended Brame and refused to take action after his wife filed for divorce in February and accused him of pointing a gun at her and choking her four times in the previous year.
Seeking answers to what went wrong, Crystal Brame's family filed a $75 million claim against the city last month. Criminal and civil investigations are under way as the fallout continues: Acting police Chief Catherine Woodard was put on leave after being accused of misconduct related to the Brame divorce, and City Manager Ray Corpuz, who appointed Brame to chief, has been fired.
Puget Sound-area police officials want the public to believe that Brame was an aberration, that those entrusted with a gun and badge are held to a higher standard of conduct than civilians, following a strict moral code on and off duty.
But the P-I found that most police departments are falling short on a number of fronts in the way they handle domestic violence allegations against officers. The departments are:
* Creating a double standard by not immediately arresting officers accused of domestic violence. Ordinary citizens facing such allegations are routinely jailed.
* Putting victims at greater risk by not taking away the officers' guns. During the investigation, officers suspected of abuse should be taken off patrol and not allowed to carry weapons, according to model policies drafted by national experts.
* Failing to conduct thorough internal investigations of the incidents -- or, in some cases, not bothering with any review. That's how officers escape disciplinary action, experts say.
* Rarely determining there was wrongdoing in domestic violence complaints against officers, and meting out minimal discipline in the vast majority of those cases.
* Lacking specific policies on how to deal with officers accused of abuse.
Only one of the officers identified by the P-I was convicted of a domestic violence-related crime, and prosecutors and police officials in King and Pierce counties could not recall any other cases in recent years.
(much more in the article)