We found 85,000 cops who've been investigated for misconduct. Now you can read their records.

[babylonsister]

Tarnished Brass
We found 85,000 cops who’ve been investigated for misconduct. Now you can read their records.
In 2019, USA TODAY led a national effort to publish disciplinary records for police officers. George Floyd's death has renewed calls for transparency
John Kelly, and Mark Nichols, USA TODAY
Updated 9:48 a.m. EDT June 11, 2020


At least 85,000 law enforcement officers across the USA have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past decade, an investigation by USA TODAY Network found.

Officers have beaten members of the public, planted evidence and used their badges to harass women. They have lied, stolen, dealt drugs, driven drunk and abused their spouses.

Despite their role as public servants, the men and women who swear an oath to keep communities safe can generally avoid public scrutiny for their misdeeds.

The records of their misconduct are filed away, rarely seen by anyone outside their departments. Police unions and their political allies have worked to put special protections in place ensuring some records are shielded from public view, or even destroyed.

Reporters from USA TODAY, its affiliated newsrooms across the country and the nonprofit Invisible Institute in Chicago spent more than a year creating the biggest collection of police misconduct records.

Obtained from thousands of state agencies, prosecutors, police departments and sheriffs, the records detail at least 200,000 incidents of alleged misconduct, much of it previously unreported. The records obtained include more than 110,000 internal affairs investigations by hundreds of individual departments and more than 30,000 officers who were decertified by 44 state oversight agencies.

USA TODAY Network has gathered discipline and accountability records on more than 85,000 law enforcement officers and has started releasing them to the public. The first collection published is a list of more than 30,000 officers who have been decertified, essentially banned from the profession, in 44 states. Search our exclusive database by officer, department or state.

Among the findings:

Most misconduct involves routine infractions, but the records reveal tens of thousands of cases of serious misconduct and abuse. They include 22,924 investigations of officers using excessive force, 3,145 allegations of rape, child molestation and other sexual misconduct and 2,307 cases of domestic violence by officers.

Dishonesty is a frequent problem. The records document at least 2,227 instances of perjury, tampering with evidence or witnesses or falsifying reports. There were 418 reports of officers obstructing investigations, most often when they or someone they knew were targets.

Less than 10% of officers in most police forces get investigated for misconduct. Yet some officers are consistently under investigation. Nearly 2,500 have been investigated on 10 or more charges. Twenty faced 100 or more allegations yet kept their badge for years.

more...

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/04/24/usa-today-revealing-misconduct-records-police-cops/3223984002/

[FM123]

1. Thanks so much for posting this!

I remember thinking when I first read this article : how can this not be on the front page of every single newspaper....

[Celerity]

2. the 'it's only a few bad apples' crowd in 4,3,2.....

[LiberalArkie]

12. It is only a few bad apples who don't want to bash heads in, target shoot at moving targets, etc

[CousinIT]

3. This one - Jeffery Neese - abused his co-workers and members of the public for years and...

...still retired comfortably. I understand he's still harassing people. Females especially. And why not? He's always gotten away with it.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/mesa/2019/07/18/mesa-officers-recount-sexual-harassment-officer-jeffrey-neese/1772982001/

Criminals do that type of behavior — predators," Gibbs said. "For him to think he can do that — and I don't know how many years he's gotten away with it — there has to be a problem with this guy."

At this point, the earliest-known occurrence of Neese's harassing behavior occurred in 2014. Neese was hired by the Mesa Police Department in 1999.

"The numbers just keep growing," Rope said. "I'm sure we're not the only ones."

The city's human resources department announced the allegations were confirmed in October.

Initially, Neese was going to be moved to a sergeant position in the patrol department in addition to receiving a 50-hour unpaid suspension as discipline. He was pulled from SWAT, but the suspension was postponed after another victim came forward.

Amanda Cook received similar graphic messages to her personal phone, according to the legal documents. He even including emojis insinuating he was masturbating.

Cook's allegations also were confirmed by HR. However, the city ultimately decided Neese would keep his job, but be demoted to an officer within the patrol division. Gibbs said city officials told her they were limited by policy and prior precedent.

“How many people do you think it's going to take for the city to no longer expose its employees to him?”

"How many people do you think it's going to take for the city to no longer expose its employees to him?" Gibbs' attorney, David Lunn, said.

Both Gibbs and Rope said this was a chance to prove the department truly had a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment. Instead, it failed.

Neese could still come into contact with the women in his new role. They also voiced concerns about his contact with the public.

"By having Officer Neese back in a patrol car and on the streets, the City of Mesa has failed to protect Claimants and the general public," the notice of claim alleges. "Officer Neese has unequivocally demonstrated that he is unable or unwilling to control his sexual harassment of his fellow female police officers or even the general public."

Neese will be eligible for promotion in a few years, meaning he could return to the same position he was demoted from.

[NoMoreRepugs]

4. If these are the "official" numbers I can only imagine what

the “REAL” number of incidents of some sort of wrongdoing must be. Without the police policing their own my guess is these numbers are truly that tip of the iceberg.

[dalton99a]

5. +1

[The Magistrate]

6. This Rings True, Ma'am

The newspaper has done excellent and useful work.

A couple of things ought to be borne in mind.

For each of these 'one in ten' officers, we may include several other officers who knew, and who looked the other way, who kept silent, who wouldn't 'rat' on a brother cop.

Police do not believe anyone they arrest is a first-time offender. As a general rule a cop figures it's not the first time he's done something, it's just the first time he got caught. In this, they are quite often correct --- and the same weary expectation of prior bad behavior ought to be turned on the number of complaints registered against an officer.

Any number of incidents will have gone unreported for each one which is.

[BComplex]

7. 3,145 allegations of rape, child molestation and other sexual misconduct -WTF???

It looks like a prison population with a fucking BADGE!!!

[niyad]

8. KNR for visibility.

[in2herbs]

9. Ten years is a lot of data on bad cops. I wish they'd expand the search back 40 years. I still

have the evidence not only about bad cops, but bad prosecutors and AGs.

[Nitram]

10. "Nearly 2,500 have been investigated on 10 or more charges. Twenty faced 100 or more allegations yet

kept their badge for years."

While this is a relatively small number given the total number of police, what gives the lie to the "a few rotten apples" excuse is that they could then be hired by departments in other jurisdictions. Rotten apples hiring rotten apples? Also, given the reluctance of cops to testify against or report on criminal behavior in the police force, you can bet the true level of criminal behavior is much, much higher.

[Wellstone ruled]

11. As our old Neighbor would say

about her Ex Police Officer Hubby,the Frigger is just a Bully with a Badge. And yes he was just a out right mean ass POS. He would harass her at least once a week just making crap up just to harass. BTW,restraining orders are meaningless if the Judge does not enforce them.

[Hekate]

17. Is Chauvin out on bail yet? I hope his wife is far, far away because he'll be in a bad mood...

I was shocked at a whole thread of DUers who made up really nasty reasons for her having remained with him and abruptly filing for divorce as soon as he was behind bars. "Protecting her share of the assets" was the kindest.

To me, the reason for her behavior was glaringly obvious: she was an abused wife of a cop and there had been no way out before.

[Wellstone ruled]

18. Last we heard was,

no Bail yet. BTW,he is held in a Special Unit at a Super Max Prison in Oakdale Heights Minnesota. He would never make it on the outside me thinks. Surprised Lane made bail.

[ancianita]

13. Thank you. This is big and should be spread far and wide.

[Ligyron]

14. At least some were "decertified" that is been banned from the profession.

I had no idea this could even happen as all we usually hear about, if someone is bold enough to investigate, is that they were then rehired by another department somewhere, many being bounced around from one department to another, some for decades even after they re offended ... kinda like like the pedo priests in the RC Church.

Thank the gawds for small favors...

[Jersey Devlin]

15. That's a Lot of Apples

Perhaps enough to spoil the whole bunch, hmm?

[Hekate]

16. I seriously underestimated the journalistic dedication of USA Today. Hats off to them...

...for a tremendous public service.

[liberalla]

19. wow! bookmarking...