HEADLINE:  In Connecticut, Cases Multiply Against Police 

BYLINE: By PAUL ZIELBAUER 

DATELINE:  HARTFORD

In New Haven, a state grand jury is investigating whether two top police detectives concealed evidence in a 1996 murder case. In Hartford, federal officials have indicted six current or former police officers accused of forcing prostitutes to have sex with them. This spring, two officers in New Milford were convicted of manslaughter in two separate killings. 

In the last two years, more Connecticut law enforcement officers have been accused or convicted of wrongdoing than at any time in recent memory. More than a dozen police officers -- in Hartford, New Haven, New Milford, Madison and Meriden -- as well as several county sheriffs and their deputies, have been investigated or punished by state or federal authorities for misconduct. 

 "That's certainly more than the norm in most states," said Neal Trautman, executive director of the National Institute of Ethics, which provides training to police departments across the country. And though the situation may seem inconsequential to critics of the police in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, many Connecticut residents consider it a startling occurrence.

"It has been a tough year for policing in Connecticut," said the New Haven police chief, Melvin H. Wearing. "The Police Department has a cloud over it now." Though he was speaking about his own force, the remark could easily be applied to many other police departments.

The reasons for the increase in misconduct complaints are not clear. But many legal and law enforcement experts say the rise may reveal more about the greater public scrutiny that the police are under nowadays than about any real increase in misbehavior by officers.  "It could well be that it's a reflection of police departments becoming professionalized," said Steven Duke, a professor of criminal law at Yale Law School. "The new leadership in police departments are becoming more attuned to these problems."

Tim Everett, a clinical professor of law at the University of Connecticut's School of Law, added, "What I think is different in the last couple years is some communities, especially inner-city communities, have made it known that they expect the authorities to check things out rather than assume there was no wrongdoing." The most recent investigation involves the New Haven Police Department, which has endured several scandals in the last two years, even as it has won national awards for innovative programs and solved a vast majority of its violent crimes. 

On May 30, Chief Wearing placed his chief of detectives, Capt. Brian Sullivan, and Detective Edward Kendall on paid suspensions while a Connecticut grand jury explored allegations that the two officers hid a transcript of a taped interview that the department conducted while investigating a murder in 1996.

The audiotape vanished after the interview, and the only existing transcript apparently languished in Detective Kendall's desk drawer for two years. This was despite repeated requests for help from detectives in North Haven, where the victim's body was found.

The investigation is the latest in a string of embarrassments for the New Haven police. Last year, two rookie officers were suspended for having sex with two women in a police substation. In 1998, the F.B.I. looked into accusations that a former city detective, Vincent Raucci Jr., tried to frame two men on a false murder charge. The bureau will not reveal its findings. The year before that, the police chief, Nicholas Pastore, resigned after admitting he had fathered a child with a New Haven prostitute. 

"We do have a few problems, but I look at it as a couple of things a couple of cops have done," said New Haven's mayor, John DeStefano Jr., in an interview this week. "But I'm also going to tell you, this isn't Hartford. There's not a systematic thing going on."  Of all the police departments in Connecticut, Hartford's appears wreathed by the most serious and chronic problems. 

In 1998, the United States attorney in New Haven started a civil rights inquiry after several Hartford officers were accused of forcing prostitutes to have sex with them, sometimes at gunpoint. Six officers have been indicted so far in the continuing investigation, and four of them have pleaded guilty to violating the prostitutes' civil rights, said Delcie Thibault, a spokeswoman for Stephen C. Robinson, the United States attorney.

Last October, an independent study of the Hartford Police Department, commissioned by city officials, portrayed a force in disarray. The report found that most of the 471 officers did not work weekends, when most of the calls for help occurred, and that crime-fighting units were so disorganized that one narcotics unit once descended with force on a major drug suspect only to find that another squad had gotten there first. The report also found that cash and property had been stolen from the department's evidence room.

"There was no coordination, there was no communication," said Lt. Kevin Borofsky, who credited the external audit with improving the department. "Now investigations are coordinated. Everybody's on the same page. Now you have detectives working Saturday evening and Sunday evening." Many other changes, including having the department approved by a national police accrediting agency, are expected to take at least two more years.

In February, a city-appointed overseer began monitoring the department to ensure it more closely adhered to a 1973 consent order, issued by a Federal District Court, to improve overall police conduct. 

Despite the improvements and a 29 percent drop in crime between 1994 and 1998, many community groups still feel that Hartford police officers are more interested in protecting their jobs and perquisites than in protecting the public. "There's no integrity or commitment to the common good at the top level," said Carmen M. Rodriguez, executive director of La Casa de Puerto Rico, a critic of city police policies. Elsewhere in Connecticut, local police officers continue to come under unprecedented legal scrutiny. 

Last month, a state judge sentenced Scott Smith, a former patrolman in New Milford, north of Danbury, to six years in prison for fatally shooting a burglary suspect in the back while the man lay on his stomach. In April, a jury found another New Milford officer, William Scribner, criminally liable for killing a woman he struck with his patrol car during a high-speed pursuit of a suspect.

Last October, the police chief in the shoreline town of Madison, Paul Jakubson, suspended four officers for attending a bachelor party where a woman performed a sex act. A state police investigation cleared the officers of any criminal misconduct.

And last week, the state police began an investigation into allegations that a high-ranking police officer in Meriden, a city between New Haven and Hartford, had threatened a woman with a knife.Though many kinds of misconduct are clearly out of line, some police officials believe that more officers are being brought to justice because of how they do their jobs.
"If you look at the news, it's been a rough year, but it's a different kind of headline," said Chief James J. Strillacci in West Hartford, who fired Officer J. David Colon in December after he was accused of beating up a teenage burglary suspect.

In the 1970's, it was systemic police corruption that made banner headlines, said Chief Strillacci, the co-chairman of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association's legislative committee. "This is not what we're dealing with now," he said. "We're dealing with police officers trying to do their jobs and their judgment being questioned. This kind of thing wouldn't even be in the paper a generation ago."

"I'm not saying there's any worse behavior, or bad behavior, by police officers," he went on. "What's changed is people are more interested in misdeeds by those in authority." Though most police officers do their jobs well, the growing list of misconduct charges is a clear signal that more training in ethical issues is required, said Mr. Trautman of the Ethics Institute. "Ethics is the most sought-after topic in police enforcement now; that was unheard of 10 years ago," Mr. Trautman said. "Chiefs don't get fired for crime rates anymore, they get fired for scandal."

HEADLINE: Detective: Sgt. Good spoke of addiction 

BYLINE: Steve Fry Capital-Journal 

BODY: Witness says Good discussed partner's dependence.

Frank Good confided in late June 1995 to Deputy Jack Metz that Timothy P. Oblander had stolen cocaine evidence and was in drug treatment, Metz testified Friday.

Good, who was a sergeant and narcotics investigator when he was fired this year from the Shawnee County Sheriff's Department, is charged with two counts of felony perjury stemming from his testimony on Feb. 22, 1999, and March 10, 1999, in Shawnee County District Court. While under oath, Good denied knowing Oblander had used illegal drugs. 

Prosecutors rested their case Friday afternoon after 18 witnesses testified during three days. The trial resumes Monday.  Good had stopped by Metz' apartment in June 1995 when he asked Good where Oblander was, Metz testified.

"Frank told me that Tim was taking some time off for a while," said Metz, a detective and a 23-year sheriff's veteran. Metz said he asked Good what rehabilitation center Oblander was in.
"He's in Valley Hope," Metz said Good answered, referring to the alcohol-drug rehabilitation center at Atchison. Metz said Good also confirmed to him that Oblander had taken drug evidence from the sheriff's department, a theft that sparked a series of investigations during the sheriff's department drug scandal. 

Good "told me he (Oblander) was chasing his first high," Metz said, referring to a maximum high a cocaine user gets on his first use of the drug but which decreases with later uses.

Metz, expecting to hear that Oblander would be fired and criminally prosecuted, said he asked Good what then-Sheriff Dave Meneley would do about the wrong-doing. Good answered that the situation was going to be taken care of and Oblander would be reassigned from the special services unit, where he conducted narcotics investigations, to the warrants unit, where he would be in uniform, Metz said.

In other testimony:   Brenda J. Fluellen, a chaplain at Valley Hope, read a part of Oblander's 1995 treatment records, which said he entered the facility for a drug addiction. "He seeks help with his problems from a good friend and his wife," Fluellen read.

Sheriff Sgt. Marsha Bryant said Oblander was paid for the 28 days he was at Valley Hope, which started June 27, 1995.

Maj. Ken Pierce, the third-highest ranking administrator in the sheriff's department, said the special services unit, the squad Oblander and Good were on in 1995, was in theory in the chain of command but in reality reported to Meneley or the undersheriff.

A former confidential informant said he made about 30 purchases of crack cocaine for Good and Oblander but was never called to testify about the buys. The informant acknowledged he didn't know whether some buys were pleaded out or the drug sellers might have become confidential informants themselves.   Oblander was a corporal when he resigned Feb. 26, 1999. 

HEADLINE: NO CHARGES TO BE FILED IN STOLEN EVIDENCE CASE PORTSMOUTH POLICE THEORY: BURGLAR TOOK SUSPECTED DRUGS 

BYLINE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH 

There is not enough evidence to prosecute anyone in the alleged theft of criminal evidence from the Portsmouth Police Department, says Commonwealth's Attorney Martin Bullock. The Virginia State Police investigated and presented the results of its six-month probe to Bullock's office on May 30. "Based on information they provided to me, there is insufficient evidence to show that a crime occurred," Bullock said Friday. 

Portsmouth police said last month that the investigation involved one of their officers, but officials declined to name him.  Bullock also declined to name the investigation's target, saying only that the allegations were made against a "particular group of persons or person."  State police would not comment on Bullock's decision not to prosecute.

The allegations surround the theft of evidence collected by police and used in criminal cases.  Authorities would not say when it occurred or what was taken.  Evidence such as drugs, money, documents and guns is used by police and prosecutors daily in the prosecution of suspects. The theft or loss of such evidence could damage a case against a suspect or potentially lead to the case's dismissal.

After a request by the Virginian-Pilot for records under the Freedom of Information Act, Portsmouth police released information Thursday showing two incidents in the past 10 years involving theft of evidence from the department. However, the department released details involving only one of the cases, saying the other "is a part of an ongoing administrative investigation at the present."

That second incident is the same case state police were investigating. When those allegations first came to light in May, police denied they were doing an internal inquiry. According to the document that was made public, at least 35 baggies containing a substance authorities suspected was heroin were taken in March 1997 from the police department's property and evidence room. The baggies had been put in an evidence locker on March 8, 1997, according to the police report.

The only keys to the locker were maintained by a police officer and a civilian supervisor of the property and evidence room, according to police records.

Two days later, the baggies and the lock on the locker were missing. Police listed the incident as a burglary. Police interviewed five officers and a civilian in the department, according to the document, which does not say how the case was resolved. According to court records, a 22-year-old Portsmouth man, from whom police seized the baggies, was arrested for possession of heroin. However, he never was prosecuted, according to the records.

HEADLINE: West Bountiful Police Rising Above Infamy; West Bountiful Police Department Surviving Infamy 

BYLINE: STEPHEN HUNT, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 
 

Two years ago, the West Bountiful Police Department's reputation was as flimsy as the cardboard door protecting its evidence room. 

The chief of 18 years had resigned following a study that detailed flaws in the force, including outdated equipment and cars, low pay, cases that were not being pursued by detectives and the makeshift evidence-room door. 

And -- it was later revealed -- several officers, including the department's acting chief, had stolen items from the department's evidence room. One of those officers, Patrick Jellerson, 30, also admitted to stealing thousands of dollars from Lakeview Hospital, where he worked nights as a security guard. 

Jellerson was charged with second-degree felony theft, but was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser class A misdemeanor count in exchange for his cooperation in the investigation of the evidence-room thefts. Jellerson faces up to 1 year in jail when he is sentenced June 29 by 2nd District Judge Glen Dawson. Another former officer, Jamie WehAner, 40, was charged with misdemeanor "wrongful appropriation" for his part in the evidence-room thefts. He is to be arraigned today before Dawson. 

Acting Chief Walter Borschel resigned in the midst of the theft investigation. Officer Jeremy Adams was investigated, but was cleared of any wrongdoing and is back on duty.  Such problems have prompted several citizens -- some of whom were sheriff's employees -- to ask if the city should contract with the Davis County Sheriff Office for police services.  But West Bountiful Mayor Jim Child says the department's troubles are ancient history and there are no plans to abolish it. 

"We got beat up, and we got a lot of black eyes -- but it was mostly for things that happened almost two years ago," Child says. "We're doing very well as a department right now. We're working hard to get it built up, and we'll have a model agency before long." 

In fact, the mayor recently penned a letter to Chief Quinn Lewis expressing appreciation for improvements Lewis has made since his appointment in September 1998. Lewis credited his small force of dedicated officers. 

"We have come as far as we have come because of the young officers we have, and their willingness to do the job the way it needs to be done, and their willingness to sacrifice on behalf of the citizens of the city," Lewis says. "They are the ones who deserve the credit for what has transpired here." 

Davis County Sheriff Bud Cox -- a police consolidation proponent whose agency has for years provided services to Fruit Heights, South Weber and West Point -- had discussed a similar arrangement with the West Bountiful mayor several months ago. 

"They didn't seem real enthused about it," Cox recalls. "I gave them an off-the-cuff estimate, but I got the impression they were not interested in contracting."  West Bountiful City Manager Wendell Wild says the city of 5,200 people would save no money by contracting with the sheriff. And the city gains numerous advantages by having its own department. 

"It's having your own autonomy," Wild says. "The officers know your citizens and have a day-to-day working relationship and interaction in the schools and at different gatherings. Those things are a boost to the community and add a spirit of unity that is important in a community." 
Child says he likes the control that comes with having a police force on his payroll, answering directly to him. Also, the department's distinctive green uniforms and shoulder patches convey an identity that instills civic pride, Child says. 

He says most of the problems revealed in the critical report -- which had been commissioned by the mayor -- have been rectified by Lewis, including all new patrol vehicles, a new evidence room with steel doors and a second raise for officers in July that will make their pay commensurate with surrounding jurisdictions. 

"Salaries are up so we can get good people and hang onto them," says council member Brent Chandler.  "The chief and his men are dedicated people who have a great desire to serve citizens of West Bountiful and surrounding communities. They're great folks, energetic folks. We've come a long ways." 

The department is presently at five officers, including the chief, because of the resignations and prosecutions, but two new officers are being hired to bring the force back to its full complement of seven by next month.  The evidence-room thefts -- including firearms and other property -- occurred during a few days during Borschel's two-month tenure. 

"They were moving the evidence room from one building to another and sorting through stuff," says Wild. "Any cases still in process were held; others were disposed of. Some of it was essentially garbage of no value, but they elected to take some of it."  Wild says the items taken should have been kept for department training or sale at a police auction. 

"There was a little rationalization and the opportunity was there," Wild says. "It wasn't rampant and it wasn't a corrupt department. Some good men made some poor choices."  Adds Child: "They did not have good leadership at the time. It's a sad deal, because it seems to be one of the epitome of what you shouldn't do as a police officer." 

Jellerson's thefts from the hospital occurred in July 1999, while off-duty. He stole more than $ 5,000 in cash and checks from a hospital safe and $ 300 from the hospital gift shop, according to documents.  Child says department morale is now "very good." 

"We've tried to make the best of it, and move on," he says. "We've gotten a lot of compliments from the citizenry and city officials that we are moving the right direction. We are feeling good about that." 

HEADLINE: Ex-Kiefer police chief expected to plead 

BYLINE: RHETT MORGAN 

SAPULPA -- A former Kiefer police chief probably will enter a "blind" plea to embezzling narcotics from a police property room, his attorney said. 

David Little, 31, the town's former police chief, and ex-assistant David Palmerchuk, 33, both waived their right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Creek County District Court. "Little's been very cooperative, very helpful," Assistant District Attorney Pamela Hammers said. "It's my understanding that he wants to put this behind him." 

Special Judge Russell Miller set Palmerchuk's district court arraignment for June 26 in Drumright and scheduled Little's for July 5 in Bristow.  Prosecutors on April 6 charged Little and Palmerchuk with embezzlement by an officer. An affidavit said the pair snorted methamphetamine that they allegedly removed from the Kiefer police property room from Jan. 1 through March 30. 

A second count against Little alleges that he also embezzled methamphetamine from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30 while acting as a police officer in Mounds.  Little probably will enter a blind plea to the counts, said his attorney, Creekmore Wallace. A blind plea means there is no agreement with prosecutors to govern punishment.  If convicted, each officer faces a maximum of two years in prison and as much as a $ 1,000 fine on each count, Hammers said. 

Palmerchuk maintains his innocence and intends to go to trial, said his attorney, Warren Gotcher. The officers, both of whom are free on bail, resigned their posts. 

As a result of the allegations, Kiefer recently instituted random drug testing for all municipal employees, Mayor Donnie Ashford said. In lieu of the town's appointing a full-time police officer, which trustees plan to do this week, Terry Stacy is working as part-time acting chief, Ashford said. 

According to the affidavit, Little called Creek County Chief Criminal Deputy Ed Willingham on March 28 in reference to narcotics missing from the Kiefer police property room. Little reportedly said he had been contacted by part-time Kiefer dispatcher Gary King. 

One night a month earlier, Palmerchuk had summoned King to the police department, court records allege. There, King said he saw Palmerchuk standing over a desk on which there were two lines of a white powder substance "consistent with methamphetamine." 

Palmerchuk "sucked the white powder through the straw and into his nose," the affidavit claims. King claims in the document that he knew the substance was methamphetamine because King had used the drug in the past. 

Later, Palmerchuk obtained keys from Little's office, went into the property-evidence room and removed about eight small bags of white powder substance, records allege. At Willingham's request, Little reportedly did an inventory of the evidence room and told the deputy that a few bags of the drug and a gun were missing, according to the affidavit. 

King passed a polygraph test given him by authorities, Creek County Sheriff Larry Fugate said. Little failed his, but upon being reinterviewed on April 5, the former officer admitted having snorted a bag of methamphetamine he had taken from the Kiefer police property room around January, the affidavit shows. 

HEADLINE: Briefs from Seward, Uniontown, Altoona, Erie, Washington and Union City. 

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) - A prosecutor said it is time for a former Altoona police officer to serve his prison sentence for stealing drugs from an evidence room in 1997. 
Anthony Panagoplos in 1997 was in charge of maintaining evidence gathered by Altoona police. When drugs came up missing, he was charged with theft, tampering with records and making false reports to the police department. 
He pleaded guilty to those charges and was sentenced six to 24 months in prison. He remained free pending his appeal. 
But a state Superior Court panel rejected the appeal, and Blair County District Attorney David Gorman learned Wednesday that the state Supreme Court declined to review the case. He said Panagoplos should start serving his sentence immediately. 
Panagoplos' attorney, Darlee Sill, has claimed that her client was sentenced to prison only because he was a police officer. 

HEADLINE: Police officers fired following arrest for allegedly stealing guns 

DATELINE: BATON ROUGE, La. 

They are accused of keeping and distributing guns from the evidence room that were documented as destroyed. McGehee was supervisor of the evidence room at the time and Morrison worked under him. An internal affairs investigation by the police department led to Monday's firings, according to a news release. 

HEADLINE: Former police worker's lawsuit claims race, sex discrimination 

DATELINE: WICHITA 

The city is being sued in federal court by a former police employee, who claims her supervisor and others discriminated against her because of her race and gender.  Caroline Hood, who is black, is also suing the Wichita lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, alleging the union did not fully represent her interests. 

The lawsuit, filed June 7 in U.S. District Court, says Hood did not receive adequate training for her job as a crime scene investigator.  "In contrast, other crime scene investigators received at least six months of intensive training. The city refused to train" Hood, the lawsuit says. 

Hood says the department initially assigned her to train with an investigator who "registered regular complaints ... about her clothing, her hair, the way plaintiff sat, the way plaintiff dressed and her professionalism." 

The lawsuit also makes reference to a one-day suspension Hood received after a shotgun recovered from a burglary discharged in an evidence room. Hood said she was unfairly blamed for the incident. 

She says a supervisor accused her of not checking the weapon thoroughly, even though he checked the weapon in the crime lab before it was taken to the evidence room. 

Hood's lawsuit also alleges that her supervisor ordered her to lie in a burglary crime scene investigation report and later accused her of intentionally falsifying her report. The city, she says, fired her because of the incident. 

City Attorney Gary Rebenstorf also said he could not comment, as did police spokesman Bob Circle. Chester Pinkston, president of the local lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, also declined comment, as did Hood's former supervisor. 

HEADLINE: Police review policy on guns; 
Evidence procedure: Shooting focuses attention on when to unload seized weapons. 

BYLINE: Beth Warren, Staff 

Gwinnett police officials are reviewing a policy that requires officers to unload weapons before leaving them in the evidence room --- but not before leaving crime scenes. 

The review comes after new hire Officer David Richard, 28, was accidentally shot while he and his supervisor, Officer Michael Wells, 34, were preparing to log a .30-06 Remington rifle into evidence outside the evidence room, spokesman George Gilson said. Police have not said what or who caused the gun to discharge.   The officers had removed the weapon from a home in the Duluth area after making an arrest in a domestic case, Gilson said. 

Departmental policy leaves it to the officer's discretion as to when a weapon should be unloaded, as long as it is unloaded before being placed in the evidence room. 

"Current policy is under review by the chief," Gilson said. "At this time there seems to be no violation of policy."  Wells, who has been with the force since June 1998, remains on routine administrative leave with pay while the incident is under investigation, police said. 

Detectives who investigate shootings and internal affairs investigators are reviewing the incident and will report findings to the police chief.  The bullet went through Richard's right hand and into his left arm. He underwent surgery at Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville and was released there Tuesday, hospital spokeswoman Paula Martin said. 

With his wife at his side, Richard was airlifted to a Jewish teaching hospital in Louisville, Ky., for additional surgery on his hand and arm by specialists there, said Bill Swiger, director of risk management for the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners. 

A team of doctors began operating at 8 a.m. Wednesday and the procedure could take from 12 to 20 hours, he said.  "We're hoping he will be able to come back as a police officer, but that all depends on what the doctors say," Swiger said.  "We'll probably have a better idea in the next few days." 

Richard, who joined the force in October, was still in training but already showed potential as a hard-working officer, said Maj. Carter Leverette, commander of the Central precinct where Richard was assigned. 

Richard's parents came to Lawrenceville from their home in Florida after the shooting and drove to Louisville, along with some fellow officers who went through the training academy with Richard, Leverette said. 

Richard's mother "was very touched by the outpouring of support by the Police Department, the Fraternal Order of Police and other groups of people who have come by and shown their support," Gilson said. 

HEADLINE: Two charged with taking drugs from crime lab 

DATELINE: LONDON, Ky. 

Two former lawmen - a father and son - have been charged in an indictment with taking drugs from the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab in London so they couldn't be used as evidence in active cases. 

Gary Campbell, who was fired from the Booneville police force in March 1999, was charged with first-degree possession of a controlled substance, second-degree forgery and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. He had been fired from his city police job after he started a high-speed pursuit and wrecked his cruiser, all while legally drunk, officials said. 

His father, Bill Campbell, a former Owsley County constable, was charged with two counts of tampering with physical evidence and one count of complicity to tampering with physical evidence. Neither man was available for comment. Gary Campbell's phone is unlisted, and a telephone listing for Bill Campbell was no longer in service. The indictment was returned Friday in Laurel Circuit Court. The indictment charges that Gary Campbell took drugs from the evidence room on two separate occasions - once while he was an active officer and once after he had been fired from the department. 

On Nov. 6, 1998, the indictment said he removed cocaine hydrochloride so it could not be used in court in an ongoing case. Bill Campbell was charged with complicity in that incident. Gary Campbell was also charged with taking oxycodone from the crime lab on June 4, 1999 - after he had been fired from his job in Booneville. Bill Campbell was also charged with entering the crime lab on March 28, 1996, and taking cocaine hydrochloride that was evidence in an active case. 
The indictment gave no details on why the men wanted to take the evidence. Booneville City Attorney Wade Rasner said he was surprised by the allegations. "I don't know what they might have been thinking," Rasner said. "I'd like to think there was some reasonable explanation, although it's hard for me to think of one." Rasner said Gary Campbell had been a police officer for about a year before he was fired in March 1999. He had been suspended once before for wrecking his cruiser, but the firing came after the high-speed chase and crash. Rasner said Gary Campbell chased a vehicle several miles outside of town before eventually crashing. The incident occurred in early 1999, he said. 

When a KSP trooper began investigating, he found that Gary Campbell's blood-alcohol level after the crash registered at 0.14, which is above the legal limit of 0.10. He was charged with official misconduct and first offense driving under the influence. He was eventually convicted of the official misconduct charge and was given a probated sentence of 89 days. 
He was then fired from his city job. 

Rasner said Bill Campbell had been a capable constable for nearly five years when he decided to run for sheriff in 1998. He lost the Republican primary to the eventual winner. "He was very active and he was really good," Rasner said. "This kind of shocks me." 

Headline: We must keep evidence around 

Police stations across Illinois are only so big, and like other government buildings, they can get crowded. In some communities, this might result in a police chief or sheriff deciding to declutter the evidence room by getting rid of evidence over, say, 10 or 15 years old. 

Unfortunately, some of that evidence might still be needed. It might provide the key to freeing someone who has been jailed for a crime they did not commit. Or it might provide the proof to lock someone behind bars. 

Old evidence has become more important than ever because police can lift DNA off it. And DNA has increasingly been used to crack older cases and determine, with scientific reliability, who committed the crime. Just recently, for example, police working on the Brown's Chicken massacre in Palatine took DNA swabs from people who had previously been suspects in the case. 

Most police and prosecutors routinely keep old evidence. They know cold cases can be cracked. However, the General Assembly has passed and Gov. George Ryan has signed a bill that would set up specific lengths of time for which they must keep evidence -25 years for sex offense cases, forever in murder cases, and seven years for some other crimes. This would prevent, say, a bloody shirt, which holds the key to justice for an accused individual, from being tossed in an effort to create more space in a crowded evidence room. 

Some prosecutors, such as Lake County State's Attorney Mike Waller, supported the concept of specific rules governing the lengths of time for which to hold evidence, but balked at the bill's wording. It singles out state's attorneys and police officers to be charged with a felony if they intentionally destroy evidence before the allotted time. 

While anyone might bristle at being singled out for a felony, this wording is there to prevent criminal destruction of evidence. Laws already exist to punish others who might destroy evidence in their possession. 

But only state's attorneys and police have the legal right to destroy evidence, and this law spells out the length of time to keep it. It simply codifies what above-board prosecutors, such as Waller and most others in the field, are already doing. 

Gov. Ryan made a good decision in signing the bill after considering the use of his amendatory veto to change the wording. In the end, he urged legislators to continue working with him on any needed refinements, a reasonable approach considering the benefits of the law. 

HEADLINE: Former police officer ordered to report to prison 
when freedom under appeal runs out 

DATELINE: HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa.

A former Altoona police officer convicted of stealing and using drugs from a City Hall evidence room must report to prison, a judge ruled. 

Blair County District Attorney David Gorman said only a last-minute appeal can keep former Altoona police Officer Anthony Panagoplos Jr. out of prison.  He has been ordered to report to the Blair County Prison on Tuesday to serve a minimum six-month jail sentence. Gorman said Saturday he had not yet seen any sign of such an appeal. 

Panagoplos was sentenced 15 months ago to six months to two years in prison after pleading guilty to theft, making false reports and tampering with evidence. He was assigned to administer the police department's evidence room when he was hurt in 1997. He told investigators he started using drugs stored there. He tried to cover it up by saying that a drug-filled briefcase was stolen from his car while he was taking it to be analyzed in Greensburg. He has been free while appealing the sentence for the past year. He claimed he was given a harsh sentence because he was a police officer. Three weeks ago the state Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal. Blair County Judge Keith Quigley then ordered Panagoplos to report to prison on Tuesday. 

BYLINE: Manny Gonzales; Seattle Times Snohomish County bureau 

DATELINE: MOUNTLAKE TERRACE 

A former Mountlake Terrace police clerk stole more than $10,500 from the department's evidence safe between 1995 and 1998, according to a new state auditor's report. The city requested the audit after the former clerk, whose name was not released, returned $2,121 of the stolen money to the city's Treasury Department in late January, said Mountlake Terrace City Manager Connie Fessler.

The city immediately launched an internal investigation and in early February requested help from the State Patrol.    It's unknown why the former evidence-room clerk returned the money, Fessler said. The woman had worked in the evidence room from 1995 to 1998, when she became a code-compliance officer. She resigned from the city in September.

The former clerk has not been arrested, but Snohomish County prosecutors said they are reviewing the case and may file charges. The woman has repaid $8,021 of the stolen money, and the city intends to pursue full restitution, Fessler said. The state audit found that a total of $10,569 in cash had been stolen, allegedly by the former clerk. In addition, the Police Department cannot account for $1,196 in cash plus some seized drugs, the state audit said. Fessler said police officials don't believe the drugs and additional missing cash were stolen. She blamed poor record-keeping for the apparent disappearances. "We believe the drugs may have been destroyed," Fessler said. 

The state audit blamed the department's "inadequate" method of manually tracking items in evidence through note cards.

"The Police Department keeps sensitive evidence (i.e., cash, drugs, jewelry) in a safe within the evidence room," state Auditor Brian Sonntag wrote in his report. "However, the department did not perform an adequate physical inventory of items maintained in the safe."  Police hold cash as evidence until a criminal case is resolved. In most cases, the currency then is split between the city and the state. The Mountlake Terrace police-evidence room contains more than 7,500 case files and 45,000 pieces of evidence. 

Mountlake Terrace police officials have lagged behind on keeping updated records, Fessler said. Officers will go through and classifying all evidence to determine which items can be disposed of. 

The city is revising its procedures for storing evidence and will now require that seized cash be deposited with the city's Finance Department and not kept in the evidence room, Fessler said. 
The city also plans to computerize the evidence room's tracking system, Fessler said. 

HEADLINE: Officer charged with attempted marijuana buy 

DATELINE: FOREST HILLS, Pa. 

A suburban Pittsburgh police officer is charged with trying to buy a half-pound of marijuana from an undercover state agent. 

Michael Russo, 39, of North Versailles, works as a police officer in Braddock Hills, east of Pittsburgh.  He was arrested Tuesday after authorities said he tried to pick up a package containing the drugs from the agent at a strip mall. 

The arrest was the result of a six-month investigation by the state Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, and police from Forest Hills and Braddock Hills, said Braddock Hills chief Frank Gardone.  Gardone said the investigation began after Russo repeatedly asked a Braddock Hills drug enforcement officer if there were any drugs in a police evidence locker that were not accounted for - in other words, whether there were any drugs that would not be missed if they were taken, Gardone said. 

At first, police took Russo's inquiries to be joking. But Gardone said when Russo persisted he asked state investigators to intervene. Russo, a part-time officer who worked a security detail at an area mall for the department, is on an indefinite, unpaid suspension, Gardone said. Russo worked in Braddock Hills since January 1998. Russo could not be reached for comment.  Russo is free on his own recognizance pending a preliminary hearing before District Justice Frank Comunale III on July 5.