Posted on 04/27/2007 8:35:07 AM PDT by freespirited
Obscured in the hubbub following the dropped charges in the Duke lacrosse case has been the disappointing role played by the Durham Police Department. The department's own procedures were swept off the table by a district attorney determined to prosecute what seemed to be a shaky case from the start.
Because the alleged incident occurred during a party off campus, in a house rented by members of the team, officers with the Durham police, not Duke University's own police force, investigated after exotic dancer Crystal Gail Mangum claimed she had been raped by three Duke lacrosse players. Early in the investigation the department followed a suggestion by the DA, Mike Nifong, to abandon its photo identification policy.
The policy requires five "filler" photos -- of people not linked with the case -- for each photo of a suspect. Nifong said Mangum should be asked to identify the attackers from 46 photos that included only members of the lacrosse team.
As The N&O's Joseph Neff reported recently in his thorough retrospective on the case, a detective discussed the unusual lineup procedure with his supervisors. Inexcusably, no one objected. The policy also says that an officer unconnected to a case should conduct photo lineups, to avoid the risk of an officer familiar with a suspect influencing which photo is fingered. But Sgt. Mark D. Gottlieb, lead investigator in the Duke case, presented the photos to Mangum.
Separately, The New York Times reported last year that Gottlieb acknowledged taking few handwritten notes for what is considered a critical part of a criminal investigation, the so-called chronological report. Instead, he relied mostly on his memory and other officers' notes.
Nifong at a later point took over leadership of the investigation from the Durham police. By necessity, the police department and district attorney's office work together on criminal cases. But each has its distinct mission, and must hew to it if justice is to be properly pursued. It's possible that department brass felt, accurately, that the case was a political hot potato. But they shouldn't have let the DA's office do the department's job.
Had Durham officers insisted on following well-established policies, and resisted Nifong's pressures, the case might have been shortcircuited and the ordeal might not have dragged on as long as it did. As it is, Nifong is having to defend his own performance in disciplinary proceedings before the State Bar, and his law license is at risk.
With state Attorney General Roy Cooper deciding that all remaining charges against the three athletes should be dropped (Nifong himself had dismissed charges of rape after first obtaining indictments), the spotlight has been on Nifong's mishandling of the case. But the police department bears some of the blame. Chief Steve Chalmers now should offer an accounting of his department's professional lapses; explain what, if any, discipline has been meted out; and detail what safeguards have been put in place to keep such lapses from occurring again. If Chalmers balks, his bosses, City Manager Patrick Baker and the City Council, should insist.
Wonder if there is a relationship between these two facts.
Amazing how many headaches and assorted problems can be avoided by just following your own policies and established investigation procedures. Of course any defense attorney will call into question what investgative procedures are used during trial but for these guys it can broght up that they deviate from what is accepted. Credibility zero. May just have to promote them to get them out of the way. /sarc
The process, as described, reminds one of the old Soviet Union.
So, on a more practical level, can we expect to see civil suits leveled against the Durham Police Department?
The only difference in the Durham Police Department and Barney Fife (another North Carolina cop of some note) is Barney was funny when he screwed up and had adult leadership (Sheriff Andy Taylor & Goober) available to correct his mistakes, while Durham doesn’t.
And I will be looking out the window for the yearly migration of pigs as they fly North for the Summer...
Separately, The New York Times reported last year that Gottlieb acknowledged taking few handwritten notes for what is considered a critical part of a criminal investigation, the so-called chronological report. Instead, he relied mostly on his memory and other officers' notes.
They neglect to mention that his 'memories' differ markedly from the handwritten notes written extemporaneasouly at the time of the supposed crime. Oddly enough, Gottlieb's notes varify Nifongs version of events.
It makes you wonder why this guy still has a badge.
Sounds like there are grounds to sue the cops.
Duke and the city of Durham are going to get sued into oblivion.
Fact this is SOP ACROSS THE NATION.
This is damage control, the Duram PD is trying to cya by tossing everything to Nifong.
ANY PD works hand and glove with the prosecutor’s offce.
They brought it on themselves.
LOL! I think you should submit that comment as a letter to the editor of the News Observer.
http://www.newsobserver.com/484/story/433256.html
Feel free and be my guest. I quit writing to the editors when I finally figured out most of them couldn’t comprehend a complex sentence, much less an original thought!
Boy howdy, you know that makes me feel good about ever having to call 911 down here in Durham (he said sarcastically).
}:-)4
I hope they are and I hope the three boys' attorneys are currently working on this hard. What about the biggest, most horrible person in this whole mess - Nifong? A man completely without honor or morals. I want him at a point where McDonald's would not hire him! Prosecutors throughout the United States should take notice.
Which brings to mind the old Army crack, “What’s the difference between the Army and the Boy Scouts?”
“The Boy Scouts have adult supervision.”
I don’t really see Fong as the biggest villain in the picture. The biggest villain to my thinking is the ordinary little black schlamozzle who voted 95% to return Fong to office in November last year, long after the basic realities of this case were well understood. In a just world, that guy’s punishment should be having to figure out how to run Durham’s economy after Duke university packs up and MOVES.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.