Durham Officers Placed on Leave Amid Investigation

WRAL ^ | 8 Nov. 2007 | Julia Lewis, Ken Smith

[JLS]

Durham — Several Durham police officers have been placed on leave pending a major internal investigation, and WRAL has learned the probe might center around sexual misconduct.

Police Chief Jose Lopez said Thursday that the allegations surfaced shortly after he took over the department in September. He said less than 10 officers, ranging from rookies to veterans, were involved, but did not reveal any other details surrounding the accusations.

When asked by WRAL's Julia Lewis whether police officers are under investigation for having sex with prostitutes, Lopez replied, "At this point and time, we are conducting and investigation into some allegations of misconduct."

"It's not about secrecy. It's about confidentiality," he told WRAL. "You don't want to smear a good officer because of an allegation until we've gotten to the bottom of it."

[JLS]

Well many around here speculated that the DPD had reasons for treating Mangum with kid gloves. Maybe this is a sign they were right.

[JLS]

You might ping the Duke lacrosse list about this.

[abb]

ping

[toldyou]

We FReepers suggested they were involved with her 1 1/2 years ago! They seemed to know she had a kid at home when they picked her up. Then the Chief of Police “disappeared” for months shortly after the Duke lacrosse story broke. The reason was that his mom was sick at home. Yeah, sure.

[toldyou]

Thanks for the ping. Woo-hoo...this should be interesting if there isn’t a cover-up of the suspected cover-up. :)

[toldyou]

Oops....thanks for the ping!

[RGSpincich]

has contacted the Durham prosecutor's office and federal authorities.

Let's hope the NC Attorney General gets involved before the Nifong residue gets on their shoes.

[GoDuke]

Good thing this came out AFTER the mayoral election. /sarc

[Sue Perkick]

Well now, whodda thunk? Wonder if we will be hearing any familiar names?

[maggief]

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-897005.cfm

Several police officers suspended

By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun
gronberg@heraldsun.com
Nov 8, 2007 : 11:24 pm ET

DURHAM — Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez has suspended several of his department’s officers while investigators look into whether they’ve been involved in what he termed “possible sexual misconduct.”

The allegations involved fewer than 10 officers, and investigators have already exonerated some of them, Lopez told reporters late Thursday afternoon. The allegations concern officers receiving sexual services from prostitutes, according to a source.

Lopez said the investigation has been going on for “quite a while,” but wasn’t more specific about when it started. He did say that police learned of the allegations while they were investigating a different case involving vice.

The probe is focusing on officers assigned to one of the Durham Police Department’s five district offices, Lopez said, without specifying which one.

It was unclear Thursday how many officers had been suspended and how many were still suspended. Lopez said he had suspended “five or six,” but he didn’t specify whether that was the full number or just those who remained on paid leave. He did say authorities were allowing three officers to return to work.

Other sources indicated that five officers from District 1 — which polices east Durham — had been suspended and three of those have been exonerated. The allegations are said to concern officers receiving sexual services from prostitutes.

Lopez said the investigation isn’t targeting anyone who holds command rank, meaning the officers involved could be anything from ordinary officers up to lieutenants.

City Manager Patrick Baker said that the allegations, if true, would “certainly at a minimum [be] conduct unbecoming” an officer, and “may border or go into criminal allegations as well.”

Police have alerted the Durham County district’s attorney’s office and the FBI in case they need help from those agencies, Lopez said after finishing a short closed-door briefing of City Council members.

Baker said he believed “two or three” officers were involved in the alleged misconduct.

He added that Lopez had notified him of the investigation a week ago, and that he responded by advising the chief to “get it done as expeditiously as possible but not forget thoroughness.”

(snip)

[ltc8k6]

The whole LAX case was criminal conduct unbecoming...

Hi maggief!

Thanks for the ping abb.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Hey, State AG office, when the Durham police IA complete their investigation can you send them over to Greensboro to clean out the police garbage over here?

[Freee-dame]

I wonder what the DNA of all the other men found during the investigation shows?

[Locomotive Breath]

Err.... cops maybe?

[DvdMom]

It’s about time ! Thanks for posting the info:)

[maggief]

Hey, ltc8k6!

Interesting timing, eh?

:)

[ltc8k6]

Nah!

Just a lot of convenient coincidences...

[Enterprise]

"the probe might center around sexual misconduct."

Heh heh heh. He said they're going to "probe sexual misconduct."

[Enterprise]

"Officer Talisa Little was charged in August with simple affray in connection with a fight outside a Raleigh nightclub."

You go girl!

[TommyDale]

Speculated? LOL! We were feeding them information for over a year!!