Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 11/27/2007 7:02:45 PM PST by elkfersupper
Investigative reporter Wendy Saltzman discovered more than 100 law enforcement officers have been arrested in Georgia for driving under the influence. Her investigation found some of them asked for favors, some wrecked department cars, and some were given special treatment.
"I think that is outrageous frankly," said police psychologist Dr. Anthony Stone. "I can't imagine their being fit for duty, because almost by definition they have a drinking problem," Stone said.
Habersham County Sheriff’s Captain Freddie Chapman has been arrested 4 times on alcohol related charges spanning back to an underage alcohol violation in 1988. His offenses also include three DUI arrests, all while he was a sworn law enforcement officer. Chapman was found not guilty on one DUI, pleaded down to Public Drunk on a second charge, and pleaded no contest on the third DUI charge.
"He has been convicted on only one DUI charge," said his current employer, Sheriff DeRay Fincher.
When asked how drivers should feel about being arrested for DUI by an officer who has been arrested for the same charges, Fincher responded, "He admitted he made a mistake and he was wrong."
"If there is a second DUI [arrest], [the Council] in most cases revokes that officer's certification," said Ryan Powell, the director of operations for Georgia’s Police Officers Standards and Training Council.
But that wasn't the case with Wendell Campbell or Donald Cloudt. Both DeKalb County officers have been arrested two times for driving under the influence and both are still working.
When asked if DeKalb police take drinking and driving seriously, spokeswoman Mekka Parish responded, "We take it very seriously. We hold our officers to a higher standard."
Yet our investigation found DeKalb police have more alcohol-related incidents than any other agency. Sgt. Michael O'Neal was allowed to resign in July instead of being fired for DUI. In a police dashcam video tape of the arrest obtained by CBS 46 News, O’Neal asked the other officer, “Brother to brother, will you cut me a break?” The arresting officer responded, “Absolutely not."
On the tape, O'Neal continued, "Others have put me in situations that are unprofessional, and I let it go." The officer asked: "You let a drunk driver go?" O'Neal responded, "Yes, I have." At that point, O’Neal was placed under arrest for driving under the influence.
Officer Benjamin Alcime was terminated after internal records show he came to work intoxicated and was "shooting crazy" at the DeKalb firing range.
"No one gets any kind of preferential treatment," Parish insisted. “They enforce the law, we can’t have them breaking the law.” She explained that some of these officers, like Delvin McKibbens, were reprimanded and their offenses were reviewed by a chief prior to the current administration.
McKibbens pleaded guilty, when police records show he was nearing the point of "blackout" and caused an accident, leaving the other driver hospitalized. McKibbens was only suspended by the DeKalb Police Department for one day.
"That kind of case strikes me as one where they have absolutely crossed the line,” Stone replied.
Four Atlanta police officers have also been arrested for driving drunk. A video obtained by CBS 46 News showed Officer James McGrath failing his sobriety test. That same night, police records show, he caused a three-car rollover accident. His arrest was caught on video.
Former Troup County Deputy Kevin Yarborough pleaded guilty to DUI in 2002 after he wrecked his county-issued patrol car. According to the police report, a crack pipe and rolling papers were also found in his vehicle. But Yarborough is back patrolling Georgia’s streets. "I don't think most departments I know would tolerate it," Stone said.
And police reports showed the former Clarkston Officer Neil Bullock fired his weapon out the window of his car, and got into a drunken driving accident with his children in the back seat. But less than two years later, he was back at his Clarkston job. Now he is working as a Snellville police officer.
"Every drunk driving offense should have the strictest penalty imposed," said Denise Thames, Georgia's executive director of Mother's Against Drunk Driving.
Thames said the average person drives drunk 100 times before they are even caught. "It is people making a choice to get behind the wheel impaired and put other people's lives at risk," she said.
Powell did not excuse the actions of the officers that the P.O.S.T Council supervises. "We do try to remove those unqualified officers from the profession, we just don't win every case," he said.
CBS 46 tried to contact all of the officers involved in this investigation and none of them would respond to our requests for an interview.
Talk amongst yourselves while I go perform some ablutions.
This sounds more like the New Mexico Congress.
How about a look at them?
They've made themselves exempt and impervious to arrest during the legislative session and while traveling to and from "legislative business", which could mean anything.
here i am! gotta love the GA cops. they have mirrored sunglasses with the mirrors on the INSIDE!
They are still above the law then.
Since at least 1980.
Georgia ping
tit for tat...
Pretty well tells you what a POS the sheriff is!
Ping.
Ping.
You have to be a serious out of control drunk to get a DWI.
Take their licenses, put them in jail for a year and make them suffer just like the folks they pull over.
But they still hire armed thugs to harass the rest of us.
Sadly, that only used to be true.
It's been dialed down so far and expanded so wide that now nearly everyone who drives can be convicted of DWI.
Do not attract the attention of "law enforcement".
Do not attract the attention of “Law Enforcement” also known as “revenuers”
what Id like to know is how any one of these guys stayed employed with a suspended liscence? Did they continue driving their patrol vehicles everywhere illegally? What about the BS dui 'classes' and maximun sentencing for breaking the very damn 'laws' they are sworn to uphold?
this is only a handful of arrestable dui by police, the ones that were dumb enough to make a scene that couldnt be kept from the public. IOW, true drunk[stupid] driving...
sorry bout the rant...
just what is the difference between a .074 and a .075 bac ???
its a crafty game really. They say 'drink responsibly' and then dilute the limit so low that most anybody will likely be over at some point even when trying to stay legal. that is if they regularly drink at all.
I guess all those times that people admitted to 'two beers' semed to be a reasonable legal threshold.../s...
Since LEO’s think that they are better than the rest of the populace, they should be held to higher standards and stiffer penalties.
I mean humans fail at every level of status-power-society, etc., And it is always for the same causes
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
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.