The wrist-slap of Thomas and other similarly mild disciplinary actions handed down to other officers during the past few months for arguably egregious offenses gives additional weight to long-standing claims that crime pays if the criminal is on the right side of the law.
Early this fall, Philadelphia police officials refused to discharge seven Police Department employees, including a staff member of a Deputy Police Commissioner, who admitted to fraudulently obtaining cash grants established to assist low-income residents in paying their utility bills.
The DA's Office did not charge those PPD employees involved in fleecing the government-funded energy assistance program.
Philadelphia Police Department officials extended the mild punishment of suspensions ranging from three to fifteen days to those employees admitting to utility theft and fraud, including a police detective lieutenant who earned $94,000 last year, according to city records.
The day after the wrist-slap discipline for Officer Thomas, Philadelphia prosecutors dropped charges in over forty drug cases and signaled their intent to drop over sixty additional cases due to the DA’s unwillingness to utilize the testimony of six narcotics squad officers responsible for those drug cases.
The week before the Thomas wrist-slap, local news broke about the refusal of Philadelphia prosecutors to pursue criminal cases that require testimony from those six officers assigned, including a police lieutenant.
Such rare action by prosecutors in refusing to employ the testimony of sworn police officers in prosecutions usually means the prosecutors have evidence that the officers in question are either tainted by or engaged in corrupted activities.
Philadelphia Police Department officials subsequently removed those six officers from narcotics work, but as yet the department hasn’t disciplined, discharged or arrested any of them.
The officers, reassigned to street patrol, recently posed for a photograph in their patrol uniforms, in which they can be seen smiling at a popular downtown Philadelphia tourist destination.
The police corruption-related news reports of last week mirror news in April 2009 about two Philadelphia narcotics field unit squads that were reassigned in the wake of local and federal probes into corrupt practices.
In September 2000, news broke about a FBI memo detailing patterns of corruption among a group of Philadelphia narcotics officers. including perjured testimony and stealing of money and drugs from suspected criminals.
The mid-1990s, a scandal in the 39th District also involved narcotics officers who were found to be preying on people. It led to the dismissal of more than 500 criminal charges, and to City Hall having to pay over $4 million to settle wrongful arrest lawsuits filed by the victims of that police abuse.
Andback in the 1980s there was the massive “One Squad Scandal” –- yet another incident of police corruption.
Police corruption, according to a widely utilized definition, is the misuse of police authority for personal gain.
This year, news reports detailed various corruption scandals in cities including Baltimore, New York City and Tulsa. In mid-October, four officers in a town in Oregon sent a letter to town officials charging the Police Chief there with engaging in corrupt activities including gambling on duty and covering up serious misconduct by officers under his command.
Early this fall, Philadelphia police officials refused to discharge seven Police Department employees, including a staff member of a Deputy Police Commissioner, who admitted to fraudulently obtaining cash grants established to assist low-income residents in paying their utility bills.
The DA's Office did not charge those PPD employees involved in fleecing the government-funded energy assistance program.
Philadelphia Police Department officials extended the mild punishment of suspensions ranging from three to fifteen days to those employees admitting to utility theft and fraud, including a police detective lieutenant who earned $94,000 last year, according to city records.
The day after the wrist-slap discipline for Officer Thomas, Philadelphia prosecutors dropped charges in over forty drug cases and signaled their intent to drop over sixty additional cases due to the DA’s unwillingness to utilize the testimony of six narcotics squad officers responsible for those drug cases.
The week before the Thomas wrist-slap, local news broke about the refusal of Philadelphia prosecutors to pursue criminal cases that require testimony from those six officers assigned, including a police lieutenant.
Such rare action by prosecutors in refusing to employ the testimony of sworn police officers in prosecutions usually means the prosecutors have evidence that the officers in question are either tainted by or engaged in corrupted activities.
Philadelphia Police Department officials subsequently removed those six officers from narcotics work, but as yet the department hasn’t disciplined, discharged or arrested any of them.
The officers, reassigned to street patrol, recently posed for a photograph in their patrol uniforms, in which they can be seen smiling at a popular downtown Philadelphia tourist destination.
The police corruption-related news reports of last week mirror news in April 2009 about two Philadelphia narcotics field unit squads that were reassigned in the wake of local and federal probes into corrupt practices.
In September 2000, news broke about a FBI memo detailing patterns of corruption among a group of Philadelphia narcotics officers. including perjured testimony and stealing of money and drugs from suspected criminals.
The mid-1990s, a scandal in the 39th District also involved narcotics officers who were found to be preying on people. It led to the dismissal of more than 500 criminal charges, and to City Hall having to pay over $4 million to settle wrongful arrest lawsuits filed by the victims of that police abuse.
Andback in the 1980s there was the massive “One Squad Scandal” –- yet another incident of police corruption.
Police corruption, according to a widely utilized definition, is the misuse of police authority for personal gain.
This year, news reports detailed various corruption scandals in cities including Baltimore, New York City and Tulsa. In mid-October, four officers in a town in Oregon sent a letter to town officials charging the Police Chief there with engaging in corrupt activities including gambling on duty and covering up serious misconduct by officers under his command.
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