Cited: CNN

An investigation by the FBI of the East Haven, Ct., police department has led to the arrest of three police officers and one sergeant. The charges against them are based on their profiling, harsh treatment, and illegal arrest of Latinos in their community as well as obstruction of justice charges stemming from their efforts to block the investigation into these crimes. The charges against the officers include incidents where it is alleged that they threatened and assaulted Latinos after they were already under arrest, that they arrested others without cause, and that later they engaged in a cover-up of their actions when they learned of the Department of Justice investigation into these cases.

The indictment handed down by the grand jury in Bridgeport, Ct., alleges that Sgt. John Miller and officers David Cari, Dennis Spaulding, and Jason Zulio conspired to “injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate various members of the East Haven community. The indictment goes further to say that the officers engaged in racial profiling in stopping a disproportionate number of Latinos at traffic stops, performed illegal searches during these stops, as well as having harassed Latino business owners and community members representing these business owners.

Two of the people arrested by the East Haven police have accused the officers of slamming their heads against concrete walls while in their custody, and that they were arrested under false pretenses in the first place. Another alleges that he was punched by one office while handcuffed while two other officers propped him up for the other officer to hit him.

Mayor of East Haven, Joseph Maturo, expressed his angst over the proceedings saying that it is a shame that this had to come down to arresting the officers and that all of them are innocent until proven guilty. When asked what he intended to do to address the Latino community in East Haven, Mayor Maturo mocked both the questioner and the Latino community in replying, “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll have tacos tonight.”

The Department of Justice has been looking into allegations of discrimination by the East Haven Police Department against the Latino community since 2009 and in a recently released report by the federal agency they found the police in East Haven to be engaging in discriminatory policing against Latinos.

There are no Latino police officers in the East Haven police department, a reality that Mayor Maturo also dismissed at immaterial. The East Haven community is predominately white (88.5%) with blacks/African American representing approximately 3% of East Haven residents and Latinos 10.3%. Recent statistics from the East Haven police department show that nearly 40.5% of one officer’s traffic stops were of Latino drivers while overall the department’s number of traffic stops of Latino drivers was nearly 20%.

In addition, the officers are accused of conducting unauthorized immigration investigations into many of the people arrested and within the community as a means to harass and intimidate rather than as part of normal police work in the community.

To head off future problems, Mayor Maturo, has met with community members, and other concerned law enforcement officials to retrain the East Haven police department and to redraft the police handbook, which had not been updated since 1972.

My take:

Bullies with badges. I hope that if found guilty of the charges they receive the maximum penalty and that they lose all benefits and pension. The only thing worse than crime and the price paid by the victims of crime, is crime committed by those entrusted to uphold the law; those who take an oath to serve and protect the citizens of their community…not prey upon the ones they don’t like too much.