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| NEWS > 13 August 2006 |
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Cop fired, but why?
Scott Trant was an honorable police officer in 2004. That year he entered a burning building at 78-80 Flint St. to help rescue an elderly couple from the second floor. But two weeks ago, Trant was fired from the Somerville Police Department by Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone.
Curtatone and other city officials refused to comment on why Trant was fired, but Patrolmen’s Union President Jack Leutcher, who is advising the officer in his appeal with the state Civil Service Commission, said the firing is a result of Trant’s attempt to purchase a Vernon Street home.
“The city’s hand... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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Philadelphia Inquirer - Philad
13 August 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Despite mayor's order, complai
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson won’t release Internal Affairs cases involving sexual misconduct — despite a mayoral order opening citizens’ complaints to public scrutiny.
Last month, Johnson turned down The Inquirer’s request for a decade’s worth of sexual-misconduct cases. For years, Philadelphia police had routinely made public completed internal investigations into citizens’ complaints.
But the department now says allegations related to sex are too sensitive to disclose.
"It's not that we’re trying to supersede the intent of the mayor's executive order," said Capt. Benjamin Naish, a department spokesman.
City Solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. said on Friday that he was reviewing the Police Department’s decision.
Ellen Green-Ceisler, the department’s former integrity officer, said police should remove victims’ names but otherwise release the reports.
"The citizens have a right to know what their police are doing," she said.
Then-Mayor Edward G. Rendell issued the executive order in 1993 at a time of public ferment over police shootings. Mayor Street has kept it in force.
Despite Johnson’s refusal to release sexual-misconduct investigations, 56 such reports became public anyway last month.
With the names of victims blacked out, the reports were filed in federal court, as part of a lawsuit filed by a former stripper attacked by two city officers in 2002.
A lawyer for The Inquirer, Michael E. Baughman, urged U.S. District Judge John P. Fullam Sr. not to keep the records confidential. The judge agreed.
"The public has a strong interest in understanding allegations of misconduct by police officers," Baughman wrote.
Aside from access granted through the order, city lawyers say the state's Right to Know law does not apply to complaints against police. Part of the law says government can keep secret anything related to an investigation.
The mayoral order provides for only limited disclosure. It makes public complaints filed by citizens, but investigations initiated by Internal Affairs itself — the majority of cases — remain secret.
Among the nation’s 10 largest cities, only Phoenix makes all Internal Affairs reports public.
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