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| NEWS > 03 October 2007 |
Other related articles:
Canada: Local cop hero abroad,
EDMONTON - Rory Christie is certain that if it were not for Edmonton police Const. Joe Slemko, he would still be languishing in an Australian jail.
Slemko, a world-recognized expert in blood-spatter analysis, provided evidence Christie says was instrumental in winning his freedom after spending 31/2 years in an Australian prison, wrongfully accused of his former wife's murder.
To Christie, who now lives in Lloydminster, Slemko personifies what a police officer should be: a competent, scrupulously objective professional who provides unbiased evidence in court for the prose... Read more
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 Article sourced from
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NJ Blog - New Jersey,USA
03 October 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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New Jersey State Police
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A State Police whitewash?
Was there ever a clandestine organization of white state troopers who called themselves the Lords of Discipline? No, said a task force set up the Attorney General's Office to investigate accusations of harassment of some troopers, mostly minorities and women. Yet last week, the AG's office settled a lawsuit filed by a former New Jersey state trooper who maintained he was one of the victims of the Lords of Discipline.
Former trooper Justin Hopson will be paid $400,000. It is probably a good investment for the state, which continues to cling to the notion that there is no such thing as the Lords of Discipline, despite lots of evidence to the contrary, including much contained in its own investigation.
According to a report written by a task force created by former Attorney General Peter Harvey, at least 14 troopers - male and female, black, white and Hispanic - told investigators they were harassed, hazed or assaulted by this loosely knit organization for daring to buck the State Police culture.
Hopson said he became a victim of the Lords of Discipline when he refused to help his supervisor alter facts in support of an illegal arrest. For that, he was targeted.
During interviews with troopers in connection with Hopson's charges, State Police investigators talked to at least 19 troopers who admitted wearing Lords of Discipline T-shirts, seeing the shirts in stationhouses, hearing about them while in the police academy and other experiences. Moreover, the investigation revealed at least 10 troopers who had engaged in hazing. Astonishingly, none of this was enough to convince state officials of the existence of the group.
Perhaps we'll never know for sure if there was - or still is - a Lords of Discipline organization. What is clear is that some troopers have engaged in reprehensible behavior against fellow troopers. Much attention has been paid to the formal admission of racial profiling by the State Police and the ensuing federal consent decree. What is often overlooked is that the consent decree did not require an overhaul of the culture that spawned the racial profiling.
Many have argued convincingly that the conduct of some troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike and other roads - targeting motorists based on race and subjecting black and Hispanic motorists to more intense scrutiny - had its genesis in attitudes and behaviors condoned in the barracks.
A civil trial, which the state avoided by settling the lawsuit, might have unearthed some ugly realities. An organization that provides a safe haven for even a small number of rogue troopers can hardly be trusted to enforce the laws of the state evenly and with integrity.
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