Dukeboy01
10-10-2012, 13:17
For all of those who think that LEOs don't need union protections, I present exhibit "A."
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20121009/NEWS01/310090051?nclick_check=1
Short version: An 18 year veteran narcotics detective comes across information that is exculpatory to a woman who has taken an Alford plea in a cold case homicide investigated by the Kentucky State Police. According to the article, after being blown off by the KSP detective who investigated the case, and with the blessing of his immediate supervisor and the Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney's office, he passes the information onto the Innocence Project. They attempt to use the evidence to get the woman's plea set aside, but are so far unsuccessful.
In the meantime, KSP gets it's nose out of joint and complains up the LMPD Detective's chain of command. When an interdepartmental reorganization occurs, the 18 year veteran gets booted out of narcotics to 3rd shift patrol while detectives with less seniority are left in the unit.
I'd like to take a moment to say that a similar thing couldn't happen here in Lexington. Well, it ultimately could, but the admin weenies would have to earn it. They couldn't use the "Gosh, it just happens to be an administrative reorganization that's causing you to get bumped back to patrol" excuse here because our contract specifies that such reductions have to be done based on seniority. They'd have to get more creative, which would mean that they would probably really step in it from a hostile workplace perspective or (more likely) give up and let it slide.
Hopefully LMPD gets enough bad press over this situation that the detective gets made whole in the end.
I'll close by saying that I'm no fan of the Innocence Project, but this isn't one of their typical "dredge up some completely irrelevant DNA samples from 30 years ago and convince a judge that it adds up to reasonable doubt in order to get a new trial after all of the prosecution's witnesses have died, forgotten, or moved away" clusterfarks.
In this case you have a seemingly credible suspect confessing to having committed the crime. That needed to be looked into and it looks as if the Gray Gods got butthurt over a LMPD detective challenging their casework and not only blew it off, but then actively worked to keep the potentially exculpatory evidence from getting before the court.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20121009/NEWS01/310090051?nclick_check=1
Short version: An 18 year veteran narcotics detective comes across information that is exculpatory to a woman who has taken an Alford plea in a cold case homicide investigated by the Kentucky State Police. According to the article, after being blown off by the KSP detective who investigated the case, and with the blessing of his immediate supervisor and the Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney's office, he passes the information onto the Innocence Project. They attempt to use the evidence to get the woman's plea set aside, but are so far unsuccessful.
In the meantime, KSP gets it's nose out of joint and complains up the LMPD Detective's chain of command. When an interdepartmental reorganization occurs, the 18 year veteran gets booted out of narcotics to 3rd shift patrol while detectives with less seniority are left in the unit.
I'd like to take a moment to say that a similar thing couldn't happen here in Lexington. Well, it ultimately could, but the admin weenies would have to earn it. They couldn't use the "Gosh, it just happens to be an administrative reorganization that's causing you to get bumped back to patrol" excuse here because our contract specifies that such reductions have to be done based on seniority. They'd have to get more creative, which would mean that they would probably really step in it from a hostile workplace perspective or (more likely) give up and let it slide.
Hopefully LMPD gets enough bad press over this situation that the detective gets made whole in the end.
I'll close by saying that I'm no fan of the Innocence Project, but this isn't one of their typical "dredge up some completely irrelevant DNA samples from 30 years ago and convince a judge that it adds up to reasonable doubt in order to get a new trial after all of the prosecution's witnesses have died, forgotten, or moved away" clusterfarks.
In this case you have a seemingly credible suspect confessing to having committed the crime. That needed to be looked into and it looks as if the Gray Gods got butthurt over a LMPD detective challenging their casework and not only blew it off, but then actively worked to keep the potentially exculpatory evidence from getting before the court.