Four Hollywood cops face charges in FBI sting                          Stop Police Brutality

Posted on Fri, Feb. 23, 2007

Hollywood, Florida
FBI agents arrested four veteran Hollywood police officers after a two-year drug sting.
From 1995 officers yearbook. Steve Harrison not pictured.
COURTESY OF BROWARD POLICE
From 1995 officers yearbook. Steve Harrison not pictured.

Four Hollywood police officers were arrested by federal agents Thursday, accused of providing protection
and running drugs and money for what they thought was an organized crime group but was instead an
FBI sting operation, a law enforcement source said.

It is unclear whether Kevin Companion, Jeff Courtney, Steve Harrison and Tom Simcox, all veterans of
the police force, were being held in federal prison Thursday night, but word of the arrests sent shock waves through the department and City Hall.

''It's been really tough on all of us. Some of us just can't believe it,'' police spokesman Capt. Tony Rode said. ``It's really crazy.''

Few details were released on the investigation or the charges, but City Manager Cameron Benson said he was told the FBI had been running the sting for about two years.

Mayor Mara Giulianti first heard of the investigation several weeks ago and said there was ''pretty convincing and strong evidence'' that the officers had been involved in wrongdoing.

The FBI has scheduled a press conference at 11 a.m. today in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale, where officials are expected to give more details on the case.

''The four individuals dishonored themselves and their colleagues,'' Giulianti said. ``This is going to be an embarrassment to the men and women that serve our city. This is very, very painful.''

The on-duty FBI spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Broward County Police Benevolent Association president Dick Brickman said he had heard about the arrests Thursday evening from other officers.

Brickman said he didn't know what the specific charges are but said they are unrelated to the officers' jobs and therefore they would not get union representation.

''From what I understand it's serious charges,'' Brickman said. ``It's a very, very touchy situation right now.''

The alleged corruption in the police department comes as the city is dealing with similar accusations in City Hall.

Suspended Commissioner Keith Wasserstrom is facing five felony corruption charges stemming from his role in helping a sludge processing firm win an $18 million city contract in 2004. State prosecutors recently opened two more investigations of his business dealings.

A woman who answered the phone at Courtney's home Thursday night hung up after a caller identified himself as a Miami Herald reporter. Phone calls to Companion's house were not returned.

Harrison, 46, and Simcox, 50, could not be reached.

The Hollywood Police Department is no stranger to scandal.

The city's street crimes unit was disbanded in 1997 by then-Chief Rick Stone after officers were accused of brutality, making false arrests and sexual battery.

In 1998, a Miami Herald investigation found abuse in the system of off-duty shift assignments. As many as 500 times in a year, Hollywood officers scheduled themselves to work two or more off-duty jobs at the same time and could have been paid for working off-duty during their regular police shifts.

Several of the officers in question also have dealt with charges before.

Simcox, a 24-year veteran, was suspended without pay for four weeks in May 1997 after a complaint that he slapped a 9-year-old at a Palm Beach County day-care center while off-duty and fractured the child's jaw.

Articles in the Herald in 1995 and 1996 questioned the department's 1991 hiring of Courtney, 51, who had been arrested in the 1970s for issuing bad checks and driving while intoxicated.

At the time, he blamed the arrests on immaturity and a messy divorce.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving named him Officer of the Year in 1995.

Companion, who joined the force in 1986, was investigated several years ago after a Miami Herald investigation found that he was scheduled to work off-duty at multiple sites in a single day on as many as 111 dates.

Companion also was one of several people named in a 1994 sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former Hollywood police officer.

''It looks bad. The news hit me like a ton of bricks, but I still think we have one of the best police departments in the state,'' Benson said.

``I was sick to my stomach honestly.''

Miami Herald staff writers Jerry Berrios, Wanda J. DeMarzo, Hannah Sampson and Amy Sherman contributed to this report.

Montreal: Police Assault Women at International Women's Day March

Friday, March 09 2007 @ 09:06 PM PST
Contributed by: Anonymous

Yesterday, as Montrealers, along with many around the world celebrated International Women's Day - the event was marred by police brutality in which three young women were assaulted, injured and traumatized. Among the issues that were brought up during the speeches at Montreal's women's day march was that in Iran women were prevented from celebrating international women's day. And women in Pakistan were also attacked yesterday in a women's day event. Yesterday's events ensure Montreal shares this distinction!

Marchers celebrating International Women's Day had walked from Place Emilie Gamelin (Berri Square) to Phillips Square, along Ste-Catherine Street. After speeches they made their way back to Berri Square. The police made an announcement asking people to walk on the sidewalk. Jaggi Singh, who had been one of many male supporters among the 200 strong celebrating international women's day moved onto the sidewalk. The others continued marching in the street. Police officers began to rush towards Singh, still walking on the sidewalk. They grabbed him and threw him against a nearby police car.

Other marchers gathered around the car out of concern for the violent way in which police were intervening. Police began hitting and pushing people indiscriminately. Several people were knocked to the ground with batons and night sticks. Emma Strople, a 17 year old marcher, was hit in the chest with the end of a night stick and thrown to the ground, by an officer later identified as Doyon. Her ribs were bruised, she was winded, trembling from shock and her knee was cut open enough that the blood seeped through her jeans. Two other women were also injured - one woman's lips and mouth were swollen and bleeding, from being punched in the face by a police officer; another left with cuts on her knee and stomach. The police showed a total disregard for the injuries mounting around them. They placed Jaggi Singh in the police car and began to leave. The marchers that remained left by Berri Metro.

The 8th March Committee of Women of Diverse Origins, one of the key groups involved in the march, strongly denounces last night's police brutality yesterday and the arrest of Singh. Are we to go back to the time when women in Canada were not considered 'persons'? When women were to be seen
and not heard? In Quebec today on the eve of an election we have seen how violence against women is still something that is trivialized, including by those that seek to represent us in the democratic system. Yesterday's police attack on women and their allies proves that even those who are supposed to be the guardians of the law and ensure gender equality, see women as people to be controlled with the threat and the use of violence. Women, as we struggle for equality are facing a backlash. How can we feel safe when the police themselves exhibit the violence that is endemic to patriarchy?

More than ever the police brutality of yesterday demonstrates that we have a long way to go; that women's struggles for equality that have always linked to improving the lives of our families and communities, ensuring democratic processes of equality and participation of ALL in the political process are constantly BLOCKADED by the state and its representatives. How can women seek assistance against the violence in their lives when those entrusted with their safekeeping are perpetrators of brutality and violence?

Last night's police violence is shameful and fearful. We demand that the City of Montreal and the government of Quebec immediately investigate the assaults and arrest of yesterday and that women, our allies and supporters feel safe and free to work in support of equality and justice.

Parents of Modesto teen seek $1 million in police brutality claim

Article Launched: 03/09/2007 11:36:15 AM PST

MODESTO, Calif.- The parents of a high school student roughed up in a melee outside a nightclub filed a claim seeking $1 million from law enforcement agencies whom they claimed beat their son.

Louis Bland Jr. and Lisa Bland claimed Modesto police officers and Stanislaus County sheriff's deputies beat Louis Bland III, 17, at a teen dance last year.

The parents filed the claim—a precursor to a lawsuit—against the city and county last week on behalf of their son, a Central Catholic High School football star. He suffered contusions, lacerations and his face, neck and body were scarred, according to the claim.

The teen played in a football game six days after the Sept. 3 confrontation.

About 80 officers responded to a call to control an unruly crowd of hundreds outside a dance club. Law enforcement officials used police dogs, Tasers and pepper spray to manage the crowd, according to police.

Authorities would not say whether Bland was among the 17 people arrested because he is a minor.

Officials with the police and sheriff's departments said they had not seen the claim and could not comment.

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