Lee's case is especially troubling because he was a recent hire, joining the department in October. Lee, the fifth IMPD officer arrested in the past three weeks, told investigators he had helped his wife run an escort service as far back as 10 years ago.
That bit of information calls into question how carefully Lee was screened before IMPD hired him.
I'd say. It is inconceivable that Lee's work for the escort service could not have been known by the persons responsible for hiring him. Indeed, one must wonder whether his connection to the escort service had something to do with his hiring in the first instance. The editorial is correct in its observation that treating these arrests as simply a few bad apples won't cut it. The public trust has been violated and Mayor Ballard and his public safety team need to show us that they are not only taking steps to improve the screening and hiring process, but that they are also conducting the necessary internal review to weed out corrupt cops.
Where is Mayor Ballard?
ReplyDeleteBackground investigations? What background investigations? Former IPD background investigations were fairly thorough depending on what "list" you were on.(there were two, black and white) As for the former MCSD, well, It didn't really matter. If your contribution to the Sheriff's election fund was big enough you were hired.If you do a little digging you will discover that prior to the merger quite a few MCSD deputies were hired who couldn't pass the screening process IPD had in place. The current and former sheriffs also hired former IPD patrol officers that made it through the process but were washed out during their training. After the merger Sheriff Anderson put his people in charge and we became one big Sheriffs department with all their bad habits, political cronyism, and general overall ineptitude. Fortunately Mayor Ballard gets it and is now tasked with cleaning up Frank's mess.
ReplyDelete"Where is Mayor Ballard?"
ReplyDeleteHe's cleaning up Peterson's mess That's where. Peterson and Anderson led this city right into the sewers.
Gary you are right, Mayor Ballard needs to keep the citizens of Indianapolis informed and if you watch the News or read the Star that's exactly what he’s doing.
Newman has been all over the news outlets informing us as he and the Mayor proceed. I would look for more "clean up" of the Peterson/Anderson ineptness' soon.
internal affairs,
ReplyDeleteso which background check was more thorough...the white or black one?
This is what happens when democrats are in charge. Plain and simple.
ReplyDeleteHow long is it going to take people to figure that out!
Jeremy Lee is white, if anyone is keeping score.
ReplyDeleteThe white background check was more thorough, because they had to meet their minority quota regardless of what color the best qualified applicants were. I hate sounding racist, but you'll notice that four of the five officers arrested recently are black. Of those, three were hired on with IPD on Bart's watch and one came from MCSD. I suspect they were subjected to reduced scrutiny because of minority hiring quotas.
ReplyDeleteIf they would get rid of affirmative action and simply hire the best person for the job, regardless of race, we probably wouldn't be in this predicament.
"Jeremy Lee is white, if anyone is keeping score."
ReplyDeleteClear on that AI. He was also hired by Frank Anderson even though they discovered his involvement with the escort service during his background investigation. It's in his personnel file unless it was convieniently lost or shredded. The news media knows this and is fishing for the documentation as we speak. Check your sources.
Frank haphazardly hired as many people as he could during his short stint as head of IMPD in an attempt to prove he was fighting the "war on crime". He was able to do this by "streamlining" the whole hiring process. At one point he tried to get a list of applicants approved through the merit board without providing their personnel packets! True story. Fortunately the merit board wasn't beholden to Frank and they told him no packets no hires.
Sad thing is that (word on the street) at least 4 more arrests are forthcoming.
ReplyDeleteI won't say where in IMPD these officers are assigned, but they were hired under Peterson/Anderson leadership.
Now Ballard is cleaning up the mess and it appears that he is the one with "egg on his face"
Great legacy to leave behind, Bart! You COULD HAVE BEEN a great Mayor.
Where is Wilson46201? Why is he not defending these officers?
Greg Ballard is no better than Bart Peterson. Greg Ballard made a lot of promises to get elected but, like Frank Anderson and his change of mind about consolidation, the politicians met Greg Ballard's price and he changed his mind! Bart Peterson put inexperienced politicians in charge of policing in Indianapolis and Greg Ballard did the same thing! A Rose is a Rose and B.S. is still B.S.
ReplyDeleteGive us more info on the upcoming arrests of the four other officers? Are they related to any of the past arrests?
ReplyDelete