Upholding police complaint rulings

After reviewing its first cases, the Police Complaints Committee determined that all of the complaints against Sarasota police officers were unfounded.

The first case involved a black woman alleging an officer did not arrest another woman because she was white.

The black woman's 11-year-old daughter accidentally drove her scooter into the white woman, according to the report. The mother claimed the white woman assaulted her daughter. Then, she said, when she told a police officer about the assault, he allegedly responded, "It's a shame that a white woman is assaulted and nobody came to help."

After interviewing witnesses, the officer and all the people involved in the altercation, police department personnel determined that the only person who had mentioned race was the mother, who had asked officers why they wouldn't arrest a white woman.

Committee member Frank Brenner said he regretted that the police department had to spend time on what he deemed an obviously bogus complaint.

"What an extraordinary, colossal waste of resources," he said.

Another case involved people arrested in a drug bust; they claimed that when officers broke into their house, the officers caused excessive damage.

Investigators determined that the complaint was without warrant, and the complaints committee agreed.

However, two committee members became engaged in a heated debate while discussing that case, Jerry Meketon suggested it would be a good idea for police officers to have someone with them during drug busts, such as that one, to inform the arrestees about the legal process of breaking into a home to search it.

"Yes, they are drug dealers," Meketon said. "But it would be nice to have someone there to explain what's going on."

Brenner, however, did not like that idea.

"When [drug dealers] are flushing drugs down the toilet, they know what is going on," said Brenner. "What is there to explain?"

The third case also involved a drug bust, but the complainant was not the arrestee, it was his landlord.

The landlord argued that undercover officers should have arrested his tenant where the alleged drug sale took place, instead of waiting until the reported drug dealer returned to his rental home.

As it turned out, the landlord had been cited by the Nuisance Abatement Board for having too many drug arrests at his home; investigators believed he was looking for a way to wipe that latest arrest from the record.

The fourth case under review concerned a dispute between a police officer and his ex-wife, who claimed that he was threatening and harassing her.

While most of the complaints against that officer were determined to be unfounded as well, he was found to have been guilty of violating certain rules, such as leaving work for a few minutes without telling his supervisor.

The officer was given a letter of reprimand.

The committee members said they believed that was an appropriate response.