Cop Accused Of Tipping Drug Dealers In Grand Jury Probe

Monongahela Police Veteran George Langan Arrested On Drug, Corruption Charges

WASHINGTON, Pa. — An 18-year veteran of the Monongahela Police Department was arrested while on duty Friday morning, following a grand jury investigation of drug and corruption allegations.

 Patrolman George Langan, 45, of Monongahela, declined comment to Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons as he arrived at the Washington County Courthouse, still wearing his uniform.

“The charges allege Langan protected drug dealers — first by alerting them to pending searches and arrests — and that he also revealed critical, highly confidential police information of counter-narcotics efforts in that area,” District Attorney Steven Toprani said

Langan is accused of accepting cash and cocaine for personal use and helping alleged dealers in exchange, said Toprani, who revealed that Langan came under investigation in June “after drug task force detectives from my county office suspected that several heroin and cocaine investigations were compromised by tip-offs that he allegedly made to targets of those investigations.”

Police Chief Brian Tempest — who worked alongside Langan as a patrolman until last year — wasn’t surprised by the arrest.

 ”We had rumors for at least 10 years that George Langan was involved in illegal activity,” said Tempest.

 Langan was arraigned at District Judge Curtis Thompson’s office and taken to Washington County Correctional Facility on $500,000 bond. A hearing was scheduled for Sept. 16.

 WTAE Channel 4′s news exchange partners at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the charges include obstruction of justice, hindering apprehension, official oppression, possession and delivery of suspected cocaine, conspiracy and witness intimidation.

 Law enforcement sources told Team 4 that Langan tried to hide his payoffs by using them to buy real estate in the Bentleyville area.

 The FBI, state police and the state attorney general’s office assisted with the investigation.

GOP lawmakers criticize probe of Arizona sheriff

By JACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press Writer – Thu Mar 19, 6:36 am ET

via YAHOO! News

PHOENIX – Ten Republican congressmen argue that a civil rights investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office could have a chilling effect on other state and local police agencies that seek to crack down on illegal immigration.

The congressmen, responding to a Department of Justice probe into allegations of discrimination and unconstitutional searches and seizures by the sheriff’s office, asked Attorney General Eric Holder to voice support for vigorous immigration enforcement and assure police agencies that they won’t face similar investigations.

“It is important that state and local law enforcement officers and the public are reassured that the investigation is proceeding in a judicious and fair manner, and not for the purpose of politicizing or chilling immigration efforts,” the 10 congressmen said in a letter to Holder on Wednesday.

The Department of Justice didn’t provide specifics of the allegations, but Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the probe was prompted by his immigration efforts, including his crime and immigration sweeps of some heavily Latino areas in metropolitan Phoenix. Arpaio denied allegations that his deputies racially profiled people during the sweeps and called the investigation politically motivated.

“I look at this as a political situation. I am not worried,” Arpaio said.

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee also plans to hold a hearing next month on the allegations against Arpaio.

Four Democratic members of the committee, including its chairman, Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, had requested the Justice Department investigation. The 10 Republican congressmen who wrote the letter to Holder are members of the committee.

Hector Yturralde, president of the Hispanic civil rights group Somos America and a critic of Arpaio, said he believes the letter by the 10 Republicans was a political move aimed at helping a fellow member of the GOP and that Arpaio has targeted people simply because of the color of their skin. “If other agencies in the country are doing this, they should be stopped,” Yturralde said.

Arpaio has taken some of the most aggressive approach to immigration enforcement, including arresting more than 1,200 illegal immigrants under a state smuggling law and setting up a hot line to report immigration violations.

Alejandro Miyar, a spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, issued the following statement in response to questions about whether Holder would follow the requests of the 10 Republican congressmen: “Career professionals in the Civil Rights Division began looking into this matter last year, and the Department made the decision to open this investigation in the same manner we make every such decision, based on the facts and the law.”

 

Handheld Fingerprint Scanners Used At Checkpoints

Courier Online
July 17, 2008

High tech gadget instantly reveals identities

Police officials are excited about a new high tech gadget that will make their jobs a little bit easier.

Through a Homeland Security grant, Los Angeles County purchased 500 mobile fingerprint scanning devices that can be used by officers in the field.

The device allows officers to identify people through their fingerprints who have previously been booked through the Los Angeles County penal system.

Roughly 200 scanners went to LAPD, and the rest were spread to agencies throughout the county. The Claremont Police Department only got one, but it has already been put to good use.

Police just picked up the machine last Thursday, and by Friday it helped them nab a potentially dangerous criminal. At a sobriety checkpoint on Indian Hill Boulevard, just south of the 10 Freeway, over 2000 vehicles were screened, resulting in 14 arrests. Two were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Among those stopped at the checkpoint was a man who told police that he did not have his driver license. His car was pulled off to the shoulder, where police asked his identity.

“He supplied a name that we ran a records check on that came back with no match,” Claremont Police Captain Jenkins said.

Claremont Police Corporal Chris Bradley then put the department’s new gadget to use for the first time. The man’s index fingers were scanned right at the scene and 5 minutes later, the police had the information they needed.

“We were able to pull up all his real information; his name, date of birth and all that,” Corp. Bradley said. “And then we saw that he had a no-bail parole hold.”

Albert Dominguez, 26, of Chino, was a parole violator out on murder charges. He is now in custody in Los Angeles.

“The nice thing about this is, we were able to identify him right there out in the field,” Corp. Bradley said.

Created by Cogent Systems, the device normally runs about $1000 each. Law enforcement officials hope to eventually have one in every patrol vehicle, Cpt. Jenkins said. In the meantime, Claremont police will have to share their scanner until more funding for additional devices is available.

Police believe they will be particularly useful at checkpoints where identifying unlicensed drivers is a constant challenge.

“There’s always a number of identification issues at the checkpoints so this will be a big help,” Cpt. Jenkins said.