Police corruption
The VW Bug that fled the crime scene attempted to take refuge up Arno
Street behind an auto body shop that was a chop shop for stolen cars
and a drug distribution center. It was also a well-known hangout for a
group of rogue cops. Several of those cops have since been convicted of
felonies. Kait may have been in a position to have learned about those
activities, because some of the cars were procured by Vietnamese car
thieves. The owner of the chop shop has stated that he knew Kait.
One of the cops from the chop shop, APD Officer Matt Griffin, has
since been sentenced to life in prison for multiple bank robberies and
murder of a witness. He was arrested one week before Kait was killed,
but his accomplices were never identified. The man whose knife was used
to stab Dung (alleged suicide attempt), was a good friend of Matt
Griffin. They rode motorcycles together.
When the supervisor of the Albuquerque Police Department’s Cold Case Squad criticized the grieving mother of a homicide victim for questioning the actions of “an impeccable police department,” the families of over a dozen New Mexico murder victims decided to take a long look at that “impeccable” department, as well as other investigative agencies in the Albuquerque area. What that group uncovered underscores the headline in the Albuquerque Journal, “THE CITIZENS OF ALBUQUERQUE ARE AFRAID OF THEIR COPS.” Honest police officers are almost as intimidated as the public -- afraid to speak out against their colleagues and supervisors for fear of retaliation against themselves or their loved ones.
Alb. Journal
Police in New Mexico have a long and on-going track
record of murder, bank robbery, kidnapping, extortion, sex crimes,
burglary, drug dealing, aggravated battery, auto theft, fraud,
brutality, entrapment, the planting and/or destruction of evidence,
intimidation of witnesses, and – above all – the cover-up of crimes
committed by police officers. According to the battered wife of Deputy
Scott Finley, a member of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department’s
elite Crime Suppression Unit, when she threatened to call 911 to report
a vicious beating, her husband’s response was: “Go ahead and call. How
can you break the law when you are the law?”
This corruption is in no way limited to cops on the
street. It exists at management levels and extends to the very top
echelons of New Mexico law enforcement:
v Lt. John B. Gallegos, supervisor of the APD Internal Affairs Unit, was caught burglarizing a liquor store while on duty. (Gallegos was a field officer at the scene of Kait’s shooting.)
v Deputy Darryl Burt, senior officer in the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department Gang Unit, was charged with kidnapping, criminal sexual penetration, and other felonies in connection with the traffic stop of a 24-yr-old male, as well as 34 counts of sexual assault and extortion of a 16-yr-old boy. He was also found guilty of drug trafficking charges.
v
APD Officer Andrew LeHocky sicced his 80-pound attack dog
on a homeless woman who was asleep at the time. This was the same
Andrew LeHocky who had just been named “Officer of the Month.”
v APD Sgt. Mike Garcia, supervisor of officers assigned to public schools, was indicted on sex charges involving a 12-yr-old girl who was staying the night with one of his daughters. (When he was tried in 2004, the jury was deadlocked, and the prosecutors did not seek a retrial.)
v The APD Intelligence Unit, under the supervision of Sgt. Joseph Polisar, was accused of illegally creating and maintaining secret dossiers on innocent political figures. The only possible use for such dossiers would be to exert influence and pressure on those politicians. When the existence of the dossiers became known, they were burned to prevent their inspection. Sgt. Polisar was subsequently elevated to Chief of Police.
The link below leads to an abbreviated overview of corruption in New Mexico law enforcement that is merely the tip of the iceberg. Since information from Internal Affairs investigations is not available to the public, and a 1997 study revealed that the City of Albuquerque routinely set aside $4 million a year to settle malfeasance claims out of court, there has never been a way for the average citizen to have any idea of the full extent of what goes on beyond the “Blue Wall of Silence.”
However, it’s a well-known fact that people who are threats to the criminal activity of police officers don’t last very long.
Overview Of Police Crime In The
"Land Of Enchantment"
