HEADLINE: Another Topeka Police Officer arrested

BYLINE: Don Champion 27News, KSNT-TV

Topeka - Another Topeka Police Department Narcotics officer is facing several criminal charges. 18 year veteran Bruce Voigt was arrested Thursday afternoon and is facing more than 100 criminal charges. The charges allege misconduct while on the police force.

According to the District Attorney's office Voigt is charged with 28 counts of falsifying physical evidence, 59 counts of misdemeanor theft and 3 counts of felony perjury among others.

Voigt's arrested comes just days after his partner former TPD officer Thomas Pfortmiller began his jail sentence for misconduct while in the Narcotics unit.

Topeka police chief Ed Klumpp says he was not surprised by Voigt's arrest and had decided to put the officer on paid administrative leave on July 1st.

Voigt was booked into the Shawnee County on $25,000 bond. According to the jail he posted bond Thursday afternoon. Voigt is expected to make a court appearance next week.

HEADLINE: Police staffers save evidence for prosecutions

BYLINE: JOE DUGGAN / Lincoln Journal Star

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Much to the disappointment of the city’s accused felons, the Lincoln Police Department’s evidence room survived the flood.

In the hectic hours after an underground water line burst and sent water flowing into the lower level of the Hall of Justice Sept. 14, law enforcement personnel scrambled to save computers, files and equipment from damage. But one quick-thinking property clerk realized unlike some things, evidence can’t be replaced.

“We have hundreds of thousands of items of evidence in a complex storage system,” Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady said Tuesday. “We didn’t lose a single item.”

The clerk who preserved the evidence is Dianne Campbell, a 15-year veteran of the department. When she arrived at the building at 575 S. 10th St., at about 7:30 p.m., she found just a little water on the floor.

She did a quick inspection of the evidence room, which stores carefully tagged and marked items in moveable bins and shelves. By the time she got back to the room’s door, the water was about ankle-deep on her pair of rubber boots.

“I was really concerned about how fast it was coming in,” she said.

Using a flashlight to see, she spent the next hour moving items from the bottom shelves to higher storage. She estimated she moved about 100 items — everything from clothing to empty beer bottles to stereo equipment and knives.

At the same time, Pam Fittje, manager of the evidence division, made sure human fluids and DNA samples, which must be refrigerated or frozen, were preserved. In fact, after the building lost power, she used her personal credit card to buy a freezer that could run on a portable generator to protect the samples.

Meanwhile, other civilian staff and police officers did the same with computer equipment, case files, uniforms, cameras, police radios and just about anything of value. Casady said the effort saved an estimated $1 million worth of equipment.

But he sounded most proud of the fact that no evidence was lost.

Physical evidence is crucial to many criminal prosecutions, especially to murders and sexual assaults. In many cases, the department must retain the evidence even after the perpetrator is convicted and imprisoned.

On Tuesday, displaced investigators from the police department and Lancaster County Sheriff’s office continued to work in makeshift offices on the building’s first floor. Patrol officers for both agencies, as well as 911 operators, continued working from backup locations.

Casady and Sheriff Terry Wagner said they are pleased with the recovery’s progress. Considering the water, humidity and mud that covered much of the 40,000-square-foot ground floor Thursday, much has been accomplished.

But Casady said he’s telling staff they will probably remain displaced for a month or two. If they get back in the ground floor sooner, he’ll be pleasantly surprised.

In other developments Tuesday at the Hall of Justice:

* Elevator technicians got one elevator working again.

* Public health authorities declared the building’s water safe to drink.

The next priority will be to restore another public elevator and one of the two elevators used to move prisoners from jail to court, said Don Killeen, administrator of the Public Building Commission.

Reach Joe Duggan at 473-7239 or jduggan@journalstar.com.

HEADLIINE: Police say cocaine stolen from headquarters

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- About 20 kilos (44 pounds) of cocaine was stolen from federal police headquarters, two weeks after nearly $1 million vanished from the same building, police said Wednesday.

The cocaine was stored in downtown Rio de Janeiro since 2004, and police were awaiting a court order to destroy the drug. The thieves replaced the cocaine with another substance, possibly caffeine, police said.

Police Superintendent Jose Milton Rodrigues said in an interview with the Rio daily O Globo that it was "95 percent" certain that police agents were responsible for the robbery but that police couldn't prove it yet.

Rodrigues said 13 high-level inspectors would be transferred from Rio.

On September 26, federal police discovered that nearly $1 million was missing from police headquarters in Rio, days after agents seized the cash and more than a ton of cocaine in the city's biggest drug bust.

HEADLINE: Cash missing from sheriff's evidence vault

BYLINE: KRISTEN KRIDEL kristen.kridel@heraldtribune.com

PUNTA GORDA — Sheriff’s deputies discovered $1,329 in cash missing from their evidence vault in January, according to a Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office investigation.

Nine months later, deputies still haven’t found the money or determined whether it was “stolen, misplaced, destroyed or inadvertently released to someone,” according to an internal affairs investigative report released to the public Monday.

But “we don’t believe at this point there was any theft,” said Sheriff John Davenport.

The Sheriff’s Office discovered the loss while taking inventory of the evidence vault, the report states. The money, which was taken from three suspected armed robbers in December 2002, was locked in a safe within the vault’s money room.

Only four people have keys to the vault, Davenport said. They all took polygraph examinations to determine if they had any knowledge of the missing money.

Through the testing, Lee County sheriff’s polygraph examiner Stuart L. Jennings determined that evidence custodians Leanna Tancer, Beverly Cornwell and Robert Stoever answered his questions truthfully and did not know what happened to the money, according to the report.

Jennings determined evidence custodian Thomas Cifarelli showed deception on questions related to taking the money, the report states. But the examiner did note that Cifarelli was taking medication and only had three hours of sleep before taking the test, factors that could have altered the results.

While providing a sworn statement, Cifarelli said he was irritated during the polygraph test because the examiner, who said he would only ask questions about the money, asked him unrelated questions as well as commenting on his background.

“He offered no further explanation concerning the results,” the report states. “Thomas denied taking the money and knowing anything about the missing money.”

Although the money room and its door were not damaged by the hurricane, Cifarelli did tell authorities that many people went into and out of the evidence area after Charley hit and that he believes a worker could have taken the money, according to the report.

Davenport said the evidence being held at the Sheriff’s Office got backed up after the hurricane and were not processed quickly. Some pieces from dismissed cases were not eliminated in a timely manner, he added. “It was kind of chaotic at the time. Personally, I believe it was a clerical error.”

“If we thought anyone” stole from the evidence room, “we would have gone a lot further,” he said.

At the time the money was discovered missing, there was not a policy in place mandating an evidence audit on a regular basis, the report states. The missing money was last seen during an inventory in 2003.

The Sheriff’s Office decided to adjust its policy in March to require a scheduled annual inventory of high-risk property and evidence, Davenport said. In addition, the sheriff will direct an unannounced inspection of all evidence storage areas once a year.

Davenport said that the last time money was discovered missing was in the early 1980s, when more than $40,000 was lost.
Cash missing from sheriff's evidence vault “If we thought anyone” stole from the evidence room, “we would have gone a lot further,” he said.

At the time the money was discovered missing, there was not a policy in place mandating an evidence audit on a regular basis, the report states. The missing money was last seen during an inventory in 2003.

The Sheriff’s Office decided to adjust its policy in March to require a scheduled annual inventory of high-risk property and evidence, Davenport said. In addition, the sheriff will direct an unannounced inspection of all evidence storage areas once a year.

Davenport said that the last time money was discovered missing was in the early 1980s, when more than $40,000 was lost.

HEADLINE: W.D.M. police employee arrested for theft

BYLINE: MELISSA WALKER - REGISTER STAFF WRITER

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A former West Des Moines Police Department employee is accused of stealing $10,000 from the property evidence room at the department.

West Des Moines police arrested Charles Edward Graham, 42, today and charged him with one count of first-degree theft.

Department officials also are investigating allegations that Graham took drugs from the evidence room, said Lt. Jeff Miller, public information officer for the police department.

Department officials received a tip from Polk County Crimestoppers on Aug. 29 that Graham had been stealing property and money.

Graham was an evidence custodian for the police department and his job included taking evidence from lockers and storing them in the property evidence room, Miller said. Graham, an employee for 4 1/2 years, resigned from his job.

"We're doing a thorough audit of the room to find out exactly what was taken and to protect the integrity of the evidence," Miller said.

Audits of evidence materials are conducted three times a year, but this special audit will help police officials learn if any evidence was compromised, Miller said.

HEADLINE: SBI investigating Red Springs police

BYLINE: Venita Jenkins - Staff writer

RED SPRINGS — The State Bureau of Investigation is trying to determine why evidence from a murder trial and seized drugs are missing from the Red Springs Police Department.

Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt asked for the probe Sept. 29 after evidence for a murder trial and drugs that had been seized by an SBI agent were found missing.

The SBI started its investigation Tuesday, said William McKinney, a spokesman for the state Department of Justice.

Agents took control of the department's evidence room and changed the locks on the door, Britt said.

Three SBI agents began an inventory Wednesday of items stored in the evidence room. The items will be compared with evidence logs maintained by Red Springs police officers.

“They will go item by item to determine what is there and what is not,” Britt said.

Red Springs Police Chief Lum Edwards declined to comment about the investigation or say whether any officers are on leave because of the investigation.

“Talk to Johnson Britt,” Edwards said. “He was the one who asked for the investigation.”

Forced to take plea

Britt called for the investigation after the state agreed to a lesser sentence in a capital murder case last month. The state did not have evidence to prosecute the case, he said, and photos and shell casings from the rifle used in the shooting were misplaced, he said.

Marcus Galbreath, 29, of St. Pauls, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jeffrey Thomas Fairley after a dispute concerning a basketball game in Red Springs in 2001. Fairley was shot in a leg and bled to death, Britt said.

Galbreath pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to six to eight years in prison.

“We had no other choice but to take a plea,” Britt said. “There was nothing. Just the paper trail.”

Britt also became concerned after drugs seized by an SBI agent nearly three years ago were found missing from the evidence room last month.

An SBI agent visited Red Springs police Sept. 28 to pick up 2 ounces of crack cocaine seized in 2002. The crack cocaine was turned over to a Red Springs police officer who had helped with the investigation, Britt said.

“There was no evidence that it was ever turned in,” he said. “That, coupled with the other incident, caused me great concern.”

Red Springs Mayor George Paris said Wednesday afternoon that he wasn't aware of the investigation.

“It disturbs me,” Paris said.

The SBI investigation is the latest probe involving law enforcement agencies in Robeson County. The Sheriff's Office and the Lumberton Police Department have been the target of several investigations over the past three years that involved allegations of perjury, cover-ups and misappropriation of money seized in drug raids.

Photo: Johnson Britt

HEADLINE: Ex-town marshal arrested again

The former Green Mountain Falls town marshal who was arrested in June for allegedly falsifying police reports is now accused of illegally selling guns taken from the evidence room.

Joshua David Patsch, 24, was arrested Friday on suspicion of selling nine handguns, rifles and shotguns used in crimes and pocketing the money.

He did not have permission to sell them and never turned in the money from the sale, as required by the town’s policy, according to the arrest affidavit.

“He violated the trust of this community,” said Lisa Kirkman of the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

Patsch, who was fired from his job in August, was arrested in court Friday afternoon when he arrived for a hearing on his previous charges.

He was freed Friday on $2,000 bail.

Patsch was first arrested June 30 on suspicion of falsifying police reports to arrest a friend’s daughter outside his jurisdiction.

In that case, he is charged with perjury and two counts of attempting to influence a public servant, all felonies. He also is charged with official misconduct, a misdemeanor.

The charges prompted the District Attorney’s Office to contact the defense attorneys in more than 50 cases handled by Green Mountain Falls in the past 11?2 years. None brought forth charges of irregularities.

In July, the District Attorney’s Office began a second investigation of Patsch.

Roger Morphew, hired as the acting marshal after Patsch’s arrest, was trying to organize the Marshal’s Office when he discovered several documents indicating Patsch had improperly sold nine weapons used in various crimes and a suicide, according to the affidavit.

The “property disposal” forms showed seven firearms were sold to a Colorado Springs man and two to a Green Mountain Falls man. Both men told investigators they had bought the weapons from Patsch at the Marshal’s Office in May 2004 — about a month after Patsch was hired as the marshal.

One of the buyers said he believed the transaction was proper and that Patsch had the authority to sell the weapons. Neither of the men is accused of wrongdoing, Kirkman said.

The firearms are valued at about $1,200.

Town clerk Chris Frandina told investigators that Patsch asked her once whether he could sell evidence. She told him he had to ask the town board for approval, but he never did, according to the affidavit.

Green Mountain Falls Mayor Tyler Stevens called the situation “unfortunate.”

“It’s sad for our small town to see our name connected with these charges,” he said, adding that town officials have cooperated fully with the investigation.

Green Mountain Falls has struggled with how to provide law enforcement since Patsch’s departure.

Morphew resigned Sept. 23, saying he didn’t want to continue in what was supposed to be a temporary assignment, Frandina said. A deputy marshal also left the same day to take another job.

The sheriff’s offices of El Paso and Teller counties are responding to calls in the town for now, and Frandina said the town has received more than a dozen applications for the two positions. Candidates will be interviewed this month, she said.

Retaining good employees is a chronic problem at the Marshal’s Office, Stevens said.

The town can’t pay as much as other agencies in the area — marshals’ annual salaries are about $30,000 — and many stay only a short while before getting other jobs.

Stevens said he suggested increasing the chief marshal’s salary and eliminating the deputy’s position, but other town board members rejected the proposal.

Town leaders also have formed a committee to oversee the hiring of the new marshal, examine deficiencies in the office and consider how to best provide law enforcement in the long run, Stevens said.

The Marshal’s Office handles fewer than 200 calls per year, and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office investigates serious crimes such as homicides and sexual assaults.

Law enforcement accounts for about 25 percent of the town’s budget of $426,000.

HEADLINE: Police seize bogus billion-dollar bills

DATELINE: TWIN FALLS, Idaho

The Twin Falls Police Department has nearly $1 billion in phony $1 million bills locked up in its evidence room.

"It would have been remarkable if anyone would have accepted them as legitimate," interim Police Chief Jim Munn said Friday. "This is just absolutely comical."

Police seized 999 of the bills, just one bill short of one billion dollars, after a Buhl man tried to deposit them at a local bank as collateral for a loan.

Police have not released the names of people involved in the case.

"The bank called immediately to say what they'd been presented with," said Detective Sgt. David Heidemann. After an investigation, police found more of the bills. Munn said he was taking the matter seriously.

"People could lose money -- someone might still accept this as legitimate tender," Munn told the Times-News newspaper of Twin Falls. "Hopefully there's no more of them running around the community."

The matter is still being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, police said.

Heidemann said the bills were made in the United Kingdom, Canada or Nigeria. The money is printed to resemble the larger sized "horse blanket" silver certificate notes that were issued in 1923 sporting the face of George Washington.

"They used a computer to scan out the information and scan in what they wanted," Heidemann said. "Basically they altered the dollar amounts."

The bills have a slightly washed out appearance, but they're "actually better quality than we normally see on counterfeit notes," he said.

Munn said someone might try to pawn them off as old collectable money, but "they're not worth the paper they're printed on."

HEADLINE: REPORT BLASTS POLICE EVIDENCE ROOM;
BOYNTON SAYS IT HAS ALREADY TAKEN STEPS TO RESOLVE PROBLEMS

BYLINE: Edward Sifuentes Staff Writer

An inspection of the Boynton Beach Police Department's evidence room found a long list of problems, such as money, weapons, drugs and jewelry that were improperly stored, according to a report released this week.

The report also states that current practices could jeopardize future court cases because of inadequate security, poor accountability and inability to find items.

Members of the Boca Raton Police Department conducted the audit after the arrest of a police evidence room clerk who confessed to stealing about $60,000 in cash. Department officials said they are already taking steps to address the findings.

"I think the team from Boca did a very good job going over all the evidence and finding problems," said Police Chief Matt Immler, who took over the department last month.

Immler said he has appointed a project manager to fix the problems, such as finding more space for evidence and getting rid of items that are no longer needed. He also said the problems were mostly management issues that could be easily addressed by the department.

"It's only elbow grease," he said.

The report recommended that the department review policies for receiving and processing evidence, conduct training and do an annual inventory of money, jewelry, guns and drugs.

Inventory of the department's evidence is kept on three software systems that are not compatible with one another, according to the report.

"Additional trained personnel ... is also necessary because presently only two people collectively have full working knowledge of the three software systems," Boca Raton Police Capt. Thomas Ceccarelli wrote in the report. 

Last week, former evidence custodian William Muhleisen, of Lake Worth, pleaded guilty to a charge of organized scheme to defraud. He was sentenced to six months in jail and five years' probation.

Muhleisen worked as a backup custodian in the evidence room since April 2002. His primary duty was as a forfeiture specialist, Immler said.

Muhleisen's attorney, W. Craig Lawson, said his client's increasing medical bills after a heart attack led him to take the money. He will have to pay back the money at the rate of $1,000 per month.

The city recently hired a Washington D.C.-based firm to conduct a police department management study.

Edward Sifuentes can be reached at esifuentes@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6631.

THE REPORT'S FINDINGS

   * Items marked as destroyed still in inventory.

   * Audio and videotapes not properly documented.

   * Items inscribed with incorrect case numbers.

   * Evidence moved to different locations based on space constraints.

   * Items listed in inventory sheets different from property reports.

   * Internal affairs tapes mixed with tapes from other cases.

   * In some instances, marijuana falling out of packages; broken crack pipes not bubble-wrapped but stored in plastic bags.

NOTES:
INFORMATIONAL BOX AT END OF TEXT.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO; EVIDENCE ROOM: Bill Mann, an evidence custodian for the Boynton Beach Police Department, files away new evidence. The city says the problems are easily addressed. Photo, Michael Francis McElroy

HEADLINE: DA: Narcotics missing from evidence room

BYLINE: KATIE O¹CONNOR, The Reporter Staff

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The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office has conducted an investigation into missing narcotics in the Whitpain Township Police Department’s evidence room.

The focus of the investigation‚ according to Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. and other law enforcement officials‚ was Detective Sgt. William Bunting‚ who has since retired.

Castor said “people inside” the police department suggested the county focus on Bunting.

“We were asked by the Chief (Joseph Stemple) to investigate narcotics that went missing from the evidence room‚” Castor said on Thursday. “We were unable to determine how the drugs became missing.”

According to Castor‚ Whitpain police department’s policy allowed too many people to have access to the evidence room‚ therefore county detectives could not determine who took the narcotics.

“We couldn’t determine with sufficient particularity who we thought was stealing the drugs‚” Castor said.

The investigation was completed toward the end of the summer and charges will not be filed against anyone in the case.

But as a result of the investigation‚ Castor said he wrote a letter to the department suggesting it “drastically tighten up” its policies.

Castor added that none of Whitpain’s criminal cases were compromised as a result of the missing drugs.

Whitpain Police Chief Joseph Stemple said Bunting retired effective Oct. 1 and he will receive his full pension.

Bunting‚ who was with the department for 24 years‚ was able to buy out his last year on the job because of his prior military service‚ Stemple said.

Attempts to contact Bunting on Thursday were unsuccessful.

The investigation was something he did not want to discuss with the media‚ but Stemple said the evidence-room policy has been rewritten and Detective Joseph Fenerty has been placed in charge of the new evidence system.

“Originally‚ only detectives were allowed into the evidence room‚ but the evidence (room) lock was broken and I didn’t find out about that for some time‚” Stemple said. He did not recall when he learned that the lock was broken.

In the meantime‚ Stemple said Fenerty will be promoted to detective sergeant effective Nov. 1.

The department is also looking into getting accredited by the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association and Stemple will appoint Patrol Sgt. Jeff Franck as accreditation manager. Franck will also be promoted to the rank of lieutenant Nov. 1‚ Stemple said.

Stemple also noted that on Nov. 1‚ administrative Lt. Mark Smith will be promoted to deputy chief; Detective Joe Billetta will be promoted to patrol sergeant; and Officer Marc Azeff will become a part of the detective division while maintaining his duty as the department’s public relations officer.

HEADLINE: Higher Standard Certification boosts department's drive to enhance professionalism

BYLINE:  MARK I. JOHNSON Staff Writer

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EDGEWATER -- Phil Niebieski has been handling evidence in criminal cases for more than a decade, but he acknowledges he does not know everything.

So, when he saw an opportunity to become nationally certified in his field, he took advantage it.

Recently, the Edgewater Police Department's evidence division supervisor and his technician, Paulette Tubbs, attended the International Association for Property and Evidence, Inc.'s two-day "basic property and evidence course."

Upon completion, they were tested -- both passing with a score of 90 percent or higher -- and earned the designation of certified property and evidence specialists.

"This program tells you what you should do," in the handling, storage and security of evidence and property related to criminal investigations, Niebieski said. "It shows you what to do for your organization to run efficiently, effectively and safety."

While Niebieski said Edgewater already followed most of the association's recommendations -- such as proper storage of high liability items like firearms, drugs, cash or jewelry -- he still got a lot out of the course.

"I was impressed with the things they brought up that I did not think of," he said.

He credits Police Chief Mike Ignasiak with pushing the certification effort.

"The chief came to me and asked what we could do to enhance our evidence room," Niebieski said.

Ignasiak said such training is part of the Edgewater's on-going efforts to enhance professionalism.

He said agencies sometimes neglect their evidence divisions, which, in turn, can bite them in the end. But by having certified technicians, his department can assure the public that when it seizes property or processes evidence it is handled at the highest level of professional standards.

"The worse thing that can happen is you lose a case because evidence is challenged in court," the chief said. "This makes the department less vulnerable to this type of challenge."

Ignasiak said to his knowledge, Edgewater is the only law enforcement department in the area with nationally certified evidence specialists.

Both New Smyrna Beach and Oak Hill police departments have trained evidence personnel, but they have not gone through the international association's course.

William Kiley, president of the board for the Burbank, Calf., based I.A.P.E., said only 335 individuals have received certificates since the program started three years ago.

"This is another level of professionalism for individuals who work in the property and evidence area," he said.

mark.johnson@news-jrnl.com

HEADLINE: Drug unit's credibility shaken

BYLINE: Ric Anderson The Capital-Journal

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The commander of the Topeka Police Department's drug unit acknowledged Thursday that the unit's credibility had been critically wounded by recent scandals and faces a long and difficult road to recuperation.

Maj. Tony Kirk, who has been in charge of the drug unit since August, said it would be a "slow, steady process" to regain public trust after the release of an investigative report Thursday outlining misconduct among two former narcotics officers and sharply criticizing department administrators for failing to clamp down on problems within the unit.

Police Chief Ed Klumpp, who announced Tuesday he was retiring effective Dec. 16, said the credibility problem went well beyond the drug unit.

"I mean, this is bad stuff," Klumpp said. "The taking of the drugs, the taking of the money is bad enough, but when you talk about falsifying affidavits, when you talk about potentially having people charged who didn't commit violations, or their homes searched, that's serious stuff. And yeah, that's going to shake the confidence of any community. I feel terrible that it's happened on my watch."

Kirk was assigned to the department's criminal investigations division in late August. In September, former narcotics officer Thomas Pfortmiller was sentenced to 16 months in prison on charges of perjury, theft, forgery and official misconduct stemming from the investigation, launched in March 2004 by the Shawnee County district attorney's office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Also in September, officer Bruce Voigt was charged with 61 felonies and 83 misdemeanors.

But if the charges were body blows to the unit, the report was a hook to the jaw.

The report painted a portrait of an environment in which an officer took drugs from the evidence room for his own use and in which officers routinely left their shifts early and drove police vehicles to a local casino to gamble and drink for hours.

"We recognize that we're going to be under a microscope, and it's going to take some time for us to build our credibility," Kirk said. "We're going to have to take baby steps."

Kirk said the department had implemented reforms to improve accountability, including stricter rules for removing drugs out of the evidence room. He said former drug unit supervisors Lt. Frank Pase and Sgt. Ronald Erwin have retired, as has Col. Randy Adair, who oversaw the unit as operations chief. Supervisors no longer are assigned to investigations, a move designed to give them more time to manage the unit and make sure officers are conducting themselves properly. The unit has shrunk from 11 officers to seven since the investigation began, and a corporal who was assigned to the unit is no longer on board.

"I think we're moving in the right direction with some of the policy changes and personnel changes we've adopted," Kirk said.

Police Sgt. Bill White, a drug unit officer for 10 years beginning in the early 1990s, said it was unfair to label the entire department as corrupt because of the problems of one narcotics officer, Tom Pfortmiller.

"The large majority of all police officers, as well as the administration, is doing the best it can," he said.

Capital-Journal staff writer Tim Hrenchir contributed to this report.

Ric Anderson can be reached at (785) 295-1282 or ric.anderson@cjonline.com.