Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Nebraska > Omaha
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 05-18-2010, 07:19 PM
 
Location: Omaha Nebraska and dreamland when I am sleeping
3,098 posts, read 7,512,719 times
Reputation: 541

Advertisements

anyone want to bet omaha area police haters like Ernie Chambers and so-called Professor Sam Walker of UNO must have been salivating when they heard this

================================================== ====

Evidence-planting scheme alleged
By Jason Kuiper and Juan Perez Jr.
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS
« Crime/CourtsRSS SHARE
DiggNewsvinedel.icio.usRedditFacebookTwitterPRINT EMAIL Related News
•Three officers on leave, with pay

Two Omaha police officers are being investigated in connection with allegations that they were seeking to plant drugs in a gang unit case, according to multiple law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.

Investigators are trying to determine whether Officer Frank Platt tried to stow away a small portion of marijuana so that his girlfriend gang unit Officer Kara Hindman could use it to establish probable cause for obtaining a search warrant at the home of a gang unit target, according to the law enforcement officials.

Omaha police leaders stepped in before anything could take place, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Platt and Hindman both are former nominees for police officer of the year honors.


Platt, a patrol officer in the southeast precinct, was escorted off the job last week, and his locker was cleared out.

A police spokeswoman said Monday that no information was being released about the status of either Platt's or Hindman's position or whether either was still being paid.

Attempts to reach Platt and Hindman, whose phone numbers are unlisted, have been unsuccessful.

Platt's attorney, Mike Fabian, said Platt had planned to meet with investigators Monday, but the interview was postponed because of a schedule mix-up.

“It's his intention and mine to cooperate fully in the investigation,” said Fabian, who declined to comment further.

Aaron Hanson, the Omaha police union president, said he could not comment on details.

“Any investigation, whether it be internal or criminal, should be given the opportunity to run its course,” Hanson said.

Initial accounts indicated that three police officers were under investigation. However, the third officer is believed to have gone to supervisors with concerns about Platt.

According to four people who have knowledge of aspects of the investigation:

The third officer -- Platt's road patrol partner, Officer Steve Kult -- told higher-ups that Platt had asked him to set aside a small portion of some marijuana that Platt had seized either during an arrest or from a confidential informant.

The officer also overheard Platt on the phone offering assurances that everything would work out with a planned “trash pull.” Police sometimes confiscate people's garbage to see if they can find any drug residue or other items that might establish probable cause to search a home.

Investigators are trying to determine whether there was a plan to plant evidence during the trash pull so that officers would have probable cause to obtain a search warrant for the home of the gang unit's target. That target's name has not been revealed.

Omaha Police Chief Alex Hayes said he could not comment, calling it a personnel matter.

Hayes did say: “If I hear something as police chief that makes me uncomfortable, I'm going to start an investigation.”

Mayor Jim Suttle declined to answer questions, issuing a brief written statement through a spokesman.

“I have full faith and confidence in Police Chief Alex Hayes and the Omaha Police Department to follow proper procedure in handling this internal investigation and forward the matter to any outside agencies if that becomes necessary,” the statement said.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine also declined to comment. He said he was aware of an investigation but hadn't received police reports.

Platt and Hindman started dating while both were members of the gang unit, according to a colleague. Platt left the gang unit in March after several years.

Hindman, a niece of former Omaha Deputy Police Chief Don Thorson, was one of seven officers nominated in 2006 for Crime Stoppers Officer of the Year.

In 2009, Platt was one of 20 officers nominated for the Omaha Police Foundation's Officer of the Year.

Platt has been involved in two fatal shootings.

On March 16, 2008, he shot and killed Jovan Reed, who police say was a gang member, during a traffic stop. Police said Platt fired after Reed got out of a car and pointed a gun at another officer.

On Sept. 11, 2003, Platt shot and killed Albert Rucker, who had shot Officer Jason Tye Pratt following a traffic stop near 33rd and Corby Streets. Pratt later died.

In 2005, Platt was awarded the Police Department's Medal of Valor for his actions in a traffic stop that year in which another officer, Zachary Petrick, was wounded.


http://omaha.com/article/20100518/NE...scheme-alleged
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-19-2010, 12:30 AM
 
Location: Omaha
1,137 posts, read 2,272,316 times
Reputation: 326
sounds pretty straight forward, but actually a case of a job well done by OPD. you can't always weed out all of your bad officers, but you can make sure they are comfortable coming to leadership with information if they see something odd from fellow officers.

If this all turns out as true, we should be holding a parade for Officer Kult! Its hard to defy the police subculture and turn in a fellow officer. so I hope the community supports him, and understands that this was not a failure by the police as a whole, but by a small couple of officers.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2010, 09:04 AM
 
Location: Omaha, NE
1,048 posts, read 2,460,715 times
Reputation: 232
I think it's sad that officers in the field that suspect criminal activity have no other option but to plant drugs to get a warrant. There should be something else they can do.

Yeah the person in the house might be completely innocent of any criminal activity, but at the same time there is a possiblity that if they obtained that warrant they could have taken a bad person off the streets, or took drugs, or weapons off the streets.

Just my 2 cents.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2010, 07:55 PM
 
262 posts, read 1,021,165 times
Reputation: 217
Quote:
Originally Posted by pheaton View Post
I think it's sad that officers in the field that suspect criminal activity have no other option but to plant drugs to get a warrant. There should be something else they can do.
Thankfully the constitution says otherwise.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-19-2010, 11:31 PM
 
Location: Omaha
1,137 posts, read 2,272,316 times
Reputation: 326
Quote:
Originally Posted by pheaton View Post
I think it's sad that officers in the field that suspect criminal activity have no other option but to plant drugs to get a warrant. There should be something else they can do.
there's plenty else they can do. and even if they've run out of options, lowering yourself to the criminal level is not worth it. These officers will be fired if the allegations are deemed to be true.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-20-2010, 01:04 AM
 
1,295 posts, read 2,498,777 times
Reputation: 1307
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Adam29 View Post
there's plenty else they can do. and even if they've run out of options, lowering yourself to the criminal level is not worth it. These officers will be fired if the allegations are deemed to be true.
Good point. Let's end criminal activity by practicing-----criminal activity.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Nebraska > Omaha
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top