Sarah Eddington reports:
After being arrested on Thursday, the Ouachita Parish deputy accused of numerous counts of computer fraud, identity theft and obstruction was allowed to return to work on Friday.
Maj. Michael Karl Davis, 47, of Monroe, was arrested by federal authorities on nine charges of computer fraud, nine charges of identity theft and one count of obstruction.
Read more on The Morning Star. Additional coverages of the charges, here, provides some background on what sounds like it may be a politically based mess. The FBI’s press release is here.
Was Davis trying to help one of his bosses but engaging in illegal methods? And if so, was that at their request or on his own initiative? Or did this have nothing to do with his bosses? It will be interesting to find out more about this case, but when you have a law enforcement officer charged with federal computer fraud and obstruction charges – and then he’s allowed to access the department’s computer system while he’s facing charges – it does raise an eyebrow or two here.
Sad to say, but this seems to be an all too common occurrence with the LEO community – there are many articles out there showing similar actions (failure to discipline) when officers commit crimes. One which recently came to my attention was http://tinyurl.com/6ho3hr9, where the officers in question filed false reports.
I don’t think this is the same type of situation as this officer was charged. The questions I have is what did he do and why did he do it? Did he break any laws because he was trying to help someone in his department? Was he asked to do what he did? There’s a lot we don’t know yet, but I was struck by how everyone seems to be backing him.
Actually I would make the argument it is the same. In both cases the LEO’s and agencies involved have allowed an officer with a known criminal act to proceed working. I don’t know if the officers in the video I mentioned are being charged with anything but surely having filed false reports about the incident should be a criminal act (it would be if done so by a non-LEO). In your story the officer is being allowed to continue on with duties where the normal course for a business would be dismissal or at the very least, suspension without pay.
In both cases the local DA’s office should be doing what it could to remove the LEOs from active duty as they now have credibility issues that could compromise cases.
You raise some good points. I’ll have to think about this some more. Thanks!
Wait – if this cop was arrested, they probably had probable cause. And with that, is this guy “trusted” ? Remember what the hacking groups are looking for – disgruntled employees – that insider threat. Put yourself in this guys shoes. You’re name has been smeared (guilty or not) all over the internet, potentially ruining any chance of landing a highly trusted position. If that would tick you off what would the average – stereotypical person do? I don’t want to know, and I would have to say that he’d better be watched – from a distance. He well may be not guilty and in good spirits and thankful that they got the wrong person, and may take a step back and regroup and become one of the force’s finest. Hard to judge peoples’ actions when something like this happens, but some sort of one-on-one third party counseling would probably prevent any type of grudge crimes.
I just hope all turns out right whatever the circumstances are.