Port Authority Police Officer's Actions Questioned

Earlier this month, the NY Post reported that a Port Authority police lieutenant Coretta Smith was being investigated after she "tried to get a gun-toting sailor with a mental disorder onto a jet at Kennedy Airport -- two days after orchestrating his release when his first attempt failed." Smith's response at the time was, "I'm aware of my mistake, and I'm handling it my way." Now the Post says Smith, who may be Rep. Charles Rangel's niece, "helped spring a trio of suspected pot smugglers from jail," prompting another Internal Affairs investigation. When a driver on the George Washington Bridge was stopped on suspicion of being intoxicated, the driver admitted to smoking a joint and a police dog smelled pot in a purse, which contained bundles of cash with had "a strong odor of marijuana all over the money." Smith, working at the NJ stationhouse where the driver and two teen girls were brought in, then "refused the request by...the arresting officer, to alert the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office" and "refused to authorize a criminal history check of the trio"—and it turned out the driver had a history of various drug and weapons convictions. According to the Post, "insiders believe she is getting lenient treatment because of her high-powered uncle, who has great influence over federal grants to the agency as dean of the New York congressional delegation."