Scores Of NYPD Officers Implicated In Perjury Probe

Via Steve Broer / Shutterstock

Scores of NYPD officers are currently under investigation for possible charges of perjury. Sources tell DNAinfo that the instances of perjury "run the gamut" from falsified drug busts to even a murder case. The investigation, which is completely separate from the ongoing ticket-fixing investigation, is being conducted by Internal Affairs as well prosecutors from every borough. "There are narcotics officers who swore to something that did not happen," the source says, and "there are cases where things are done that may not be intentional…but the district attorneys are very concerned and want to make sure it is not something venal."

In an example of "classic flaking in order to make an arrest stick and get an arrest number," Bronx detective Francisco Payano was charged earlier this summer with 49 counts of perjury for his lies to a grand jury and a judge about a crack-cocaine operation that surveillance tape later showed never happened at the time Payano said it did. In an extreme case, Sergeant Bobby Habib has been charged with felony and misdemeanor counts of perjury after he lied on the stand in a murder trial last fall. Habib interviewed the accused's wife, and allegedly had a deeper relationship with her that he at first denied, then recanted during the trial. Fortunately, his perjury didn't spoil the case.

Other lapses in judgement can be attributed to the "pressure on cops to make arrests," the source said. Officers, "particularly younger ones, fail to understand that misreporting any facts can look like something that was done on purpose, and puts them in jeopardy of being arrested." So great is the concern for preventing sloppy work that union reps have attended roll calls to urge officers to play a case straight, no matter what. "We felt compelled that more needs to be done on testifying and filling out paperwork," a union rep says.

The NYPD has established an experimental mock trial program that puts inexperienced officers through the rigors of testifying, but the outlet's source notes, "There are some things even the fear of indictment can't prevent."

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By Christopher Robbins in News on August 17, 2011 6:07 PM

Comments [rss]

Guest

I guess it's not just one bad apple, but scores, spoiling this bunch...

Daniel

That's pretty bad when even the union doesn't take the disciplined officers' side, and actually steps in on the matter to control its members. That's a sign that it's more out of hand then what is reported.

JPeditor

Or that it's a small group that the Union and majority of the force wants to KEEP SMALL...

Understanding not all cops are perfect, most sane people try to give them the benefit of the doubt more than we do for criminals.

TimeDown

Sit in the courtroom for a couple days and watch the cops testify at suppression hearings and tell me how small you think the group is then.

Daniel

I've always tried to look beyond the anti-cop narrative ,because it does overlook thousands of good cops who go unrecognized for every hand full of bad ones that make the news.

RammyH

The good cops should actively support a rabidly invasive IAB dept, instead of vilifying them. Every bad/dirty cop should get the shit beat of them by the good cops at the first sign of corruption. After the 2nd - the dirty cop should wind up in jail or "accidently shooting themselves while cleaning their weapon".

In short the police should police themselves, strenuously. But the Blue Wall of Silence and all that jazz means that good cops "enable" their shitty brethren all the time.

After a while, everybody's dirty.

Inkognita

But how many of the "thousands of good cops" are enablers? Although the so-called "good cops" themselves may not be actively involved in illegal activities, how many of them know that their corrupt fellow officers are involved, yet they say and do nothing? Surely all the many "good cops" can't all be so blind that they don't know what's happening around them.

Daniel

You do understand the danger that a whistle blower, especial in the police department puts themselves in? Not only are you a pariah and a target among other cops, you can't even count on administration support if it makes the mayor look bad.

soothsayer

what do you expect to learn in 6 months of classroom training? you don't learn much, and you forget it all soon after you graduate.

if you were a union plumber, or electrician, etc. you have to go through 3-4 years of classroom training combined with on the job training, plus attend college classes and get a degree at the same time if you don't have one.

MEDICNYC

Most of what you learn in the police department is street experience. The same goes with being an EMT or paramedic. In the six months of EMT training and the year of paramedic training you learn many skills you will rarely use or never end up using. You can be trained over and over again to run a cardiac arrest but that training becomes useless if you never actually do one on the street in a cramped apartment with five family members crying, screaming, and threatening you. You go through on the job training in every field. What do college classes and the extra classroom training you receive in plumber school have to do with the equivalent street experience of actually being a plumber?

ktinnyc

"what do you expect to learn in 6 months of classroom training? you don't learn much, and you forget it all soon after you graduate."

You don't need the police academy to teach you not to lie. Every five year old not raised by sociopaths knows they aren't suppose to lie.

jaycjay

"49 counts of perjury for his lies to a grand jury and a judge about a crack-cocaine operation that surveillance tape later showed never happened at the time Payano said it did."

"Damn, I forgot that they taught us in that short six weeks at the Academy, so long ago, not to make up sting operations that didn't really happen! If only I'd had three or four years of classroom training to reinforce that strange concept, it might have stuck with me!"

"So great is the concern for preventing sloppy work that union reps have attended roll calls to urge officers to play a case straight, no matter what."

See, this is the evil of unions: union reps are actually interfering with normal NYPD operations to the extent of telling cops that they shouldn't lie! Damn them!

FU Boy

I read that and thought "Holy crap, PBA is doing something good?!?!?!"

My mind's officially blown.

Alane Wallace

What's all this, then? The police lie?

taracorinne

The max penalty should always be applied for any cases of perjury... you take away the ability to believe in the system when a jerk lies under oath.