Machine Guns, Police, Illegal Behavior And Inadequate Training
BY Herschel Smith
10 years, 11 months ago
The embattled Berthoud police department bought fully automatic military-grade machine guns, hired officers who showed “glaring” signs of illegal and inappropriate behavior, and then gave them “woefully inadequate” training, Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith says.
In a letter sent to town officials and made public Tuesday night, Smith offers a scathing critique of the department, which has come under fire for child-abuse allegations leveled against one of its officers. That officer was arrested, and Police Chief Glenn Johnson resigned amidst allegations he knew about the accusations against his officer but did nothing.
Since October, Smith’s deputies have been serving as the town’s police force at officials’ request.
In his letter, Smith said the department was rife with mismanagement, from poorly handled evidence, paperwork and personnel files to broken Tasers and in-car laptops. He said problems within the department risked breaking the trust between the public and law enforcement, and risked letting criminals go unprosecuted because court documents weren’t being filed on time.“Most shockingly, fully automatic machine guns (not appropriate for standard police operations) were acquired from the military and were stored in open room with minimal security,” Smith wrote. “At the Berthoud Police Department, we found that the chief has overlooked and neglected many of the things that are absolutely necessary to leading an effective and accountable police operation.”
[ … ]
“The application and hiring process for town officers allowed unqualified individuals to be hired and to maintain employment, despite glaring warning signs of inappropriate and sometimes illegal behavior,” Smith wrote to the town. “Paperwork filing appeared to be haphazard at best. The chief did not maintain appropriate personnel files on his officers, yet he had documents in town filing cabinets from his previous employment. Those files should have never left those agencies.”
[ … ]
Police officer Jeremy Yachik was fired by the town in October after he was arrested on child-abuse charges after video surfaced of Yachick allegedly beating his daughter.
Good grief. And they say that we’re unqualified to own fully automatic firearms. Perhaps rather than repealing the Hughes amendment (itself an obscene abomination) as I have advocated, we ought to insist that it be repealed for us and applied exclusively to law enforcement.
These guys were just a dangerous hazard top to bottom.
On January 22, 2014 at 9:24 am, Paul B said:
A good reason not to live in Colorado. Too close to California.
Sounds like a lot of lines where crossed. One might say a complete lack of respect for the laws.
As gomer would say “Surprise, Surprise”
On January 22, 2014 at 3:28 pm, scott s. said:
Meanwhile what’s up with BART transit cops shooting each other executing a search warrant at a private residence? Shouldn’t they be restricted to catching gum-chewers on the trains?
On January 22, 2014 at 7:32 pm, tkdkerry said:
“These guys were just a dangerous hazard top to bottom.”
Once upon a time I had respect for the police and at least a modicum of trust, but now my first reaction is “They’re cops, what did you expect?”
On January 22, 2014 at 7:47 pm, L.Lane said:
So Chiefie Johnson ‘resigned’ with no consequences.
If I had knowledge of child abuse and failed to report it I’d be under indictment.
Maybe street justice will bring these vermin to heel.
On January 23, 2014 at 10:42 pm, Dan said:
Grew up there…..the people of Berthoud are lucky they have the option of
using the Larimer Co sheriffs to replace the locals. Sheriff Smith isn’t
perfect but he’s a dang sight better than a lot of LEO’s. He runs a tight ship.
Small town podunks getting military toys and running amok seems to be
a regular problem these days.