BAD COPS. SHADY, LAW-BREAKING SHERIFFS.

Despite the tenet that law officers need to hold themselves to higher
standards, corruption stands as one of the oldest problems in law enforcement.

"They are the final line, something that separates society from the
bad guys. They are the protectors," said Dr. Hamid Kusha, an
assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department at East
Carolina University. "The mandate of police is to serve and protect.
Therefore, we look at police as good guys. We want them to have high
ethical standards." Obviously, that's not always the case. In Spring
Lake, an assortment of alleged misdeeds has turned the Police
Department into an ineffectual force. Tuesday, Spring Lake Police
Chief A.C. Brown resigned one day after the arrests of Sgt. Alfonzo
Devone Whittington Jr. and Sgt. Darryl Eugene Coulter Sr., who were
indicted last week by a special Cumberland County grand jury.

The charges against Whittington and Coulter include embezzlement by
public officer, obtaining property by false pretense, breaking and
entering, second-degree kidnapping and obstruction of justice. Along
with those indictments, the Police Department was stripped of its
remaining police powers.

But law enforcement misconduct spreads much further than Spring Lake.
In the last three years, four sheriffs in this state have been
convicted of breaking the very laws that they swore to uphold. In the
past six years, five North Carolina sheriffs have faced serious
charges. "Four is too many, and one is too many. It's very
regrettable," said Eddie Caldwell, executive vice president of the
N.C. Sheriffs' Association. But Caldwell questions whether more cases
exist today than in the past. The immediacy of the news ­ with
breaking stories running around the clock on television and on the
Internet ­ produces a glut of information. Caldwell said some
newspapers seem to thrive on the misdeeds of religious leaders,
teachers and government officials.

"Those stories get front-page coverage," he said. "There's much more
transparency. Things that happened decades ago that did not get
prosecuted or reported get fully prosecuted or reported today. If a
government official gets a parking ticket, that's reported. That
changes public opinion." The N.C. Attorney General's Office and the
N.C. State Bureau of Investigation have investigated more than 500
public corruption cases in the past eight years, according to Noelle
Talley, spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice. Those cases
include investigations of law enforcement officials, such as the
sheriffs of Robeson, Davidson and Brunswick counties, and the
Greensboro Police Department.

In July 2008, Knightdale Police Chief Richard Nelson Pope stepped
down after being charged with one count of assault on a female
following a domestic dispute with his estranged wife.

Early this year, Warren County sheriff's Deputy Cornelius Davis was
charged with two counts of sexual battery after being accused of
inappropriately touching women at two Raleigh stores.

A few days later, on Jan. 7, Wilmington police officer Wotzvely
Albert Perez was charged with assault and sexual battery while on
duty. Kusha, the East Carolina University professor, has taught on
police operations and the relationship between police and community
since 1997. Police corruption, as he points out, is not a new issue.
The problem dates back to colonial times.

"The reason why we're seeing a lot of bad cops," he said, "we are
concentrated on this issue. Policing in the United States is very
much under checks and balances. In the past eight years or decade,
we've had congressmen and people at top positions that corrupted
them. Their action is being scrutinized. Maybe nobody gives a damn
about ethics and laws anymore." Talley, the Justice Department
spokeswoman, said it would be inappropriate for her office to answer
questions regarding police misconduct because the SBI continues to
handle the Spring Lake investigation. The SBI typically investigates
cases involving law enforcement officers, which can range from
involvement in a shooting to public corruption. The following former
sheriffs have gone from serving the public to serving time: Former
Sheriff Glenn Maynor was the highest-ranking lawman swept up in
Operation Tarnished Badge, a six-year investigation into corruption
in the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. Twenty-three people, mostly
deputies, pleaded guilty to crimes that included kidnapping, money
laundering, racketeering, theft of federal money and satellite
piracy. In May 2008, former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford ­
who had been the target of a two-year public corruption investigation
­ was found guilty of accepting money to protect an illegal video
poker ring. Former Brunswick County Sheriff Ronald Hewett was
indicted on charges of embezzlement by a public official and
obstruction of justice. In June 2008, his guilty plea to obstructing
justice made him the second of the previous three Brunswick County
sheriffs to trade in his badge for a felony conviction.

Former Polk County Sheriff Chris Abril, who was elected despite being
charged mid-race with raping two girls more than 20 years earlier,
later pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Abril avoided jail time in
November 2008 after accepting a plea bargain.

Another former sheriff, Gerald Hege of Davidson County, was charged
in September 2003 with 15 felonies and suspended from office. The
charges included five counts of embezzlement by a public officer,
five counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and two counts
of obstruction of justice. Hege accepted a plea agreement and
received suspended sentences, three years of probation and three
months of house arrest.

Kusha believes some police officers are just not up to the job. "If
you look at the policing profession, there's a lot of stress. It's a
very stressful job," he said. "Maybe the pay's not enough. 'I'm
putting my life on the line, and what is it I'm getting?' Maybe we're
not respecting the police as we should. It's very difficult to
pinpoint. Maybe we're getting better at detecting police corruption."