29 TRANSFERRED AMID BSO SCANDAL

Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne on Friday transferred 29 detectives and
sergeants, admitting crime clearance problems in his agency were widespread.

He also announced the retirements of four top bosses: his close friend and
second-in-command, Col. Thomas Carney, Lt. Col. Tom Brennan, Maj. Tony
Fantigrassi and Maj. John Feltgen.

Jenne said the retirements were not related to the crime-statistics scandal
that has rocked the agency for more than a year, even though personnel
files show two of the supervisors were not scheduled to retire until 2007
and 2009.

For months Jenne underplayed the agency's problems with detectives using
exceptional clearances to inflate their crime clearance statistics. The
practice is a way for detectives to solve cases without arresting anyone
and is supposed to be used rarely. But a South Florida Sun-Sentinel
investigation showed there were systemic problems with how the process was
used.

In his most candid public comments to date, Jenne said that he should have
been tougher at times.

"I should have been more inquisitive and I initially underestimated the
scope and complexity of the problem," Jenne said. "I made mistakes and in
doing so have learned lessons and hopefully have become a better public
servant."

Jenne said the problems at the agency were "institutional and systemic" and
date back at least to 1983. While each of the retiring commanders came up
through the ranks over the last 29-plus years, Jenne said he did not think
they were responsible for any wrongdoing.

Jenne, who has consistently pushed for accountability in the agency, put
the blame for the problems on "the system" rather than on any supervisors
or detectives.

He said the transfer of 24 detectives and five sergeants was necessary "to
avoid any appearance of impropriety and to make sure that we are
maintaining the highest possible standards within our detective bureau."
Some will go back to road patrol; others are being moved to other duties.
Union officials said the detectives would lose $150 a month in supplemental
pay.

Several deputies were transferred out of the detective bureaus in
Weston/Southwest Ranches, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach and Oakland Park.
And some were moved out of North Lauderdale, Pembroke Park, Dania Beach,
Tamarac, unincorporated central Broward, and the criminal investigation and
strategic units.

In a special investigation published in November, the Sun-Sentinel analyzed
almost 1,700 property-crime cases that were cleared without arrest in 2003
and interviewed victims, deputies and suspects who were blamed for the crimes.

The newspaper found that the problem of detectives inflating their
clearance numbers by claiming they got confessions was systemic. It
happened in eight of the 11 cities patrolled by the Sheriff's Office in
2003 and was especially common in Weston, Southwest Ranches, Oakland Park,
Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach. Many supervisors each signed off on
dozens of flawed reports without challenging them.

While no suspects faced criminal charges for the cases to which detectives
said they confessed, justice was undercut because thousands of cases were
cleared without arrest. Victims were told that their crimes had been
solved, but the real perpetrators went free. In some cases, crimes were
blamed on suspects who could not have committed them because they were in
jail or prison at the time.

For years, the agency reported extraordinarily high clearance rates that
were two and three times the national average. In previous interviews,
Jenne acknowledged that he had noticed the problem but stopped monitoring
it after members of his command staff reassured him that the agency's
numbers were accurate. He would not say who told him that.

On Friday, Jenne said he still does not know why the problems at the agency
grew so large, but said he is satisfied that they have been fully
identified. He said he has put an end to improper clearances by introducing
strict new controls that have reduced the number of "solved" cases and
caused the number of reported crimes to increase dramatically in areas
patrolled by the agency.

"The system that was broken is now fixed and I assure you that those who
broke the system will be dealt with," Jenne said.

For more than a year, the Broward State Attorney's Office has been
investigating allegations that deputies falsified investigative reports and
manipulated crime statistics. Two Weston detectives, Christian Zapata and
Christopher Thieman, were arrested on Dec. 29 and face multiple felony
charges that they falsified records and wrongly cleared cases on suspects
who did not or could not have committed the crimes.

Prosecutors have warned several other deputies that they could face
criminal charges.

Zapata, 35, faces 14 felony counts for his work on dozens of cases
including one in which he said a 14-year-old boy confessed to stealing more
than two dozen trees that weighed 450 pounds each. Thieman, 43, faces eight
felonies for falsifying reports on dozens of cases, including a case where
he said he rode around with a suspect, letting him point out where crimes
occurred, on a day when Thieman was not working. Another detective
reluctantly gave a statement to investigators acknowledging Thieman never
interviewed the suspect on the day he claimed he got the confession.

They are charged with having a corrupt intent to either obtain a benefit
for themselves or others, or to cause harm to someone else.

Zapata and Thieman deny the allegations against them and are free on bond
pending their trials. They are suspended with pay and were among the 29
employees moved on Friday.

The sheriff said he plans to discipline dozens of employees soon. A few
months ago he rejected disciplinary recommendations against more than 40
employees because he said the penalties were inappropriate and did not
reflect the conduct of individual deputies. He asked for each case to be
re-evaluated and said Friday that those reviews are continuing. One deputy,
Joseph Isabella from Oakland Park, has been suspended without pay since
last July but the agency has declined to comment on the reasons for his
suspension.

Jenne said that Carney had asked to retire four years ago during an
election campaign. He would not say when Brennan, Fantigrassi and Feltgen
asked to retire or discuss their reasons for doing so. Jenne described them
all as "honorable men" who served the agency with distinction for decades.

Brennan declined to comment other than to say he had been planning to
retire for quite some time. Carney, Fantigrassi and Feltgen could not be
reached for comment.

Brennan and Feltgen were both enrolled in the five-year Deferred Retirement
Option Program and were not previously scheduled to leave until July 2007
and June 2009 respectively, according to their personnel files. The program
is intended to save tax money by encouraging government employees to retire
early so they can get a lump sum.

Jenne reiterated on Friday that he is making changes to his controversial
statistics-driven accountability system, POWERTRAC that will reduce its
emphasis on numbers. Many deputies said those sessions put too much
pressure on their supervisors to come up with improbably high crime
clearance rates.

Lt. Col. John Auer and Maj. Ed Werder, the former Cooper City police chief,
will perform Carney's duties on an interim basis while the agency does a
national search to replace the second-in-command. Jenne also named the
agency's senior legal counsel, Patricia Windowmaker, to the newly created
position of compliance officer. She will report directly to Jenne and has
authority to investigate problems in the agency.

Staff Writer Jaime Hernandez contributed to this report.