WEEDING OUT THE BAD COPS

The disgust shown by Buffalo Police Commissioner Rocco Diina following the
conviction of three cops - and the acquittal of a fourth - is shared by
this community.

Detective Darnyl Parker was found guilty on charges ranging from theft and
conspiracy to money laundering and obstructing commerce by extorting money
from a drug dealer. Robert Hill, who is retired from the Buffalo Police
Department, and Detective John Ferby were convicted of possessing marked
money stolen from an FBI undercover agent. Detective David Rodriguez was
found not guilty.

Parker could be sentenced to as much as eight years in prison. Ferby and
Hill could be sentenced to two years. All three stood the possibility of
much longer jail sentences. Rodriguez remains suspended and faces
departmental charges. In the end, jurors decided there was no conspiracy
between Parker and the other narcotics detectives. Despite that, the jury
found Parker guilty of three conspiracy counts, while acquitting the
others. Parker's lawyer, Mark J. Mahoney, points out that you can't
conspire with someone who is not guilty, nor can you conspire with a
government informant. So, he may well get the three conspiracy counts
thrown out.

Despite that, this was a strong case, and the evidence was overwhelming,
notwithstanding the shaky conspiracy verdict. Even if those counts are
thrown out, that won't keep Parker from serving a fair amount of prison
time. If the trial showed one thing, it was that the Buffalo Police
Department has some work to do. The jury was appalled at the lack of
supervision in the Narcotics unit, and so are we.

Three of the defendants face jail time. However, Rodriguez is a free man
and the possibility looms that he could be returned to his job. That should
never happen.

Rodriguez was smart enough not to get caught with dirty money on him, and
that saved him a trip to federal prison. But the trial showed that, at the
very least, he knew that his fellow detectives had taken money from someone
he thought was a drug dealer. The evidence may not have been enough to
convince the jury to find Rodriguez guilty, but it certainly passes any
reasonable test as a basis for keeping him from ever wearing a badge again.

As always in cases like this, the good cops who put their lives on the line
are victimized. Some of the taint from the dirty cops rubs off on the
entire department. Diina is right to make an example of Rodriguez to show
the community that neither the department nor the rank and file have any
use for dirty cops. That's more than enough reason to keep Rodriguez off
the force.