IAPE Evidence Blog

6 News on Your Side, The Indy Chan­nel, theindychannel.com
BYLINE: Jack Rine­hart
Link to Arti­cle
One Video

Zionsville, IN

Dow­den Steps Down ‘To Pur­sue Another Opportunity’

ZIONSVILLE, Ind. — The res­ig­na­tion of Zionsville Police Chief Rick Dow­den was announced at a Board of Police Com­mis­sion­ers meet­ing Wednes­day morn­ing, along with a rec­om­men­da­tion that another offi­cer be pro­moted to chief.

Dow­den had been at the cen­ter of an inves­ti­ga­tion of the han­dling of evi­dence within the depart­ment, 6News’ Jack Rine­hart reported.

“I have decided to retire from law enforce­ment … to pur­sue another oppor­tu­nity in the pri­vate sec­tor,” Dow­den said in a let­ter sent Tues­day evening. “I appre­ci­ate the oppor­tu­nity to serve the com­mu­nity I have called home for nearly 40 years and wish the com­mu­nity and the Police Depart­ment well in the future.”

Dow­den and five other offi­cers, includ­ing Capt. Rob Knox, who the board rec­om­mended to replace Dow­den as chief, were dis­ci­plined over the han­dling of evi­dence in the prop­erty room.

“It’s best for every­one,” said Ed Mitro, town man­ager, refer­ring to Dowden’s resignation.

Dow­den placed him­self on paid admin­is­tra­tive leave in Novem­ber after an alle­ga­tion that he stole a TV from the department’s evi­dence room and pulled a loaded, cocked gun on a group of offi­cers. There were also alle­ga­tions of an improper sale of a vehi­cle that Zionsville police recovered.

Dow­den returned to his job in Feb­ru­ary, and no crim­i­nal charges were imme­di­ately filed.

A spe­cial pros­e­cu­tor has been work­ing on the case, and Zionsville offi­cials pre­vi­ously obtained a pri­vate law firm to review the poli­cies and pro­ce­dures of the Police Department.

The board rec­om­mended that Knox undergo train­ing related to his involve­ment in the han­dling of evi­dence. He will become the chief if the Zionsville Town Coun­cil affirms him at an Aug. 5 meeting.

“Dur­ing the past sev­eral years, Capt. Knox has sus­pected or has known about sev­eral vio­la­tions of town and depart­men­tal poli­cies regard­ing the han­dling and doc­u­men­ta­tion of evi­dence,” said Asheesh Agar­wal, an attor­ney who rep­re­sents Zionsville. “Capt. Knox, how­ever, failed to report these vio­la­tions to the town or take other cor­rec­tive action.”

Capt. Doug Gau­thier, Detec­tive Charles White and Offi­cer Thomas Hen­thorn were pun­ished with an unpaid sus­pen­sion of five days. Offi­cer Tessa Potts received a writ­ten reprimand.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

McGraw-Hill Broad­cast­ing Com­pany, TheIndyChannel.com
BYLINE: Der­rik Thomas
Link to Article

Zionsville, IN

Affi­davit: Truck May Be Linked To Improper Sale Of Stolen Car

ZIONSVILLE, Ind. — The inves­ti­ga­tion into Zionsville’s embat­tled police chief appears to be widen­ing, with detec­tives seiz­ing his department-issued vehi­cle Wednesday.

Rick Dow­den placed him­self on paid admin­is­tra­tive leave in Novem­ber fol­low­ing accu­sa­tions he stole a TV from the department’s evi­dence room and pulled a loaded, cocked gun on a group of officers.

On Wednes­day, a search war­rant was issued allow­ing state police inves­ti­ga­tors to seize and inspect Dowden’s 2010 F150 pickup truck, 6News’ Der­rik Thomas reported.

Accord­ing to the search war­rant affi­davit, inves­ti­ga­tors believe the truck may be linked to the improper sale of a stolen vehi­cle recov­ered by Zionsville police.

The depart­ment recov­ered three stolen vehi­cles in 2009, two of which were later returned to their own­ers, inves­ti­ga­tors said.

But the depart­ment seized the third, a 2007 Nis­san 350 Z, say­ing it had been involved in crim­i­nal activ­ity, and would not be released, pend­ing for­fei­ture, although inves­ti­ga­tors con­tend those state­ments were untrue, accord­ing to the affidavit.

Lib­erty Mutual Insur­ance con­firmed a $21,000 pay­out for the car and the title was trans­ferred to the town of Zionsville.

It was later sold at auc­tion for $9,147, money used as a par­tial pay­ment for Dowden’s $29,000 truck, accord­ing to the affidavit.

“I don’t know what this is about. I don’t know why they are tak­ing his vehi­cle,” Zionsville Town Man­ager Ed Mitro told 6News.

He stressed that no charges had been filed and that Dow­den, who returned to the job in Feb­ru­ary, remains the chief.

“At the moment, he is,” he said. “No com­ment has been made by the spe­cial pros­e­cu­tor rel­a­tive to the inves­ti­ga­tion and the chief. He con­tin­ues to be the chief.”

Spe­cial pros­e­cu­tor David Pow­ell would not com­ment on the case out­side of the infor­ma­tion in the affi­davit. He said the inves­ti­ga­tion is ongoing.

Zionsville offi­cials have retained a pri­vate law firm to per­form an admin­is­tra­tive review of the Police Department’s poli­cies and procedures.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

The Jour­nal Gazette, journalgazette.net
BYLINE: Rebecca Green, courts, 260 – 461-8283, rgreen@jg.net

Link to Article

Whit­ley County, IN

A for­mer Indi­ana state excise police offi­cer was sen­tenced to two years in prison after he admit­ted to steal­ing guns and money from the evi­dence room.

Aaron Bishop, 34, of Fort Wayne pleaded guilty last month to theft and offi­cial mis­con­duct in Whit­ley County Supe­rior Court.

In August, some­one broke into the excise police post in Colum­bia City, leav­ing a note behind to taunt police and mak­ing it appear that the theft was in retal­i­a­tion for police seiz­ing someone’s prop­erty, accord­ing to police.

But police were able to link Bishop to the crime, find­ing evi­dence at his Fort Wayne home. After a three-month inves­ti­ga­tion, he was arrested and sub­se­quently fired from the excise police. Police believe Bishop had an accom­plice but that man has never been named.

On Mon­day, Whit­ley Supe­rior Court Judge Doug Fahl sen­tenced Bishop to three years in prison on each count, order­ing the sen­tences to be served at the same time. He then sus­pended one year of each sen­tence, to be served on pro­ba­tion, court offi­cials said.

Bishop must also pay $13,562 in resti­tu­tion, per­form 50 hours of com­mu­nity ser­vice and pay a $200 fine.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org