Follow the money.
The Miami Herald has an expose out against the Bal Harbour Police Department paired up with the Glades Police Department detailing a "tri-county" task force that's missing one county. That little quibble aside, I believe thre's a lot of accuracy to this report. According to the article, the paper trail shows these departments siphoning off thousands of dollars of civil forfeiture funds to fund undercover "investigations" that were really a cover for police officers to live the lifestyle of their dreams.
The players are unrepentant.
Tom Hunker, the former Bal Harbour chief who created the task force, said he was allowed to spend the money, and that Weiss and the village manager were aware the task force was using the funds. “We didn’t do any different than the way the feds do it,” Hunker said.What did "they" do?
With little oversight, the special unit, consisting of Bal Harbour and Glades County, charged criminal groups at least $1.7 million for laundering drug money in what became the fund for the operation — and a lifestyle that went far beyond the level of most police.What did the $1.7 million buy?
$116,000 for airfare
more than $59,000 for hotel stays (often at >$400/night), as the cops jetted outside Florida to pick up the containers of cash.
$47,295 in Apple computers and other products
$40,000 in computers at PNSI
Tens of thousands for weapons, including three FN P90 submachine guns capable of cycling 900 rounds a minute.
One new black Jeep Grand Cherokee, inking a check for $42,012.
They even purchased $300 in iTunes downloads
And charged $23 at Yankee Stadium on a day the home team was playing the Detroit Tigers
Feel like this was money well spent?
No?
Well, the good news is that those expenditures have paperwork to back it up.
the rest? uh, no. There's nothing.
The task force was supposed to be audited every year, but that didn't happen. No audit trail, nobody saying "Hey! Wait a minute!", nothing. So the saga continued....
Starting in 2010 the officers started withdrawing cash without giving vouchers for the expenditures. ....
No one (talking) knows what that money was spent on, or if it was a good value.
Over three years $831,057 was withdrawn in cash.
$547,000 — was withdrawn without written reports.
Recently, according to anonymous sources, Bal Harbour have found another $800,000 in withdrawals, with no supporting records.
That's a lota cash with no paper to back it up.
Just sayin.
This is a pisser.
If police want people to trust them, they need to be trustworthy.