Serial criminal policeman protected by Union, draws $60k/yr while suspended
AVNews reported on officer Bosque last December. He’s making even more news for the same old repeated offenses again. Why? Because the public employee union works to keep him employed, and the city can’t shake its power.
The Miami Herald reports,
Sgt. German Bosque of the Opa-locka Police Department has been disciplined, suspended, fined and sent home with pay more than any officer in the state.
He has been accused of cracking the head of a handcuffed suspect, beating juveniles, hiding drugs in his police car, stealing from suspects, defying direct orders and lying and falsifying police reports. He once called in sick to take a vacation to Cancún and has engaged in a rash of unauthorized police chases, including one in which four people were killed.
Arrested and jailed three times, Bosque, 48, has been fired at least six times. Now under suspension pending yet another investigation into misconduct, Bosque stays home and collects his $60,000-a-year paycheck for doing nothing. . . .
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, which reviews police misconduct, has repeatedly declined to strip Bosque of his law enforcement certificate. The state’s police unions have successfully persuaded legislators to pass laws that protect officers and provide loopholes that allow cops like Bosque to keep their badges and their guns.
Miami-Dade County’s Police Benevolent Association, which has successfully fought Bosque’s dismissals, did not respond to requests, in email and by phone, for an interview for this story.
A report from Reason.com adds,
Despite an impressive criminal record and his latest suspension, Bosque maintains that he’s on the positive end of the good cop/bad cop spectrum. “I’m an excellent police officer but I break the rules,” he told The Herald. Hard to argue with that coming from a man who in August 2000 told a teenager, “I am the law, if I feel like it right now I can fuck you up and no one will say anything about it.” Charming.
Here’s a few of Bosque’s greatest hits, as reported by The Herald:
May 22, 1998: Bosque calls in sick for work, claiming food poisioning. Takes a vacation in Cancun, Mexico.
Sept. 5, 1999: Excessive force accusations filed against Bosque by a man who claims the officer kicked and punched him repeatedly while handcuff. Police authorities reportedly took no action on the case.
Jan. 19, 2004: Suspended for 45 days after beating a handcuffed suspect into a pulp. According to The Herald, “The victim was beaten until bloody and there was blood spilled all over the station house floor.”
July 22, 2004: The Herald reports that Bosque was “accused of fondling a corrections officer in his squad car.” But he was not punished. Why? According to investigators, “the woman involved admitted she refused to say ‘no.’”
Jan. 24, 2011: Promoted to sergeant.
(H/T Reason)