Conn. Police Chief Quits in Profiling Scandal

Leonard Gallo 'did not follow' national rules: state official
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 30, 2012 11:09 AM CST
Conn. Police Chief Quits in Profiling Scandal
In this Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 file photo, East Haven police vehicles are seen outside the police department in East Haven, Conn.   (AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File)

The police chief of a Connecticut town has resigned after four officers were indicted by the FBI in a racial-profiling case. East Haven chief Leonard Gallo was an unnamed co-conspirator in the indictment, the Hartford Courant reports. Last week, the governor's criminal policy head condemned Gallo's department for failing to follow civil-rights guidelines in targeting Latinos. "These are best practices nationally," the official said. "What is very clear is that Chief Gallo did not follow these recommendations."

The town's ex-mayor put Gallo on administrative leave in 2010 amid the federal probe. A few months later, the East Haven police board filed 15 administrative charges against him. But current mayor Joseph Maturo, a friend of Gallo who himself is facing calls to step down after a bad taco joke, reinstated Gallo last year. "It's been a general breakdown in control in that department for quite a while," the town's police commission chairman said earlier, calling for Gallo's firing. A petition with some 15,000 signatures also urged his termination, the AP notes. (More East Haven stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X