A Newark police officer's courtroom admission last week
that he and five colleagues shook down drug dealers for hundreds, if
not thousands, of dollars for almost two years has left community
activists and police brass concerned about the department's image and
ability to do its job. But as troubling as the allegations Tyrone
Dudley made in Superior Court in Trenton on Thursday may be, the case
is only one of several legal headaches the Newark Police Department is
experiencing. In addition to the case involving Dudley: The state
Division of Criminal Justice is investigating whether one or more
Newark police officers is connected to the fatal shooting of a Nutley
man near a club on Bloomfield Avenue two years ago. The division also
is checking whether a female officer may have protected a drug dealer
who was her boyfriend. On Friday, a federal judge in Newark castigated
the department's handling of a reputed drug dealer in jail on narcotics
charges and set the man free, saying his constitutional rights were
severely abused when he was arrested in 2002. [more ]
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