VOLUSIA EXPOSED

VOLUSIA EXPOSED.COM

Can law enforcement agencies falsify their officers separation papers with little to no accountability for the falsifications?

Case law appears to support that they can falsify these official reports (commonly referred to as the CJSTC 61 form)

Does this situation better explain why law enforcement agencies are so confident that they can falsify with impunity, records involving in-custody jail deaths?

Updated
October 17, 2011

"When honor and the Law no longer stand on the same side of the line, how do we choose?"
Anne Bishop

VolusiaExposed.Com initially incorrectly stated that Officer Bates had resigned after the completion of the internal investigation - documents support that Bates did resign prior to the completion of the investigation. However, these same records support that she was a witness in the investigation and not the target of the investigation

We invite you to review the court records regarding the trials and tribulations of ex-St. Lucie Correctional Officer Barbara Bates.

According to available records and media accounts the following transpired:

In 1996, Officer Bates was involved in a situation whereas a St. Lucie county jail inmate committed suicide.

Officer Bates was cleared of any wrong doing after the completion of a month long internal investigation.

According to the below media article, Officer Bates was a witness, and not the target of the investigation. Officer Bates resigned prior to the completion of the investigation, in order to attend the police academy.

After completion of the police academy, she attempted to secure employment within several law enforcement agencies. She soon discovered that the St. Lucie Sheriff Department had submitted her FDLE / CJSTC Affidavit of Separation form (commonly referred to as the CJSTC 61 form) indicating that she had resigned "while she was being investigated for misconduct.

Barbara eventually had to sue the St. Lucie Sheriff Department in an attempt to have her Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission (CJSTC) records corrected.

Barbara did obtain a jury verdict in the amount of $600,000

However, the sheriff department appealed and successfully had the jury verdict vacated, stating the sheriff was "immune" from such lawsuits.

This matter was appealed all the way up to the Florida Supreme Court - and it now appears that all Sheriff Departments within the State of Florida can legally submit, knowingly false documentation, to FDLE with little to no recourse being available to the offended officer.

We invite you to read the legal decisions and a media article on the Bates situation.

All of this is very disturbing - apparently, the police can knowingly submit falsified documentation to the FDLE / CJSTC on their former and possibly current law enforcement officers. Maybe, all of this brings some clarity as to why FDLE will not investigate the obvious falsification of documents surrounding several in-custody deaths within the Volusia County jail?