Officer Charged in Pat's Cafe Cash Grab
Philadelphia district attorney Seth Williams on Friday morning announced charges of theft and receiving stolen property against officer Kenneth Crockett, 56, a 26-year veteran of the police department assigned to the canine unit.
KYW's Mike DeNardo reports that according to investigators, Crockett is the officer caught on video pocketing $825 in cash from Pat's Café early Tuesday morning (see previous story).
Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey says he plans suspend Crockett for 30 days with the intent to fire him, but DA Williams says Crockett was involuntarily committed to a mental health facility about 3-4am Friday morning by his family because they were concerned that he might harm himself.
After he gets out of there, Williams says, the officer will be arraigned on the charges.
Ramsey says the other two officers seen on the bar's surveillance tape are in the clear and did nothing wrong.
And on the heels of three officers being indicted earlier this month for scheming to sell heroin (see related story), Ramsey says he is fed up with police corruption in his ranks:
"We got too many guys that on occasion feel as if they have special privileges as police officers. Well, they don't."
Ramsey says he's preparing to present Mayor Nutter with a plan to rid the police department of corruption, although he adds that the vast majority of the police department are honest and hard-working officers, but any one officer who commits corruption on the job is too many.
