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Boston cop gets probation for impeding FBI gang investigation in a fit of pique

Decorated BPD detective Brian Smigielski, 43, was sentenced to a year of probation and a $5,000 fine yesterday for alerting members of the violent Academy Homes gang that the FBI was after them and warning them when they were about to be arrested, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.

Smigielski was initially the lead Boston detective in an ongoing probe into the gang's drug trafficking. Last September, however, Smigielski admitted in federal court that he began feeding information about the investigation to Academy Homes members after he was taken off the case in 2009 - and ordered to hand over all his files and notes to the FBI and another BPD unit, the Special Investigations Unit.

His formal plea was for one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States during the course of a federal investigation.

According to a sentencing memorandum from his attorneys, Smigielski initially developed the information that led to the investigation in the first place.

Noting his numerous commendations from police commissioners since he got on the force in 1995, they made the case for a sentence of probation - a recommendation that the US Attorney's office agreed with:

As the court can glean from the [proposed sentence], and the letters of support, Mr. Smigielski led a very exemplary and law abiding life with strong family support. The peculiar circumstances giving rise to this offense are highly unlikely to repeat themselves and Mr. Smigielski poses no conceivable threat to public safety. His public exposure and humiliation also provide a stark example to deter others who might contemplate similar misconduct.

Another detective, Mel Steele of the BPD gang unit, got a similar sentence after he admitted helping Academy Homes out because he was friends with a gang member.

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PDF icon Memorandum in support of sentencing202.11 KB


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Comments

Did he lose it?

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You or I would be fired on the spot, tried, convicted, and jailed. They were probably given a desk job with pay and inevitably will get a promotion

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(breathes in)

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

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One assumes he was, at the least, fired?

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With no pension.

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In cases like these, they should always have to serve time. I don't care if it's one week - they should have to go to jail and have it on their record for life that they were jailbirds. Violating the public trust is a special crime, and no plea should ever get them out from going through what the average person would suffer.

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But some are more equal than others

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I just read the report, and this is an absolute outrage. As far as I can tell, this is a classic case of prosecutors protecting police/one of their own -- cc: Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and many others.

This officer actively obstructed an ongoing investigation into a violent gang operation. If you haven't read the report, his friend (also BPD) ran the license plate for an unmarked BPD car, and then "Smiddy" told this guy he was about to be arrested. How is this not a case of complete and utter corruption? How are we supposed to trust the police when they can't even do the most basic, uncontroversial part of their job -- i.e., keeping the public safe from a violent gang? Every time a cop throws a tantrum because he has to (gasp) work with another law enforcement agency, we're allowed to think this is OK?

We're supposed to feel sorry for this guy because he grew up in Hyde Park? It's a miracle that no one apparently got hurt or killed as a result of this behavior. He should be doing time -- end of story.

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He may have been a prominent, decorated officer but put it like this: If a star athlete (who volunteers at a shelter on weekends) is caught aiding a felon escape who has guns and drugs, then their reputation is moot.

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In this particular case this clown did unfortunately get away with a slap on the wrist, but all others you're mentioning make everyone with a functional brain ignore everything you're saying. Mr Clerkrob Copbumrush AKA gentle giant was an innocent victim? Free Mumia? Hands of Assata? No Justin no Pete? Yakooooooooob?

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I just read the report, and this is an absolute outrage. As far as I can tell, this is a classic case of prosecutors protecting police/one of their own -- cc: Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and many others.

You are talking about a federal prosecutor going after someone who potentially put federal agents in danger, and interfered in the federal prosecutors own investigation.

Not one of the prosecutor's own by any stretch of the imagination.

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Stated an affronted member of the forest.

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"Good cop. Bad decision."

That's the excuse they use to dismiss everything that goes wrong.

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That cop is an idiot who has no business being a cop in the first place!

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Corrupt system

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Is he still a cop?

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Even when going after a bad cop, they still look out for their own. He obviously didn't go over to the gang "in a fit of pique" because BPD took him off the case. BPD got him out of their because they knew he was on the take. They would rather go for lesser charges than admit what really happened. Public relations trumps public safety.

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That seems like a very un-biased source.

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Mel Steele, my goodness what a corrupted piece of garbage he was, Don't know to much about the other police officer but he does not seem any better than Steele, they always say one bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch, but I don't care what they say, when it comes to the police, you got to figure the majority of them are corrupted at least the ones that I have come in contact with.

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