FORT LAUDERDALE - Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne said his deputies improperly closed about 100 cases over three years in order to improve the department's crime statistics.
The cases, many of which were revealed Friday as part of an internal investigation, were blamed on at least 25 people who couldn't have committed them because they were in jail when the crimes happened.
In four cases, detectives solved the same crimes twice by blaming them on different suspects. In another case, detectives said a suspect confessed to a crime that happened after the interview, according to the review.
"It is not easy to admit when you are wrong," Jenne said. "But in this agency, under my watch, we are going to be honest with ourselves and with the public we serve."
The cases mainly involved property crimes such as burglary and larceny.
Dozens of employees will be disciplined, Jenne said, with punishments ranging from written reprimands to transfers and suspensions without pay.
Some deputies also could face criminal charges from an investigation by the Broward State Attorney's Office. Prosecutors are investigating whether cases were improperly cleared and crimes were downgraded.
Jenne ordered the internal review of 10,024 crimes cleared by exceptional means - when the case is declared solved but no arrest is made - from 2001 to 2003.
The investigation revealed 40 cases that were cleared by blaming them on 23 people who were incarcerated at the time of the crime. Previously, the sheriff's office admitted clearing at least 60 other cases with confessions of two people who were jailed during the crimes.
"That's hundreds of potential crime victims who are not receiving the law enforcement services as they had expected," said John Cochran, a professor of criminology at the University of South Florida. "And, importantly, the offenders of those crimes got away with it."
Jenne said the problems were limited and said he didn't think the problems were systematic.
He also announced reforms intended to prevent improper case closings in the future, such as requiring top-level supervisors to sign off on cleared cases, forcing detectives to record all confessions and sending all cleared cases to the State Attorney's Office for review.
Jenne also appointed a lieutenant to contact victims and ensure deputies report crimes correctly.
