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Veteran cop quits amid drug, bribe inquiry
By LEANORA MINAI © St. Petersburg Times, published October 27, 2000 ST. PETERSBURG -- A St. Petersburg police officer resigned Thursday amid an investigation into accusations he accepted bribes and kept crack cocaine he took from suspects. Two other officers were suspended for separate and lesser offenses. Joseph Harrison, an officer for nine years, relinquished his badge before the city could fire him for associating with a criminal and not turning in drug evidence. A criminal investigation of 29-year-old Harrison was foiled when witnesses did not appear for two scheduled interviews with investigators from the State Attorney's Office. In a separate matter, Officer Damien C. Schmidt was suspended 10 days and received an employee notice for not writing police reports and for not properly documenting property recovered from burglaries. Officer Randy Bricker, a nine-year employee, received an employee notice and one-day suspension after he performed one or two knee strikes to a woman who spit in his face and bit his thumb. Bricker, 50, is considering appealing his discipline, said Bill LauBach, attorney and executive director for the Pinellas County Police Benevolent Association. "I honestly don't know what they hung their hat on," LauBach said of the chain of command's discipline. The PBA is not representing Harrison, who resigned amid allegations that he took 20 rocks of crack cocaine while he was on-duty in October 1999. The criminal investigation into Harrison began after two people who were arrested by vice and narcotics detectives said Harrison took money from them and another person in lieu of arresting them. The Internal Affairs inquiry began after the State Attorney's Office closed its case without bringing charges against Harrison, according to police Chief Goliath Davis III. Last October, Harrison pulled over a car with two people inside and threatened to call a drug-sniffing dog and take them to jail if drugs were found, according to a memo Thursday to all personnel from Davis. Harrison told the occupants he would not charge them if they turned over the drugs. Harrison said they threw nine rocks of crack cocaine to the ground. "Officer Harrison picked up "nine rocks' and not knowing whether they were real or counterfeit, threw them into a garbage Dumpster," the memo said, citing Harrison's account. Harrison let the people go and did not write a police report. In November of last year, Harrison allegedly took two separate bribes -- $90 and $150 -- from a man he pulled over for traffic violations, Davis' memo said. Harrison also had a romantic relationship with a woman who had a history of felony arrests. In the case of Schmidt, the 18-year officer faced four allegations involving his police reports and not properly storing burglarly evidence and property. Schmidt, 42, does not plan to appeal, said LauBach. "Damien, in his statement before the board, admitted he had done some things wrong as far as violations of the policies and procedures," LauBach said. Bricker's discipline involves an arrest he made of a woman on the night of Jan. 17 during a parade honoring Martin Luther King Jr. That night, pockets of violence broke out. Three police cruisers were damaged, and six people were arrested. A woman in the crowd was charged with aggravated assault after police said she tried to hit them with her car. At the police station, she spit in Bricker's face and bit his thumb, a police report said. Bricker performed the knee strikes and took her to the ground. Police administrators say Bricker did not efficiently use resources available to him to calm the situation.
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