By Mark Scolforo, The Associated Press
Harrisburg, Pa. (AP) -- The executive director of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus has called for the federal government to investigate the state Capitol Police, citing alleged civil rights violations and other misdeeds.
Terrence Alladin said Tuesday his office has received complaints from black and female officers who work for the force, which provides security in and around the Capitol complex and at other government facilities.
Frank Kane, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of General Services, which oversees the 155-person force, said calling in Justice Department investigators is not appropriate, “not when we’re already looking into it ourselves.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Harrisburg declined comment on “what may or may not be the subject of an investigation.”
Alladin said he’s fielded complaints about the force since the driver for Rep. LeAnna Washington, a Philadelphia Democrat, was arrested on disorderly conduct charges at the Capitol last month.
Washington has said the man was targeted because he is black.
The Patriot-News of Harrisburg reported Tuesday that the Capitol Police also face questions about how a seized gun got into an evidence locker after it had been reported missing. The newspaper said one officer has accused his supervisor of assaulting him, and that several female officers are pursuing gender-discrimination complaints.
Kane said the department has instituted diversity and cultural sensitivity training, and that the state’s Office of Inspector General is reviewing the circumstances of the driver’s arrest.
A spokesman for the inspector general declined comment.
Alladin said he is particularly troubled by an e-mail sent by a Capitol Police officer last month to seven other officers about “the Deuces,” an “elite group ... of specially selected police officers who look out for each other.”
“You will be ejected if you rat on a fellow officer for anything to any supervisor,” the e-mail reads.
“Do you call it a vigilante group? I don’t know what you call it. But they’re judges, jury and executioner of who should be reported and who shouldn’t,” Alladin said.
The head of the Capitol Police’s union declined comment Tuesday.