John C. Powers

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  Chief testifies against fired officer at hearing - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/12/2006    Last Visited: 7/12/2006  

  "The weight of the evidence sustained drug use in my mind," Kerlikowske told the three-member Public Safety Civil Service Commission, currently hearing the appeal of former Officer John C. Powers, who is fighting to get his job back.
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  Powers, 45, had been a Seattle police officer for eight years when he was fired in December.
  
  An investigation by the Office of Professional Accountability sustained a litany of misconduct allegations against Powers -- including providing Viagra to colleagues and interfering when another officer was making a domestic-violence-related arrest outside a Seattle nightclub of a man Powers knew.
  
  Other sustained allegations were that the former officer gave rides in his patrol car to two girlfriends and took one of those women into the locker room of the West Precinct while on duty.
  
  The FBI's Public Integrity Task Force began investigating Powers and others in the summer of 2001.He was also the subject of a secret Inquiry Court within the King County court system.In the end, no criminal charges were filed against Powers for any of the allegations against him.
  
  Still, the department fired him in November and disciplined at least two others in connection with the investigation.
  
  Since Monday, the city has presented its case why Powers deserved to be fired.Beginning today, Powers will begin calling witnesses in his effort to persuade the panel he should be rehired.
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  Before any discipline was imposed, McCarty reviewed past cases to make sure the actions taken against Powers would compare fairly with how previous officers had been treated in similar cases.
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  "We didn't have anything on the same scale as what we found with John," he testified.
  
  Also testifying Tuesday was King County Deputy Prosecutor Henry Corscadden, who initially led the special inquiry that involved Powers.
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  At the time, John Powers was a recent graduate of a law enforcement academy in California where he had excelled, and he soon joined the Seattle department.
  
  She described her ex-husband as a good father who was very involved in raising their two children, even after their separation.
  
  But his drug use remained a problem to the point that at one time she sought an intervention, but it never amounted to more than a few sessions with a local drug counselor.
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  "I know John wasn't proud of it."

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  Fired officer loses his appeal - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/13/2006    Last Visited: 10/14/2006  

  Former Seattle police officer John C. Powers, fired late last year for a lengthy pattern of misconduct, will not be getting his job back.
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  Powers gave cocaine to a girlfriend while on duty;Provided Viagra to fellow cops;Accessed police computers for personal use;
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  The FBI's Public Integrity Task Force investigated Powers from 2001 until early 2005 and a secret inquiry court in King County also reviewed his case, but no criminal charges were filed.
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  In testimony before the three-member panel, Powers tried to show that the investigation against him was flawed, and that he passed the background checks before he was hired by Seattle police and a previous background check when he took a job some years ago with a defense contractor in California.
  
  The former officer, who frequently worked off-duty in Belltown in uniform to provide security, admitted some of the charges against him, such as giving rides to girlfriends.Powers tried to suggest that other officers found guilty of the same misconduct were not fired.
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  Mark McCarty, legal adviser to the department, said the department would have been surprised had Powers won his appeal.

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  Fired police officer denies using cocaine - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/13/2006    Last Visited: 7/13/2006  

  Former Seattle police Officer John C. Powers on Wednesday adamantly denied ever taking cocaine, whether as a civilian or a cop.
  
  Powers, 45, had been a Seattle police officer for eight years when he was fired late last year.He had been investigated for a number of alleged incidents of misconduct, eight of them sustained.
  
  The first sustained allegation against Powers was that while he was an officer, he let others use drugs in his presence and took illegal drugs himself.
  
  But Wednesday, in a hearing before the city's Public Safety Civil Service Commission, Powers was asked by his attorney whether he had ever used drugs while he was an officer.
  
  "Never," he replied.
  
  Powers was the subject of a criminal investigation by the FBI's Public Integrity Task Force that began in 2001 and was not completed until early 2005.A secret inquiry court in King County reviewed his case.No criminal charges were ever filed.
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  Powers is fighting to get his job back.
  
  In testimony before the three-member panel, Powers tried to show that the investigation against him was flawed.He said several of his old friends were not contacted by investigators and the one who was denied ever seeing Powers use drugs.
  
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  He suggested that data investigators used against him, such as telephone records, were inaccurate, that some of his supervisors were never interviewed and that testimony from his former wife alleging drug use was false.
  
  Powers pointed out that he passed the background checks before he was hired by Seattle police and a previous background check when he took a job some years ago with a defense contractor in California.
  
  Powers admitted that his ex-wife suspected he was using drugs, but testified that he twice took drug tests to show her he was not using.
  
  The former officer, who frequently worked off-duty in Belltown in uniform to provide security, testified he rarely went into the clubs and denied ever permitting criminal activity to take place.
  
  He admitted giving rides to a girlfriend to her apartment in West Seattle while he was married, but said he stopped doing so after a partner informed him that a GPS tracking device had been found on his patrol car.
  
  Powers has called a number of witnesses, and his appeal is expected to last into next week.

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  Panel upholds police firing - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/14/2006    Last Visited: 10/15/2006  

  Former Seattle police Officer John C. Powers, who was fired late last year for a lengthy pattern of misconduct, will not be getting his job back.
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  The commission sustained six, concluding that Powers:
  
  Gave cocaine to a girlfriend while on duty.
  
  Provided Viagra to fellow officers.
  
  Accessed police computers for personal use.
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  The FBI's Public Integrity Task Force investigated Powers from 2001 until early 2005, and a secret inquiry court in King County also reviewed his case, but no criminal charges were filed.
  
  But an investigation by the Office of Professional Accountability found reason to sustain several of the allegations.
  
  Powers immediately filed an appeal of his termination, and a hearing was held in July.
  
  In testimony before the three-member panel, Powers tried to show that the investigation against him was flawed, and that he passed the background checks before he was hired by the Seattle Police Department and a previous background check when he took a job some years ago with a defense contractor in California.
  
  The former officer, who frequently worked off-duty in Belltown in uniform to provide security, admitted some of the charges against him, such as giving rides to girlfriends.
  
  Powers tried to suggest that other officers found guilty of the same misconduct were not fired.
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  Mark McCarty, legal adviser to the department, said the department would have been surprised had Powers won his appeal.

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  Police misconduct Page 47 : EiP - EthicsinPolicing - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 12/10/2008  

  Former Seattle police Officer John C. Powers on Wednesday adamantly denied ever taking cocaine, whether as a civilian or a cop.
  
  Powers, 45, had been a Seattle police officer for eight years when he was fired late last year. He had been investigated for a number of alleged incidents of misconduct, eight ... Read more

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  Police misconduct Page 58 : EiP - EthicsinPolicing - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 12/7/2009  

  Former Seattle police Officer John C. Powers on Wednesday adamantly denied ever taking cocaine, whether as a civilian or a cop.
  
  Powers, 45, had been a Seattle police officer for eight years when he was fired late last year. He had been investigated for a number of alleged incidents of misconduct, eight... Read more

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  Seattle : Seattle restraunts, dining and hotels - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 5/18/2005    Last Visited: 10/14/2006  

  A civil service board has upheld the firing of former Seattle police officer John Powers, concluding he provided cocaine to a girlfriend and engaged in a "wide ...

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  The Seattle Times: Local News: Ex-girlfriend says... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/11/2006    Last Visited: 7/11/2006  

  The former girlfriend of fired Seattle police Officer John Powers testified Monday that the eight-year department veteran once provided her with cocaine and routinely drove her home in his patrol car.
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  The chief last year upheld eight allegations against Powers, including charges that he gave Viagra to other officers and used department computers to provide sensitive law-enforcement information to friends.
  
  Assistant City Attorney Dan Berger said in his opening statement to the commission that Powers had admitted to the "central facts" surrounding seven of those allegations during interviews with detectives, FBI agents and the chief.
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  Regarding the cocaine allegation, Murphy said Powers gave her an envelope with a small quantity of the drug in 2001.
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  Powers' attorney, Susan Sampson, alleged that Murphy was vindictive after Powers, who was married at the time, broke off their affair.
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  The suspect was a friend of the owner of a Belltown club where Powers was working off-duty providing security.

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  The Seattle Times: Local News: Fired cop a "victim,"... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 7/18/2006    Last Visited: 7/18/2006  

  Fired Seattle police Officer John Powers is fighting to get his job back before the Public Safety Civil Service Commission.
  
  Fired Seattle police Officer John Powers has obfuscated and minimized his involvement with drugs and other illegal acts and should not be reinstated to the Police Department by the Public Safety Civil Service Commission, a city attorney argued Monday.
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  "What you didn't hear was John Powers saying he was wrong.He still doesn't get it."
  
  The chief had found that Powers, during his eight years on the force - much of it patrolling downtown - had used cocaine, provided it to a girlfriend and helped a pawnshop owner commit a burglary.
  
  In violation of department policy or state law, Powers frequently gave his girlfriends rides home in his patrol car, gave Viagra to officers and used department computers to provide sensitive law-enforcement information to citizens, the chief found.
  
  Powers' firing came after a four-year investigation by the FBI and the Police Department's internal-affairs detectives that at one point involved concealing a satellite tracking device in his patrol car.
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  Sampson noted that several current officers came to Powers' defense, including his former lieutenant, who said Powers was a hard-charging police officer.
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  Sampson said Powers had been tarred in a superficial, drawn-out investigation.
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  The FBI and internal-affairs investigators failed to question officers who supported Powers, she said."This investigation was not reasonably conducted."
  
  She urged the commission to reject the police chief's findings, pointing to what she said were discrepancies in the evidence.
  
  The Powers hearing before the commission has been marred by technical glitches and mistakes.When Powers first testified two weeks ago, the commission forgot to swear him in. Last week, a commission computer malfunctioned, losing the only transcripts of the testimony of Powers and his father.
  
  Lawyers have been able to piece together much of Powers' testimony from notes, but they acknowledge the reconstruction may not satisfy requirements that the hearing include a detailed record of testimony.
  
  Both Berger and Sampson acknowledged that losing the testimony may open an avenue for further appeal by Powers should the commission uphold his firing.

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  The Seattle Times: Local News: Officers disciplined - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 11/24/2005    Last Visited: 11/24/2005  

  Fired: John Powers, 44
  
  An SPD patrol officer of eight years, he's been on paid leave for a year.
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  , Failed to properly supervise Powers by allowing him to leave his patrol district on personal business for excessive periods.

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