Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Detroit Officer Arrested for Stealing Reward Money

A Detroit police officer has been arrested, accused of stealing reward money from a program designed to stop auto theft.

The name of the 14-year police veteran is not being released until he's formally charged.

Police said the officer worked the car theft beat for DPD and used insider knowledge to defraud the HEAT reward program.

HEAT stands for Help Eliminate Auto Thefts and is based in Livonia. The program is funded by insurance agencies and rewards residents for turning in car thieves.

Investigators said the officer would create a fictitious tipster and report information to HEAT, on cases that he oversaw, to collect cash.

Rescue 4 spoke to Detroiters who were angry that a police officer is accused of using his job as a tool to make extra money.

“That most definitely would bother me because that’s doing the wrong thing. Let’s try to build Detroit up not tear it down,” said Amy Tillman.

“It’s not surprising but it’s disappointing. You hope the right person does the right thing but I guess you don’t get that all the time,” said Sean Mayfield.

DPD’s Internal Affairs got a tip of their own that the officer was using his position to steal money from HEAT.

After an investigation, internal affairs arrested the officer. The officer’s identity will be revealed Wednesday morning in a Livonia courtroom.

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