Pubdate: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2007 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 Author: Ihosvani Rodriguez Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) FOR CHIEF, HOLLYWOOD POLICE SCANDAL IS ANOTHER CRISIS TO DEAL WITH IN LONG CAREER A double-cross busted the $600,000 marijuana sting. Undercover Miami Beach Detective Jim Scarberry, playing a scruffy drug runner, was hogtied and about to be executed when his backup stormed into the luxury hotel's Room 1101 and rescued him amid a wild shootout. Four Miami Beach officers were wounded during the 1985 incident at the Doral Hotel, including Scarberry, whose shins were scraped by a bullet. Now Scarberry, 55, is chief of the Hollywood Police Department, looking down the barrel of the latest crisis of his law enforcement career. This time, he said, it feels as bad as being shot at. "I got into this to be a police officer and I never thought I would be a police chief," said the lifelong South Floridian. "I certainly never thought I'd be in this situation." Last week, four veteran officers were charged in a federal investigation of organized crime and drugs. At the same time, the FBI is looking into leaks from the department that prematurely exposed the undercover investigation of the four officers, according to a federal law enforcement official familiar with the matter. The arrests were announced Friday morning at a news conference called by U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta. Scarberry said he knew about the investigation, but not all the details read aloud by the federal prosecutor. "As he read on and on, it became more shocking and hurtful," Scarberry recalled. After the announcement, Scarberry gathered most of the department's 337 officers and staff for a 1:30 p.m. roll call, where he read the allegations to the solemn crowd. Scarberry listed the names one by one: Detective Kevin Companion, 41; Sgt. Jeffry Courtney, 51; Officer Stephen Harrison, 46; and Detective Thomas Simcox, 50. Each is accused of providing services to FBI agents posing as mobsters in exchange for cash. Scarberry then urged everyone to get back to work. "It felt like a funeral wake, and [Scarberry] was directing it," said Sgt. William Furguson, a longtime member of the force. "He was angry, but thoughtful of the officers' families. That move has won him a lot of accolades. He's a cop. He's not a suit." When Scarberry joined the department in 1999, he was heralded as the person who was going to straighten up a department plagued by scandals and internal turmoil. Most of the damage to the department's reputationstems from a mid-1990s investigation that revealed officers had been hired despite criminal records. The department has also made headlines over the years with complaints of brutality and of ignoring some of the most crime-plagued areas of the city. Scarberry joined the department after a 27-year career in Miami Beach, where he rose through the ranks and worked some of the city's more notable cases, including the shooting death of designer Gianni Versace. Scarberry said he knew of Hollywood's dicey reputation while he worked in Miami Beach. "My understanding of the department was that it had been going through some tough times. But after I spoke to a lot of people, I knew they had a lot of good people here who could make changes," Scarberry said. Before he won the job, he had to recount a troubling allegation. Scarberry told a hiring committee that in the mid-1970s, he was tried on charges of grand larceny and conspiracy for allegedly taking money from robbery suspects during his rookie year. He was acquitted and the record was later expunged. In Hollywood, Scarberry took over a police department with a long line of beleaguered chiefs. The first police chief, in 1926, Virgil White, became so disenchanted with his job that he quit after five weeks. City commissioners fired his replacement, George Bausweine, after 21/2 months on the job. By the end of 1926, the city had seen five different chiefs. More recently, Scarberry's two predecessors were driven out by scandals and internal turmoil. Scarberry, a graduate of the FBI National Academy, replaced Rick Stone, whose two-year tenure ended with a resignation caused by a disastrous relationship with the police union. Stone was brought in to clean up the hiring scandal. Sam Finz, who was city manager at the time, said Stone did nothing wrong but could not carry on as chief given the officers' lack of support. Before Stone, longtime Chief Richard Witt was fired. Witt, who maintains he was exposing corruption at City Hall and in the department, is heading back to court next month for the third time to try to prove he was fired for whistle-blowing. He won twice, but the verdicts were overturned on appeal. Even though many city officials and members of the department remain supportive of Scarberry, he has weathered some criticism, primarily for his views on discipline. Scarberry has promoted a number of the officers who were implicated in the hiring scandal. He said his decisions were based on the officers' performance under his command. Meanwhile, Scarberry's relationship with some union leaders has been testy. In 2005, the Broward Police Benevolent Association filed a complaint claiming Scarberry unlawfully transferred Lt. Jeff Marano from his post at the police station on the sole ground he was a union representative and its treasurer. But even his toughest critics have been praising the way he has handled the department's latest blow. Marano said he thinks Scarberry will prevail. "He's acted very professionally despite all his mixed emotions," he said. "He's the captain of our ship now and we're going to follow him." Staff Researcher William Lucey and Staff Writer John Holland contributed to this report. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman