Features

Chief Suspends 2 Berkeley Cops

By Richard Brenneman
Tuesday September 19, 2006

Berkeley Police Chief Douglas Hambleton announced Monday that he has suspended two of his officers pending the outcome of internal investigations. 

While no one in the department was available for comment on the nature of the Internal Affairs Division probes late Monday, the Daily Planet has reported that one officer is under investigation about complaints of stolen funds. 

In a press release issued Monday afternoon, Hambleton said the two cases are not related to each other, or to “any misconduct by other current and former employees.” 

That remark apparently alludes to the case of former BPD Sgt. Cary Kent, who was sentenced July 27 to a year of home detention after his guilty plea to charges stemming from the theft of drugs from the department’s drug vault. 

Kent was allowed to resign from the department before his plea.