Extra

Flash: Bad Cops Out

By Judith Scherr
Tuesday February 27, 2007

Two problem cops have left the Berkeley Police Department, Chief Doug Hambleton told the Daily Planet Tuesday. 

Officer Steven Fleming and Officer Sean Derry, who had both been on administrative leave since August, are no longer with the department, Hambleton said. 

Fleming was charged by Berkeley police of at least four counts of stealing money or other property belonging to people he either arrested or booked into the Berkeley jail. The Alameda County District Attorney declined to charge Fleming, who refused to cooperate with the internal investigation. 

Fleming “no longer works for the Berkeley Police Department,” said Hambleton, who called in the Department of Justice to assist with the investigation. Fleming was put on paid administrative leave in August.  

“We interviewed as many people that he had arrested as we could over the past six months. Several people had credible stories,” Hambleton said. 

Fleming left the Richmond Police Department while on an initial probation period to come to Berkeley.  

Sean Derry was charged by San Francisco police with shooting his service revolver while intoxicated at his home in San Francisco. His case is yet to come to court, Hambleton said. His resignation is effective today (Wednesday). 

“The most important thing about my job is maintaining the integrity of the department,” Hambleton said. Last year former Sgt. Cary Kent resigned from the police force after pleading guilty to charges of stealing drugs from the evidence room of which he was in charge.