Over the weekend word leaked out that Chief Monroe was seeking to fire long time Officer Tom Allen.
Allen had been a fixture at the academy for some time and was an important part of the department's cadet and explorer programs.
The reason for Allen's termination is not clear, however the scuttlebutt includes talk of criminal charges.
Cedar Posts Update February 19, 2014 12:01 p.m. - CMPD Office of the Chief released a statement saying the Officer Allen has been arrested.
Allen has been charged with 8 felonies all relating to photographic images of teen girls in positions that apparently exposed a view of their underwear. Typically called "crotch shots" or "gap shots". Allen apparently took thousands of images over the course of several years and stored them on his computers.
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| Thomas E. Allen |
But....
I'm going to say it right now, there is no crime. If it's not "porn" or shower photos, or bathroom pictures. If there is no nudity or sexual acts going on, I'm willing to bet that the case is tossed.
Beyond the sick nature of charges against this CMPD Officer, I'm really concerned that Chief Monroe assigned 10-12 Detectives to the case during the five month investigation. That they scoured 1000's of images in an apparent "witch hunt" to prosecute a 20 year veteran of the department.
If I were the usual victim of a crime in Charlotte I'd be pretty upset that the number of officers working on my case never rose above ZERO!
33 comments:
Scum!
Disgusting...... He should be fired if what the department is alleging is true.
When was the last airport officer EVER charged with anything?
ANON @4:50... When was the last time an Airport Officer was charged with anything??.... How bout NEVER. We've always managed to maintain our professionalism and to not tarnish our badges, but yet we're not good enough to receive equal payment and treatment, real good...
Officer Tom is now Peeping Tom!
My first reaction is to be creeped out, but with all the corruption at CMPD I am going to reserve judgment until he is either found guilty or cleared..
@5:23 ha, yes very appropriate first name for the circumstance.
Before anyone jumps to any conclusions about Officer Allen, here's a few things that are not being talked about in the media. Officer Allen has his own professional camera, so photography is clearly a hobby of his.
At every explorer event, Officer Allen would be there with his camera taking pictures of all the activities the explorers did. With a giant professional camera. The pictures would be used for slide shows, presentations, etc., to show off the program. That would include, defensive tactics, building searches, subject encounters, and yes, PT.
Between 2011 and 2013, I would bet that there was well over a thousand pictures of the explorers as they participated in the program. And of those thousand pictures, four, FOUR, pictures had someones undergarments in it. It's not unlikely that he never took a close look at those pictures. And to say that they didn't even know their picture was being taken is ridiculous. Everyone knew Officer Allen was out there taking pictures. Yeah, not everyone knew their picture was being taken the instant it was taken, because they were participating in an activity. Whether it was runing, push ups, a team building exercise, or any other type of physical activity. But it wasn't like there was some kind of secret hidden camera being used. If that was the case, there'd probably a lot more than 4 pictures.
I'd like to see the "evidence" they have against Officer Allen. Until that all comes to light in court, it'll just be speculation. So I hope everyone can be a little patient and not rush to conclusions about Officer Allen.
6:03 thanks for the information. Knee jerk reaction of the chief again which doesn't surprise me. Allen seemed to be a stand up guy.
But I suspect thus is either a personal vendetta, or someone complained. As usual there must be more to the story. Four month investigation 10 detectives? But only four photos?
Cedar ask around there is more to this.
Anon 6:03
Will be interesting to see how this plays out. "Plays out" May be a bad choice of words, if this is some kind of payback , someone is playing around with a mans life and career. Article I read in lake wyle pilot says .... “The investigation revealed that Allen took photos through the victims’ clothing during physical training that captured portions of their undergarments without their consent,” police spokesman Rob Tufano said in a statement.
So it was a bra strap showing under their tank top or their underwear showing above or below too short shorts. Even the description of the pics by CMPD sounds nit picking or like their using some broad interpretation to charge and fire him.
a 7-month investigation and interviewing more than 100 young participants in the program does not equal "knee jerk"
we have also seen before that this chief will do what is necessary to remove anyone in his way
also, now that they presumably can get a search warrant, it may be that more than four pictures (if that's what's being reported) will show up.
judgment reserved.
unfortunately, monroe has so corrupted everything he puts his hands on that people don't believe what's coming from him or his tiny henchman, tufano
so many good officers forced down or out, and so many bad ones protected
A lot of what taints Monroe is his total lack of transparency. Even in this case the department reports four photos but that hardly warrants felony charges but that is what they charged him with.
Okay... So I never (maybe that should be "hardly ever") comment on here. In all the interactions I ever had with Officer Allen- I did not once get any unusual or ill-intent vibe. And usually, I'm a very good judge of character.
Of course, I know my opinion means little, however- have we considered that it could have been anyone taking those photos with his camera? I have not seen the pictures- but is it possible they were taken during his off-duty time? And are we sure that they are of minor children? Again I don't know anything other than the brief news clip- just voicing my thoughts and opinions.
Does anyone notice a pattern besides me? In the past several years there is some sort of huge scandal: Markus, Randal, and now Tom. Just asking, is CMPD putting focus on its officers to distract from the behind the scenes bull shit.
Buck the system and you'll get *ucked? Probably so.
After being overlooked myself for promotions within the department several times ... And the persons hired were less qualified, outsiders to the city, darker skin tones (Gasp! Yes I said it), and always turned out to have some previous connection to the Chief .... I've grown very skeptical of the leadership from anyone who is up Rotneys butt.
Peace out.
"Does anyone notice a pattern besides me?"
Here's a definite pattern:
Otherwise good officers sitting in the dark whining about all the corruption (which, to be clear, I believe completely) and NOBODY STEPPING UP TO REPORT SPECIFICS AND HELP PROVE IT.
You will keep getting screwed over for the same length of time you stay silent.
At some point, it's hard to have too much empathy.
CMPD and White Cops = Killers and Perverts
@5:23. In response to your statement about not being good enough, I have copied and pasted a response to an earlier article about airport officers having to attend the academy again.
If the Airport officers have already been through BLET and received certification from the state of NC, then they are a certified officer. Shouldn't CMPD just allow them to attend a lateral transfer academy as did other officers that transferred to CMPD from other NC agencies with only the the minimum BLET hours?
Ask around. There are some CMPD officers, that were officers at another NC department,that only attended a 2-3 week lateral academy. They did not have to complete CMPD's entire BLET program.
Sexual predator, once an offender always an offender.
I think they so just cut his balls off and let him carry them around in a mason jar.
A few years back a black CMPD SRO (at the time) took home a 12 year old "runaway". The school found out and reported him. After much hemming and hawing, the school finally got him removed from the school. He was promptly placed into another school. The principals spoke and CMS asked for him to be removed from that school and banned from school properties and wanted an investigation into the "runaway" incident. It never happened and when one of the principals found out that the same officer was still teaching driver's ed and using CMS cars and coming on CMS property she blew a gasket and wanted an investigation launched. Instead, they moved the officer to a specialized assignment and nothing was ever done regarding the "runaway". I don't know, maybe it would have been different if he was white. Allen's supervisors did the right thing but, they're all black. Would they have done the same thing if one of the black officers out there made the same comments? Who knows? And they would say that whitey has been getting away with BS for years and it's just turnabout.
Anyway, he probably deserved to be arrested. He will plea to a lesser included misdemeanor and turn in his certificate and get 3 years of supervised probation.
This is not a black or white issue. It is about a closet pervert taking pictures of little girls panties and then being stupid enough to obviously reveal it to someone. Just because prior officers (black or white) have avoided losing their jobs for stupid decisions they made should not be justification for anyone in this profession to say "It's OK because someone else got away with it". If you wear the badge you cannot tarnish it...Period! We all know people who are still wearing the uniform and shouldn't be. These are now the lonely outcasts who wander throughout the department like ghosts. They will never regain the respect or trust from stand-up cops who know what they have done. Regardless of their position.....
I don't agree with Cedar often but I think he's right. Way over kill for something that should have been handled inside the department. Maybe Allen said up yours, and wasn't willing to resign, but I hear he wasn't given a chance.
Considering than no one was harmed, and he wasn't profiting from the photos it would have been better for the department if he just went away.
Now once again everyone is using this as a chance to disrespect the uniform.
We have enough trouble getting respect on the streets.
What a joke... guy takes thousands of photos in he course of his job while at sporting events and FOUR show some teens panties and he is fired/charged?? This reeks just like Kerricks charges....
If you can't see this for what it is a cop with more than 20 years who bucked the system having his life ruined because he stepped on the chiefs toes one time too many times.
Then you are a fool.
The only way to end Rotney's reign of terror, is to start a virus. Isn't time someone spreads a little blue flu?
You know that pussy Todd won't. But I forgot to take my flu shot how about you?
This my brothers could be YOU!
2:32 - We get so much hate and shit from the public when one of these stories hit the news wire. I think it would be interesting to see how Charlotte does on its own for a day or two without "CMPD and White Cops = Killers and Perverts" police protection. The frequent flyers would be begging for someone to solve their problems.
Unfortunately the good citizens who still support us would be caught up in the carnage. This city/county is populated by animals and the PD is run by spineless morons with no ethics.
I'm ashamed of the organization. I'm proud of those who go to work and fight day in and day out doing the right thing.
Racist Cedar Posts defending a pervert child molester. Why am I not surprised.
Everyone, read the statue. Catching a little panty action is not a violation of the law whether you are a pervert or not. If fact, if they were completely nude it would not be. Only pictures of minors in sexual positions are. There must be more to this story and allegations.
he got a perp walk too!!
From all I have heard there is MUCH more to this story.
And I think they are not revealing a lot because of the shock it would cause and the black eye it would give an already corrupt and disgraced CMPD since Rodney's arrival.
This guy has problems and on a personal level he should be thankful they are not releasing the whole story.
Rodney and his lack of transparency in this case is only to protect RODNEY and has NOTHING to do with "getting" anyone.
Maybe the media could check the search warrants?
That might be too much to ask, eh?
Typical Rodney lying his ass off and covering his ass...anyone surprised?
Just maybe Rodney has gotten way too many "passes".
It is amazing how he stands up there in front of the media and just lies so naturally..and they buy it.
Rape, Murder, sexual assault, DWI's, and so much more. What a shit department.
The guys is a cop he deserves a little more respect than being put on a perp walk for Rodney's negro reporters to gawk at.
Yes, this very much is a black and white issue. Hail ROMO who has a chip on his shoulder, that if your not black then you are going to get thrown out. ROMO is SUCH A F#^KING RACIST that it's not funny. He is the biggest POS that has been in charge of CMPD. His day will come eventually, which I can't wait to see.
Just notice how the black and I do mean black that I'm not even going to use the term African American. I don't care who I offend because you have an active restrainng order and still make it through the selection process to attend the police academy (Marcus Jackson). Then you have the other black officer, that goes over to his either wife or ex-wifes house and kicks the door in with his service pistol. Nothing happened to him and it was swept underneath the rug. I'm sure he is still on with the department.
We just need to get a white chief of police to replace ROMO to correct the injustices that have been done against the white officer's. And put the black officer's in there place and let them see what it's like.
Allen was offered a plea deal and to be shown the door quietly, he balked and this is what standing up for yourself earned him.
Public shaming, worse than anything judge could have given him.
The system benefits the guilty and cheats the innocent.
Listen, a sick individual is a sick individual, being a cop garners you no automatic respect.
This is NOT about race, for once.
He is lucky these are the only charges being brought.
Once again, this is a very nasty story that Rodney did not want made public.
So stop with the race crap. It is about perversion and avoiding publicity at all costs.
yes, yet again avoiding publicity at all costs, just like charging Kerrick within 24 hours instead of conducting a thorough investigation or letting the SBI take a look at it beforehand.
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