James Burke, the former chief of the Suffolk County Police Department in New York, is once again in the headlines for his wrongdoings. James Burke has been arrested for committing public obscenity in front of an undercover park ranger , offering a sexual act and making unlawful advances.
58 years old Jamese Burke was the Suffolk County Police Department’s chief from 2012 to 2015 and was arrested in the morning at Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park in Farmingville, a hamlet in Long Island.
James Burke has also served in New York Police.He attempted to avoid arrest and warn the rangers , ” Do you know who I am ?” according to police officials. . James Burke firstly tried to leverage his status as a former enforcement official and later on told rangers that the arrest would be a public humiliation for him .
Police said that at the time of arrest even the rangers could not recognise James Burke. Burke was taken to the police station.
James Burke’s recorded history :
In 1995, an internal investigation by the Suffolk County Police Department found that James Burke had a relationship with a woman involved in prostitution and the drug trade. James Burke was also accused of engaging in sexual activity in police vehicles while on duty and too in uniform.
Gilgo Beach Case:
Not only this, during his tenure as Suffolk County Police Chief, James Burke role was criticized for not properly investigating the Gilgo Beach Murders. He did not cooperate with the US federal investigation agency, the FBI. This was a case of serial killings between 1996 and 2011 in which the bodies or remains of 11 people were found from ‘Gilgo Beach’ on the south end of Long Island, New York. Most of the dead were sex workers who used to advertise on craigslist, a centralized network of online communities in which people can post free online classified ads for jobs, homes, personals, for sale, goods, and various services.
Case transferred to FBI later:
In the beginning, the police took these murders lightly considering them as deaths due to drowning in the sea and tried to cover it up. It was later revealed that many of them had died of strangulation or suffocation. However, these murders predate James Burke’s appointment as Suffolk County Police Chief. But he had obstructed the investigation of the FBI in this. James Burke resigned after being sued for civil rights violations. On December 10, 2015, the day after James’s conviction in the case came to light, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini announced that the investigation into the serial murders was officially handed over to the FBI. Although the FBI was already unofficially involved in the search and investigation work in this case.
Finally accepted :
In May 2013, the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office opened an investigation into James Burke’s alleged assault on a suspect in police custody, the subsequent cover-up, and coercion of witnesses. James Burke was accused of assault by a man named Christopher Loeb. In fact, Christopher Loeb was arrested for stealing a gun belt, a box of cigars, sex toys, and a bag full of pornography from James Burke’s unlocked car.
The court convicted James Burke in February 2016, of covering up his crime. James Burke had pleaded guilty to reduce his sentence. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone at the time remarked that someone I had entrusted with great responsibility lied to my face for nearly three years and conspired to cover up that lie.
James Burke sentenced to 46 months:
In November 2016, James Burke was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for the assault case . In January 2017, James Burke started serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution at Allenwood Low. James was released to house arrest in November 2018 and the sentence was completed in April 2019.
