2014/02/27/One-third of California town's police force arrested

title/short::One-third of California town's police force arrested A six-month-long investigation in Central California culminated this week with the arrests of five members of the King City Police Department, the former police chief and the owner of a local towing company.
 * when: when posted::2014/02/27
 * author: author::
 * source: site::RT
 * topics: topic::police misconduct topic::racism topic::US/CA topic::US/CA/King City topic::vehicle impondment
 * keywords
 * link: URL::http://rt.com/usa/king-city-police-cars-047/
 * title: title::One-third of California town's police force arrested for scheming cars from poor Hispanics
 * summary:  Investigators say King City police ordered hundreds of vehicles to be impounded – most often those driven by Hispanic immigrants – and then either kept the cars for themselves or re-sold them for profit.

According to the Monterey County district attorney, for at least three-and-a-half years the city's top police officers participated in a scheme that took advantage of poor area Hispanics by essentially stealing their cars for profit.

Investigators say King City police ordered hundreds of vehicles to be impounded — most often those driven by Hispanic immigrants — and then either kept the cars for themselves or re-sold them for profit.

Journalist Virginia Hennessey of the Monterey Herald said the scandal is “likely the most widespread case of official corruption” in the history of the county, and King City — a town of only 13,000 people and a police force of 17, saw more than one-third of its law enforcement personnel taken off duty as a result of this week's arrest.