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Grambling State U. Police Face Charges

By Shauntel Lowe
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Ruston Daily Leader Grambling campus Officer Dewarne Jackson, left, was fired, and Officer Margo Malone suspended.

Two Grambling State University police officers have pleaded not guilty to charges of malfeasance and theft after complaints from motorists that the officers were stealing from them during arrests and asking for money in exchange for not arresting or citing them.

Officers Dewarne Jackson, 29, and Margo Malone, 30, were arrested May 8 after allegedly attempting to extort and steal money from undercover officers.

Malone, with the department for seven months, was fired and Jackson, with the department for 2 1/2 years, was suspended without pay after the arrests.

Jackson was arrested again on June 5 on four additional warrants on charges of extorting motorists dating to last year.

At a June 14 arraignment, Malone pleaded not guilty to all of the May 8 charges and Jackson pleaded not guilty to all charges from May 8 and June 5.

Ivan Daigs and Lavalle Salomon, attorneys for Malone and Jackson, respectively, were unavailable for comment.

Officers in Lincoln Parish, La., in cooperation with the Grambling police command staff, began an undercover investigation of Jackson and Malone in January after the complaints from student and non-student motorists.

"The command staff of the Grambling State police department worked very closely with us in this investigation because they wanted to deal with this situation and if there was wrongdoing to take action to take care of it," said Wes Harris, public information officer for the Lincoln Parish Sheriff's Department.

Harris said since the arrests, more complaints have come forth regarding the conduct of Jackson and Malone. Those complaints are under investigation, he said.

Grambling students said they were disgusted but not surprised by the arrests.

"I do not have a hard time accepting the fact that these two cops were corrupt," Grambling senior Boyon Butler told the student newspaper, the Gramblinite. "From my experiences with them, it's not so far of a stretch."

Graduate student Godwin Herron told the paper, "I just can't see any reason why or how not one but two crooked cops were on a police force so small in numbers."

Herron's comment speaks to concerns raised about the training and hiring of campus police officers, especially at Grambling.

A lack of permanent leadership has been a problem for the Grambling department in recent years, said Harris, the sheriff's public information officer.

"They have been without some leadership for some time . . . permanent leadership. They have had a number of people in [the] chief's position in the last several years." However, he said, "They have two highly qualified men now running that department and we feel confident they will do everything in their power to make sure that the police department is run with integrity and with respect for the rights of citizens."

The current Grambling police chief, Jefferson Walker, was hired on Dec. 1. In a May interview with the Gramblinite, Walker said campus police officers would be "held to the highest standard."

Police training varies from state to state, but at Grambling, according to the campus police Web site, all campus police officers are required to complete 335 hours of standard police academy training. They must also become certified by the Louisiana Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) within one year of being hired. The procedure includes ethics training and a background check.

Since 1976, all peace officers in Louisiana have been required to become POST-certified. Every year to 18 months, officers are supposed to have their certifications reverified.

Many other states have similar requirements.

Misconduct by officers is taken seriously by the POST council, said Henry Otnott, the Louisiana council's program manager, but he said the council will not take action unless the officers are convicted.

Some of the theft charges against the officers are felonies that could result in the officers losing their right to bear arms if the officers are convicted. That would prevent them from executing their police duties.

Otnott said even if officers plead felony charges down to misdemeanors, they can still lose their certification because the plea does not change the fact that the officer committed a felony.

Officers can appeal their revocation, for instance, if their charges are overturned. In his five years with the council, Otnott said he has seen only one person be reinstated after losing certification, of about 60 cases.

Domestic violence and bribery are the two main charges officers have lost their certification for, Otnott said.

"Domestic violence is a big problem. I guess it's just the nature of the job. They take it home with them," he said. "I don't have any respect for a man that would hit a woman."

Otnott said the image of Louisiana police officers has been tarnished because of officer misconduct that occurred during and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Many officers were caught looting, abandoned their posts and some even stole police cars. One stolen police car was found in Washington, he said.

Grambling Chief Walker did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment. He told KSLA-TV in Shreveport, La.:

"This investigation started back in January prior to my coming to GSU." After students complained, "We felt it necessary to follow through and determine whether these complaints were in fact valid or not, and we found out that they were valid, and we took the appropriate action."

Shauntel Lowe is a student at the University of California, Los Angeles and an intern for the Black College Wire. She can be reached at [email protected].

Posted July 19, 2006