The tip of an iceberg?

The head of the New Rochelle Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit, Lieutenant Sean Kane, was suspended on July 29 after evidence emerged that he planted drugs under the car of Ivin Harper, a Black man, and then arrested him on drug charges.  The case has been referred to Westchester County District Attorney, Miriam Rocah, for investigation, and both the NRPD and the DA’s office agreed that the charges resulting from the arrest should be dismissed.

Lieutenant Kane reportedly reached under a car owned by Harper that was parked near Bracey Houses on May 29, found a baggie with white powder, and arrested Harper for possession of cocaine with intent to sell.  Harper is a New Rochelle native who now lives in Denver.

Through an attorney, Harper filed a civilian complaint alleging that Kane planted the drugs under the car.  A review of Kane’s body-camera video showed Kane handling a baggie with white powder in his patrol car before allegedly “finding” drugs under Harper’s car. 

In its August 1 press release, the NRPD stated it received information on July 16 that “a New Rochelle police lieutenant may have deliberately mishandled evidence during a drug investigation that led to an arrest.”   The press release did not name the lieutenant or state that he had apparently planted evidence to justify a false arrest.  No further comment has been forthcoming from the NRPD or the city administration. 

Harper was previously arrested by the NRPD in July 2023 on drug charges. Those charges were dismissed early this year after the arresting officer, Jared Gamble, left the department, according to an August 1 LoHud article. 

Kane transferred from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection police to the NRPD in 2007.  He was named the NRPD’s “Officer of the Year” in 2011 and promoted to Detective in 2014, to Sergeant in 2018, and to Lieutenant in early 2024. 

Kane’s suspension and the allegations of planting evidence are being treated by the NRPD  with its customary secrecy and evasion.  The NRPD press release said Kane would remain suspended pending the outcome of the DA’s investigation and an internal NRPD investigation, and it directed all future questions to the DA’s office.  The NRPD has not revealed whether Kane is continuing to receive a paycheck.  Neither the NRPD nor the Police Benevolent Association has taken the opportunity to affirm its commitment to honest policing or express any concern about Kane’s alleged misconduct.  Notably, the PBA has not publicly come to the officer’s defense.

It is also notable that the evidence of Kane’s alleged misconduct came to light because Harper had the resources to hire an attorney who pressed for Kane’s body-camera footage, and because Kane apparently had his body camera running while he was preparing to plant evidence to justify an arrest.

For the public, the Kane suspension raises a number of urgent questions for the NRPD:

Is this incident an isolated case?  If the investigations support the charges against Kane, will residents be asked to believe this is the first time in Kane’s 17-year career with the NRPD that he planted evidence to frame an innocent person?  

How can the community have confidence that other people have not been arrested, convicted, and imprisoned based on false evidence planted by Lt. Kane? 

How will the NRPD and the DA address these concerns?  

How many investigations will be reopened, how many convictions will be overturned, and how many innocent people will be freed from prison? 

If convictions are reversed, how will these people be compensated for the damage done to their lives?  

How many people who were wrongly convicted have spent years in prison because they could not afford an attorney, or were not fortunate enough to have their arresting officers’ misconduct recorded by a body camera?

What is Kane’s disciplinary record?  If he has had prior infractions, why has he been repeatedly promoted and honored by the NRPD?  As an NRPD leader with supervisory responsibilities, has Kane modeled bad behavior and encouraged other officers to falsify evidence to justify arrests? 

If confirmed by the DA, is Kane’s misconduct evidence of widespread abuse by NRPD officers?  How many arrests by officers other than Lt. Kane may need to be reviewed for possible falsification of evidence? 

Are there other senior officers who also engage in misconduct and model misconduct for junior officers? 

Is there a culture of systemic abuse in the NRPD that has been protected by the Department’s wall of silence?  Has this abuse been directed selectively or disproportionately against the Black community? 

Why did Jared Gamble leave the NRPD?

NRPD Commissioner Robert Gazzola

Finally, is NRPD’s current leadership capable of credibly addressing these questions?  Should the NRPD be led by a career NRPD officer who was nurtured within the NRPD’s culture and has no other police experience?  Or does the NRPD need a new leader, recruited from outside the department, who can set and enforce new standards and cleanse the department of its persistent rotten odor of corruption and impunity?