Joins long list of “wandering cops” rehired elsewhere after abusing civilians

On May 29, 2024, then-New Rochelle police lieutenant Sean Kane’s body camera recorded him planting a bag of drugs under the car of Ivin Harper, a Black man.  Kane then had Harper arrested on fabricated drug charges.  When Kane’s video recording came to light, the NRPD suspended Kane and referred the case to the Westchester County District Attorney for investigation, and the charges against Harper were dismissed.  

Credit: Steve Edwards, Gateway Journalism Review

A grand jury chose not to indict Kane, but in an internal NRPD investigation, Kane admitted that an informant gave him the drugs and he lied about seeing Harper place the drugs under his car.  In March 2026, Kane was demoted to Police Officer and  resigned, an arrangement that allowed him to keep his pension and avoided creating a public record of his admission that he had falsified evidence.

On July 13, Ivin Harper sued Kane and New Rochelle for violation of his civil rights.  The lawsuit cites numerous incidents in which NRPD officers committed serious violations or acts of violence and received little or no discipline.  The suit contends that the NRPD has a “a culture of rewarding officers for their improper, illegal, and unconstitutional conduct” and that  culture encourages officers to engage in abusive and violent behavior.  

Frame from Kane’s body camera showing him handling drugs he later planted under Ivin Harper’s car

According to the lawsuit, Kane himself had a record as a New Rochelle police officer prior to the incident with Harper that included “failures to appear for required proceedings, unsafe operation of police vehicles, failures to file required charges, mishandling and improper disposal of evidence, and conduct detrimental to the good order.” 

The lawsuit further states that “despite these sustained violations, the City imposed minimal discipline, most often consisting of the loss of a few leave days, and permitted Kane to remain in active patrol and later promoted him to supervisory rank.”

Many police departments around the country share this “culture of impunity.”  And the protection of bad cops often continues after they leave their departments in disgrace.

For example, what did Sean Kane do after he resigned from the NRPD?  He went right out and got another job as a deputy sheriff in nearby Putnam County, New York.

Why would the Putnam County sheriff hire a senior police officer with a long record of misconduct, including admitting that he tried to frame an innocent civilian?

In a July 28 statement reported by The Highlands Current, the Putnam County sheriff’s office cited Kane’s long career in law enforcement and said it has “confidence in Deputy Kane’s ability to serve the residents of Putnam County with integrity and remain committed to ensuring the safety of our community.”

Kane’s quick move to the Putnam County sheriff’s office reflects a national pattern of “wandering officers” who move from one police department to another despite records of misconduct and criminality, placing more communities at risk of abuse.

According to a lengthy 2025 review in Criminal Legal News (CLN), the problem is common, fueled by privacy laws, powerful unions, and desperate hiring practices.  And it may have deadly consequences.

Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, had previously resigned from the police department in Independence, Ohio, after being deemed unfit for duty due to emotional instability.  According to CLN, the Cleveland police department hired him without thoroughly reviewing his personnel file.

In January 2021, Officer Myles Cosgrove was fired from the police department in Louisville, Kentucky, for violating standard operating procedures regarding the use of deadly force during the botched narcotics raid that led to the death of Breonna Taylor.  Cosgrove had fired 16 shots inside Taylor’s apartment, and like other officers involved in the raid, he had failed to activate his body camera.  In 2022, the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council voted not to revoke Cosgrove’s certification, and he was then hired by the sheriff’s office in Carroll County, just a short distance from Louisville.

In 2006, Police Officer Eddie Boyd, Jr., resigned from the St. Louis police department after pistol-whipping a 12-year-old girl in the face.  He was hired shortly thereafter by a police agency in St. Ann, Missouri, and then moved to Ferguson, Missouri, the town where Michael Brown was fatally shot by police in 2014.

Police unions aggressively defend officers who have been accused of even the most violent  misconduct.  For example, Portland, Oregon, terminated Officer Ron Frashour, after he shot an unarmed Black man in the back in 2010.  After years of conflict with the police union and nearly $1 million in legal expenses, the city had to reinstate him, and he remains on the force.

Here in New Rochelle, both Officer Alec McKenna, who fatally shot Kamal Flowers in 2020, and Detective Steven Conn, who killed Jarrell Garris in 2023, were vigorously defended by the local police union.  Neither officer faced departmental discipline or criminal charges,  and both remain on active duty in the NRPD.  McKenna received a commendation in 2021, and Conn received three commendations in 2023.

The Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University notes that “there is no formal national database that records officer misconduct and resulting resignations or terminations due to misconduct. This lack of a comprehensive tracking system allows officers guilty of serious misconduct to find employment at different agencies after being fired or resigning. The absence of a national police misconduct database hinders the ability to identify and prevent the continued employment of ‘bad apples’ within law enforcement.”

A 2022 executive order from President Biden established a National Law Enforcement Database (NLEAD) to track misconduct by federal law enforcement officers.  Donald Trump eliminated NLEAD on his first day back in office in January 2025.

In New York, tracking police misconduct became easier after the 2020 repeal of Civil Rights Law Section 50-a, which previously shielded officer disciplinary records.  The New York Civil Liberties Union maintains archives of police misconduct and disciplinary actions in New York City and New York State.

Still, Sean Kane had a new job with a gun and the power to deprive people of their liberty just a few weeks after leaving the NRPD.  Apparently, the Putnam Sheriff’s Office knew of his history and didn’t care.