Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

This week, it's not individual cops, but entire drug squads gone bad, and, of course, the requisite drug-smuggling prison guard. Let's get to it:

In New Haven, Connecticut, two former members of New Haven's disbanded drug squad pleaded guilty in federal court last Friday to civil rights violations for a 2006 drug raid where they planted drugs in a man's room. Detective Jose Silva faces up to a year in prison for his plea to a misdemeanor civil rights count, while former Detective Justen Kasperzyk faces 18 to 24 months in prison after pleading to one felony civil rights count and one misdemeanor charge of theft of government funds. The theft charge was in relation to a separate drug raid where Kasperzyk pocketed $1,000 in seized funds, then gave half to Silva. This is only the latest act in a long-running corruption probe that resulted in the New Haven drug squad being disbanded a few months ago, and there is more to come. US Attorney Kevin O'Connor said outside the courthouse that the investigation was "active" and "ongoing."

In Chicago, the Chicago Police Department will disband its elite drug and gangs unit in the face of repeated scandals and ongoing state and federal investigations into misconduct ranging from armed violence and home invasions to kidnapping and plotting a murder for hire. At least seven members of the Special Operations Section have been charged with belonging to a rogue band of officers who shook down and intimidated citizens. Three members of the unit were stripped of their badges last month after videotape of a raid on a bar showed that they lied when they reported arresting a man for cocaine possession outside the bar. Police said they arrested the man for drinking in the street, then found cocaine when they searched him. But video from the bar showed more than two dozen SOS members raiding the bar and searching everyone inside. The video also showed them arresting the man inside the bar. The disbanding of SOS comes as the Chicago Police Department is awash in scandals, ranging from the videotaped beating of a female bartender by a drunk Chicago cop to recent revelations about police torture of black suspects in the 1970s and 1980s.

In Aiken, South Carolina, the Aiken County Sheriff's Department drug squad has been fired. Lt. Jonathon Owenby, 30, of Aiken; and investigators James Crowell, 33, of North Augusta; Tim Roberts, 29, of Aiken; and Luke Williamson, 34, of North Augusta are all out of a job and facing criminal investigations after Sheriff Michael Hunt fired them on October 2. Hunt said they got the axe for using unmarked, county-owned cars to go bar-hopping last month. According to Hunt, at least one woman performed a sex act on the officers as they rode around. He has asked the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate whether the officers misused government money, improperly destroyed evidence or committed other misconduct.

In Acadia Parish, Louisiana, a parish jail guard was arrested Sunday for smuggling drugs into the jail. John Herbert, 51, is charged with the intent to distribute marijuana. An inmate and his relative also got nailed in the scheme.