Former Jackson police chief Robert Johnson is not surprised at the arrests of three young officers in an FBI sting operation. "We'll there's a certain degree of cynicism among police officers particularly in a city where crime appears to be out of control and there's very little that can be done about it," said Johnson, who served as JPD's top cop for nearly four years from the mid to late 1990's.
This week federal agents arrested 27-year-old Monyette Jefferson, 25-year-old Terence Jenkins and 25-year-old Ricardo Payne, Jr.
Jefferson and Jenkins were both fired from the department shortly after their arrests were announced. Payne had already left the police force for the military.
The three men were paid to protect what they believed to be a shipment of drugs that that was coming into Jackson at Hawkins Field by an undercover FBI agent in June, 2010..
Federal authorities say the three officers were in uniform or driving patrol cars when the transactions went down on the flight line at the airport.
Johnson says JPD top brass has to take steps to weed out any bad cops in the department and maintain high standards for new recruits coming onto the force.
"I read everyday that they're trying to get to 500(officers), sometimes you take short cuts and you don't weed people out who should be weeded out…," said Johnson.
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