The problem with ‘gypsy’ cops...
“In law enforcement in the United States, the phrase gypsy cop is slang for a police officer who frequently transfers between police departments, often because of or regardless of misconduct or poor or unsuitable job performance.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsy_cop
Some Police Departments, it would seem, do not know the background of prospective officers, if they don’t disclose their work history. While you would think that hiring a LEO would require some sort of comprehensive background check, it doesn’t appear that it is necessarily standard practice for all law enforcement agencies. Take the case of Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014. Prior to joining the Cleveland PD, Loehmann resigned from a suburban police department shortly after his supervisor recommended his termination for, among other things, an inability to follow instructions.
St. Louis police officer, Eddie Boyd III, “
pistol-whipped a 12-year-old girl in the face in 2006, and in 2007 struck a child in the face with his gun or handcuffs before falsifying a police report, according to Missouri Department of Public Safety records”. He has since been hired by two other police departments.
Smaller urban police departments without the resources to conduct extensive background checks and proper screening of officers all too often become the unwitting employers of these ‘gypsy’ cops.
However in many states, records of officer complaints/disciplinary actions are not maintained in personnel records permanently, but are purged after a period of months or years, often at the discretion of the employee due to “expungement” clauses in the employment contract.
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news...-ames-11344616
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...be-kept-secret
In Illinois, the Illinois Personnel Record Review Act prevents the disclosure of disciplinary records more than four years old.
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/ce...records-89121/
Thus even if a prospective officer’s background was checked, the records of disciplinary or police misconduct actions may have been deleted. This effectively allows “bad apples” to move around from PD to PD with relative impunity.