Ed Repeat Davis: Lying REALLY a fireable offense this time

Compare and contrast how the Herald uses names at liberty and names a number of cases, whereas the Globe deliberately goes out of its way to avoid names, except for Pulido. Also: reading the descriptions, you'd almost think the Herald and the Globe are talking about two different cases.

Herald, which claims the policy is new ("Until now, the BPD had no set punishment for lying"):

Accusations of lying by Boston cops have hurt the department’s reputation in recent years.

In September, Boston firefighter Wayne Abron was acquitted in a domestic assault case amid questions about whether two BPD cops beat him and lied about it. On Dec. 16, Abron filed a civil rights lawsuit against the department in Suffolk Superior Court.

In May 2009, a federal judge found that Boston cop Rance Cooley falsely testified in a gun case. Internal Affairs is investigating. In 2006, nearly a dozen officers were suspended or reprimanded and four were imprisoned for involvement with the “Boom Boom Room,” a Hyde Park sex and drug den. Cops were punished for lying, using steroids and going to the Boom Boom Room while on duty.

Globe:

especially after an internal investigation into steroid use led to disciplinary action last year against 11 officers for a variety of violations.

“Officers told Internal Affairs one thing and told [a federal] grand jury the truth,’’ Davis said, referring to a case that sent some officers to federal prison for drug trafficking. “They clearly put more stock in the grand jury process than the Internal Affairs process. We really can’t have that happening. There has to be serious ramifications.’’

"In July, the Globe reported that 11 Boston police officers had been disciplined for their roles in a steroid scandal that humiliated the department, forced officials to tighten their drug policies, and resulted in prison time for four patrolmen.

Seven of the disciplined officers admitted to using steroids at some point in their careers. Their punishments ranged from a written reprimand to a 45-day suspension without pay.

The punishments resulted from a three-year investigation into steroid use at the department that began in August 2006, soon after the FBI arrested Officer Roberto “Kiko’’ Pulido for trying to traffic cocaine. The FBI found that Pulido was a steroid user who guarded parties at an after-hours club in Hyde Park, where prostitutes and dancers mingled with police and where alcohol and drugs were available."