DAILY NEWS: INSIDE the locker of a narcotics cop, Philadelphia police officials recently made a shocking discovery: A cartoon [NOT PICTURED] of a man, half as an officer in uniform and half as a Klansman with the words: “Blue By Day — White By Night. White Power,” according to police officials.
The officer, Scott Schweizer, who has arrested countless drug suspects in predominantly African-American neighborhoods, was removed from his undercover police duties and given a desk job earlier this month, authorities said. The disturbing find triggered an internal probe that widened yesterday as investigators began to explore whether the scope of the case is limited to Schweizer or somehow broader.
Schweizer, 33, joined the force in June 1997 and makes $54,794 a year, city payroll records show. He became part of the elite Narcotics Strike Force about six years ago. As an undercover, plainclothes cop who worked day and night shifts, Schweizer was part of a surveillance team that
watched drug buys and locked up hundreds of suspected drug dealers. He frequently testified in court as a witness for prosecutors.
The case against Schweizer began earlier this month after an officer saw the racist drawing on the inside door of Schweizer’s locker and complained to superiors.Supervisors within the Narcotics Strike Force treated Schweizer’s locker as a crime scene, testing the paper and inside door for fingerprints. Schweizer told investigators that he had been framed and that someone must have planted the derogatory cartoon in his locker, according to police sources familiar with the investigation.
But only his fingerprints showed up on the paper, and other tests showed that the material had been in his locker for some time, the police sources said. Now law enforcement and legal experts question whether Schweizer’s alleged behavior could jeopardize drug cases in which he was the arresting officer. MORE