Officer Says He Was Hurt For Aiding An Inquiry

It is an unwritten rule of police work: if you rat on your colleagues, you are going to make enemies.

Detective Jeffrey Baird knew the rule. He knew he would lose a lot of friends three years ago when he exposed what was perhaps the Police Department's most damaging secret: that the Internal Affairs unit intentionally bungled investigations into police corruption.

Since then, Detective Baird says, those enemies have scuttled his career, mailed pornographic photographs to his 5-year-old son, vandalized his office and threatened to let drug dealers ambush him.

A key informer in the investigation of police corruption led by former Judge Milton Mollen, Detective Baird has filed a formal complaint under the city's Whistle-Blower Law contending that officers have threatened and harassed him because he breached the so-called Blue Wall of Silence. His complaint has evolved into an unusual investigation by the city's Corporation Counsel into whether the Police Department is unfairly ostracizing him.

"My career is effectively over because I reported the corruption I saw," Detective Baird said in a statement released by his lawyer. "I did what was right."

Under the statute, a city employee who retaliates against a whistle-blower faces unspecified disciplinary charges; in the Police Department, suspension or dismissal. Detective Baird's complaint asks for an end to the abuse and for disciplinary action against two supervisors he said targeted him. He also requests a transfer from the Department of Investigation and promotion to second grade detective.