Police find 21 sexual videos

Police find 21 sexual videos
Sergeant fired after content found on county computer
ROBERT NAPPER
Herald Staff Writer

BRADENTON - An internal affairs report by the Bradenton Police Department says investigators found 21 videos of nude women and other sexual content on a now fired sergeant's computer.

The report also says that once the incident made its way to the public, it would hurt the reputation of the entire department.

Initially, Bradenton Police Maj. J.J. Lewis said a computer technician found a folder on Sgt. Tim Harvey's city computer labeled "Adult" that had two videos with "pornographic images."

But the internal affairs report on the investigation says the folder held 21 videos which showed "nude and partially nude women. Other videos alluded to sexual content and some were parodies of well-known movies or cartoons that were altered to have adult content."

Harvey bristled at the fact that police officials called the videos pornography.

"Calling it pornography is absolutely incorrect," Harvey said.

Lewis said police Maj. William Tokajer called the videos pornographic when the investigation began. But internal affairs investigator Lt. Russell Tibbitts said nowhere in his report did he refer to the images as pornographic.

Harvey contends that he brought a personal "thumb drive," a portable memory storage unit that can be plugged into a computer, to his police department office to download police paperwork.

The drive also contained the "Adult" folder and made its way onto his city computer during an information transfer. Harvey says he had no idea how the folder downloaded onto the city computer.

When Tibbitts informed him that an investigation had begun once the images had been found, Harvey replied "Oh, or Uh Oh," Tibbitts' report states.

Tibbitts concluded in his report that the incident would result in embarrassment for the entire department.

"There is little reason to expect that this incident will not eventually become publicly known and no reason to believe that it will not affect the reputations of the police department, the city of Bradenton and Sgt. Harvey," the report said.

Harvey has vowed to fight his firing, calling the punishment "excessive."

He has maintained the firing was planned to come just days before his 10th anniversary with the department, at which time he could become eligible for a pension. Officials with the department have denied the timing of Harvey's firing was related to his pension.

The Florida Police Benevolent Association union has filed a grievance on Harvey's behalf, and the case could end up in arbitration.

first, one must know the difference between porn and pictures of nude women. i question why this internal investigation was "released" when it was. second, who is maj tokajer to tell me what porn is. this man has had his share of crap in his career and for him to be in the position he is in is reidiculous. the dept was shamed because they did the wrong thing to this sgt. because of this, it was time to find something on this guy to take the shame off of the dept and the blame placed elsewhere. the blame began with poston and his wife lying. and what happened to them? until this dept can and will do things justly, it will never get ahead. the devil runs your dept. :twisted:

The dept needs a good cleaning from Poston, the chief, & tokajer on down through administration. Get the trash out, The officers on the street shoun't have to put up with a bunch on idiot's in the Taj Mahal. Poston, you look like you have gotten nice and plump like the guy you replaced.You need to go. Tim, you're better off away from these good ol boys. fight and get your pension though it belongs to you-stay strong

Hey tokajer, before you keep firing off press releases about how harvey is in the wrong, i remember a cover up you were on with a black man getting beat down with flashlight and you tried to help cover it up in reports and got caught, so looking at a little porn does not look like such a big deal does it? especially when the were european commercials not porn movies as you tried to make the public believe. keep talking trash about tim and more will come out about the rest of you too.

gee, let's see...if you knew about an incident that invoved a cover up and you said nothing about it...........hummmm...i guess that makes you just like them...which ex-employee are you...the bank security guard or the pest control technician? TH f'ed up this time. I do think he should get his pension though and retire. you need to be more careful whn you've got a big red bullseye on your back, he slipped now he has to pay the piper. and for the rest of you cry babys, go down to city yard and pick up a box of crying towels....free of charge :lol:

All the previous responses are easily seen as old fired disgruntled employees. You don't have any idea what the department is like today and it is much better off without the backwards thinking posted here by you.

Bottom line--He really has no one to blame but himself. According to public record the videos are just not topless but bottom less too!.

So throw rocks at everyone about their past -it does not change what TH did or did not do. He even says he did it.

You fired old guys or with a political grudge need to get a life. You guys are sad!! :(

The supreme court has had a hard time defining pornography. As one justice so famously put it “I can’t define it but I know it when I see it.” Apparently, administration and the City viewed the 21 videos and saw a little more than what TH saw.

Well obviously the stuff on the computer shouldn’t have been there. Clearly this is a policy violation. It doesn’t matter if it was “soft porn” or “hard porn”. It shouldn’t have been on the computer.

As for the discredit the department feared, it has occurred. BPD has been tarnished by TH’s actions. There is no way to get the worms back into the can. This is the second day the mullet wrapper has ran an article about this. As this case moves forward, there will be more stories. Each and every time this comes up, the department loses credibility.

As we have all said in our careers, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” Well that goes for us as well. That being said, the discussion centers not on the crime, but on the degree of punishment. That is not my decision, but is the responsibility of the administration. You can agree or disagree, but it’s not your decision. Although I may not agree with the punishment, what is the Chief supposed to do when this kind of stuff is going to be in the paper - let him off easy? Yes, Raz may have been gunning for him, but TH hung himself. TH messed up and should never have given them the ammo. In doing so, TH has given all of us a black eye.

No one wins here.
The departments image is once again tarnished.
A man has lost his career and pension.
It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
What a shame for all involved.

i find it interesting that every time someone makes a remark, there is a comeback remark of them being ex-employees. the truth of the matter is, this dept has a lot of garbage swept under the rug. tim is smart with his computer knowlege and errors have happened to the best of us with our computers. when is the truth acceptable as what happened? tibbets did not call the pictures porn. i just find it odd that the guy who spilled the beans about porn has a horrible past with the dept. i guess if it takes the heat off him for a while. why would nude pictures be more offensive than domestic violence or covering up stealing computers or misuse of funds?

http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=33807

Hey National Disgrace, this is no joke BPD is a disgrace and has been for a long long time. This agency has not changed for the better and the same crimianls still run the place. The reputation of BPD is crap and is going to take a complete change from city hall to Lt's and most Sgt's. It is like inbreeding, only bad things can came from it.

i just find it odd that the guy who spilled the beans about porn has a horrible past with the dept. i guess if it takes the heat off him for a while. why would nude pictures be more offensive than domestic violence or covering up stealing computers or misuse of funds?

That is a very interesting comment. You must trying to cloud the real issue by pushing blame on someone else. The guy 'who spilled the beans' was doing his job, should he put his job on the line? Would you put yours on the line for someone else?

Nude pictures or porn ... neither one belongs on a work computer! Do you think any employer would think either are acceptable? Come on, error or not, why didn't he just man up instead of looking for excuses. Or why is everyone trying to pick the difference between what's porn, or bare breast, bottoms........none of it should have been there. TH was not stupid when it comes to computers.....he was stupid to have his personal stuff mixed with his work stuff.

Guest611 - I need to know to whom you are referring...

It is different. If it's porn this guy should have been suspended. If it's nudity he should have been reprimanded. Why was he fired? Was this the first time he did this? Why was he promoted recently? So many questions the paper did not answer. It seems kind of extreme to fire a man you just promoted because of nude women on his thumb drive. I remember reading about this guy's lawsuit against BPD and now he doesn't have a job for something that should of been a slap on the hand (depending on if it was porn or not). I know the paper doesn't get it right most of the time but if their 50% right about this one BPD is wrong. Just my opinion.

BPD is always wrong, if they get you in their cross hairs it's all over. This reeks of political corruption and abuse of authority. There are many of us who believe you were wrongly targeted Tim and stand with you. No, this is not the ohe two that got fired either. This has been an on going problem at BPD and it needs to stop. These commercials that were on his computer did not justify a terminiation. He was promoted because he deserved the promotion. Tim is probably the most qualifed person to be chief of that agency. He has the education and skills required. It is a shame that the agenda of so few can justfy the destruction of ones reputation. Just another example as to why BPD is the crap hole is has always been and will be. That is an example of the leadership in this City.

No professional Police Officer puts nude pictures on his work computer.

BPD or K-Mart--you will get fired for that. And if you guys think its OK you need to get out of the 60's backward thinking.

Blame everyone but only one is responsible. Throw rocks and stir the pot make it cloudy with the past but when it clears there is only one standing alone. Its the guy who did it.

Agreed it is not acceptable however, when you look at the severity which is low compared to the ones that have been found lying and covering up crimes that they have been involved in it is minor. Termination does not fit the violation. Demotion at best written rep probably.

Agreed it is not acceptable however, when you look at the severity which is low compared to the ones that have been found lying and covering up crimes that they have been involved in it is minor. Termination does not fit the violation. Demotion at best written rep probably.

That may be.........depends on what else was in his file? Did he have other stuff that caused it to stack up to this level? It appears he did.

And......Insider.......is that a joke "TH is the only one qualified to be Chief" you have got to be kidding? You know if you really don't like the place, just leave, no one makes you stay. The door swings both ways.....just leave.

BPD is always wrong, if they get you in their cross hairs it's all over. This reeks of political corruption and abuse of authority. There are many of us who believe you were wrongly targeted Tim and stand with you. No, this is not the ohe two that got fired either. This has been an on going problem at BPD and it needs to stop. These commercials that were on his computer did not justify a terminiation. He was promoted because he deserved the promotion. Tim is probably the most qualifed person to be chief of that agency. He has the education and skills required. It is a shame that the agenda of so few can justfy the destruction of ones reputation. Just another example as to why BPD is the crap hole is has always been and will be. That is an example of the leadership in this City.

I concur with you on this issue this department is totally corrupt. I hope they open their eyes before it is to late

I see they let you use a computer in jail now. :D

[Adain21]

Thanks for good link....

I almost applied to work at this agency. boy am i glad i didnt!!! you guys (well not you individuals, but you know what i mean) are a joke!!!! dont deny it, ive heard it from several employees there as to how that place is. im sorry you all have to deal with those kinds of things all the time.... :(

3 years ago, minor issue blown way out of proportion.

a bunch of benny hill type clips from a leo related class. probably see on late night tv these days.