A Broward Sheriff’s homicide detective has filed a whistleblower suit alleging that Sheriff Scott Israel and members of his command staff sought to cover up misconduct by a Fort Lauderdale canine officer at an arrest scene.
Jeffrey Kogan, a featured detective on the A&E channel’s police reality show “The First 48,” contends he was ostracized and demoted to road patrol after reporting he saw the dog handler unnecessarily sic the animal on a murder suspect who was in custody and no longer a threat.
Sheriff Israel, a former Fort Lauderdale police officer, is the lone defendant in the nine-page complaint filed July 12 in Broward Circuit Court. He is accused of engaging in or allowing “unlawful retribution and retaliation,” including “verbal abuse, harassment and intimidation for reporting official misconduct and participating in its investigation.”
Kogan is a 12-year BSO veteran and, according to his A&E biography, a homicide detective since 2009. His complaint says his record until now was unblemished.
