Good cop, bad cop, Granite City cop, cop a plea

With the national furor over lead in drinking water, maybe someone ought to check the Granite City Police Department’s drinking fountain. But then maybe it’s not the water. Maybe it’s the oil?

Back in the 1980s they had a sergeant’s exam cheating scandal, an on-duty patrolman was accused of being a peeping Tom and another on-duty patrolman drove his squad car to Pere Marquette. Dave Ruebhausen rose through that department’s ranks during those days with his own lieutenant promotion exam controversy and was then chief for 11 years.

He spent a year as Belleville’s police chief a decade ago. That ended with him being fired after an officer was shot, a triple murder investigation was mishandled, more than 600 calls were made to a congressman’s daughter and union grievances were handled at the local bar.

Well, Granite City’s police department seems to have entered a new era of scandal.

One Granite cop seeking online female friendship had his patrol car and multiple weapons stolen by that new friend. Then an officer was charged with a felony after giving someone info from the statewide cop data system.

Now a lawsuit states Granite City Police Lt. Jonathan Blaylock is in the doghouse because he told the feds that Police Chief Rich Miller’s brother and father were in the marijuana oil business and their best customer was a police captain’s wife.

Imagine trying to be a real cop amid all that reality-TV-worthy cop drama.

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Good cop, bad cop, Granite City cop, cop a plea."