On the morning of September 1, Officer Charles Joseph Gliniewicz was found dead in a secluded area in Fox Lake. The officer had radioed in that he was in pursuit of two white males and a black male on foot. When backup arrived, they found Gliniewicz dead.
A massive manhunt ensued for the supposed cop killers, and protesters against police violence were attacked online for spreading hate against police, which allegedly led to the officer’s murder. Fox News and others declared that there was a “War on Cops” and that their lives were under attack.
None of that was true, however.
— Mark Murphy (@MarkMurphy2011) November 4, 2015
On Wednesday, it was reported that Gliniewicz’ death was actually the result of an elaborately staged suicide, as he was about to be exposed for embezzling thousands of dollars from the Fox Lake Police Explorer program over the course of seven years.
— Craig Wall FOX 32 (@craigrwall) November 4, 2015
“We have determined this staged suicide was the end result of extensive criminal acts that Gliniewicz had been committing in fact he was under increasing levels of personal stress from scrutiny of his management of the Fox Lake Police Explorer program,” Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Commander George Filenko told reporters, referring to a community program for children that Gliniewicz led.
The 30-year police veteran and expert crime scene investigator had even threatened another officer when he was questioned about emails as authorities closed in on his thefts.
Similarly, on Tuesday, Sergeant David Houser, 50, of the England Police Department in Arkansas was arrested and fired after it was determined that he had actually shot himself when he reported that he was shot by a suspect during a traffic stop on October 24.
“Houser told local and state law enforcement officers that while on patrol that he had exchanged gunfire with a suspect who fled from him driving a sport utility vehicle south of England along state Highway 15,” Arkansas State Police said in a statement. “Houser also reported he had been shot by the suspect.”
According to FBI data, assaults on police officers dropped sharply in 2014 and are at their lowest point since 1996. In 2015, shootings targeting police officers are down 20% from last year.
Meanwhile, 1005 people have been killed by police in the United States, that we know of, as of November 1.
