Delaware’s Office of Public Defense is asking the public for information about suspicious encounters with Millsboro police as state agencies and the Millsboro Police Department investigate an officer for allegedly tampering with evidence and using drugs while on duty.
Delaware State Police began an investigation into the unnamed officer last month after he was found unresponsive in his patrol car in February, possibly after exposure to fentanyl. The Millsboro Police Department, which is conducting an internal investigation, placed the officer on paid administrative leave.
The department later disclosed the officer was responsible for evidence storage and may have “improperly accessed” drugs seized during investigations. The Delaware Department of Justice and the Delaware State Police are also investigating the incident, and prosecutors have dropped some drug cases as a result.
Chief Defender Kevin O’Connell says when the State Police investigated similar alleged drug evidence thefts by staff in the Chief Medical Examiner office in 2014, investigators didn’t examine the possible broader impacts on current and past defendants — a mistake he says the state and the Millsboro Police Department should avoid repeating.
"What oftentimes starts as a single case snowballs into something but larger than we initially thought," he said. "There is a duty to see whether the cases of people who have already been through the system have been impacted — to preserve their rights. It is our job to remind the police and the Department of Justice that they need to make sure that the scope of their investigation is as broad as possible with a view to how far back this goes, whether this is the only employee involved, or if there are other cases that were potentially impacted, and how does it impact cases that may have been closed but have the potential for postconviction relief."
O'Connell does, however, note that the scale of the two investigations are not comparable: the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner handles drug samples for the entire state, whereas the Millsboro Police Department has just over a dozen officers.
The Office of Public Defense has opened a hotline for the public to report new or past suspicious encounters with Millsboro police. "We will vet any and all information that comes to us," O'Connell said. "We may always be able to use the information to seek relief through the justice system, so we may also refer people to the Millsboro Police Department to file a complaint."
O'Connell underscored that he hopes the hotline doesn't uncover systemic misconduct within the department.
"I hope this is an individual who found himself struggling with addiction and ended up doing the sorts of things that many of our clients do when they find themselves confronting addiction," he said. "I hope it's isolated."
Delaware Public Media has reached out to the Millsboro Police Department for comment.
Tips can be sent to ODStipline@delaware.gov or 302-577-6031.
