A brief overview.
I was assigned to the property room. As was normal practice I researched cases where we had a lot of property associated with the case taking up room. One of the cases from 2012 involved a very large amount of hydroponic equipment that was taken during a search warrant. Case was conclude, the accused had plead and was nearing the end of his jail term. I contacted the case agent and told him I would be destroying the equipment because it was classed as drug paraphernalia and had been used to grow marijuana. Case agent told me to return all of it to the family of the accused. I said no, because that would be an illegal act. He got pissed. My immediate supervisor told me to get rid of it. Wrote a destruction order, had it checked an approved by the city attorney, got it signed by a District Court judge and had it destroyed.
The case agent made a formal complaint against me.
Had an interview with the internal affairs officer. This was very brief as the case agent making the complaint and the internal affairs officer were one in the same. They assigned a very good friend of the case agent to conduct the investigation, which was a foregone conclusion.
Demoted, 14 days without pay and put on the night shift. Then a definite effort to make my life difficult by the administration, so I quit.
Had a hearing with the Department of public safety, who are responsible for certification and LEO integrity. They exonerated me of any wrongdoing and confirmed that the case agent had given me an unlawful order.
This isn't the reason I was considering going to the press, it was about the information that was revealed at the hearing.