FBI arrested East Haven police Officers Sgt. John Miller, David Cari, Dennis Spaulding and Jason Zullo (UPDATE)

Update: 1/30/12

Days after four East Haven, Connecticut, police officers were arrested for tyrannizing Latino residents, Police Chief Leonard Gallo announced that he will retire on February 10.

Gallo is expected   to give a news conference today announcing his retirement.

Chief Gallo was suspended in April 2010 after the FBI began their investigation into whether officers executed unreasonable searches and seizure and used unreasonable force against Latino; however, he was reinstated to the post in November after his friend, Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. was voted into office.

Original story

Following a two year civil rights investigation, the FBI arrested four East Haven, Connecticut, police officers earlier today and charged them with conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Sgt. John Miller; Officer David Cari, Officer Jason Zullo and Officer Dennis Spaulding were arrested around 6:00 a.m. Tuesday.  The officers are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport sometime this afternoon.

Miller and Cari, who were on duty at the time the warrants were issued, were arrested at police headquarters.  Spaulding, who is on administrative leave, and Zullo were arrested at their homes without incident.

Authorities say the men executed unreasonable searches and seizures and used unreasonable force mostly against Latinos and then concealed their actions.

It is alleged that the officers, and others who have not yet been identified, targeted minorities, in particular Latinos by unfairly stopping them for traffic violations.

Although Mayor Joseph Maturo supports the officers who were arrested and his police department sources say discrimination in the East Haven police department is so deeply rooted that it will take years to change.

Last month, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Roy Austin Jr. said federal authorities hope to work with East Haven officials to change its policies, but if they are forced to they will them to federal court to get to town to change the systematic discrimination.

Austin said that during the investigation Chief Leonard Gallo created a “hostile work environment” for anyone who cooperated with authorities and he attempted to “erect a blue wall of silence” around the investigation.  He said that Gallo even allowed a note which read: “Rats within the PD” to be posted on a bulletin board in the department.

It is unclear whether Chief Gallo is one of the 11 other officers who are still being investigated and are expected to be arrested.