Feds give scathing review of California border town's police

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department issued a scathing review Wednesday of a small town's police practices in a big drug and immigrant smuggling corridor on California's border with Mexico, finding a lack of basic controls and oversight of criminal investigations, unstable leadership and other red flags.

The 133-page report was released less than a week after the ousted police chief of Calexico filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit describing missing guns, money and other evidence, and allegations that city workers engaged in drug trafficking, overtime abuse and theft.

Calexico, a city of 40,000 people 120 miles east of San Diego, is a big area of concern for federal agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration and Customs and Border Protection, which routinely seizes heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs at two border crossings in the city.

The Calexico Police Department has been suspended from two task forces with federal or state officials that are designed to disrupt the flow of drugs — the Imperial Valley Drug Coalition and the Imperial County Narcotic Task Force.