David Gambacorta reports that Philly Police officer Jeffery Cujdik is back on the force, after his firing in May ” following a long-running Internal Affairs investigation into allegations that the veteran cop lied on search warrants and had an inappropriate relationship with an informant – and then lied about both to investigators.” The allegations were first reported in the Philly Daily News’ series Tainted Justice, which detailed corruption among Philadelphia Narcotics Task Force officers.
Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who terminated Cujdik last Spring, said of the Abritrator’s recommendation to rehire: “The rationale behind it, I’m told, was the age of the case, the fact that the District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office had declined prosecution, and the credibility of the witnesses in this case.”
The Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission recently released its annual report, which highlighted flaws in the arbitration process, which returns almost 80% of fired officers to their jobs, in most cases with lost pay. Cudjik will not receive back pay, and will have a 30-day suspension sustained on his department record.
The Philly Declaration 
