HPD officer charged with faking arrest records

John Hamilton Parker, a 15-year veteran of HPD, has been a hard worker this year. In January, he reported arresting a woman wanted on a drunk driving warrant and taking her to a county psychiatric center for a mental health evaluation. In February, he said he arrested a man wanted for the aggravated sexual assault of a child and transported him to the Harris County Jail. The problem: He apparently didn't actually do either of those things.

Parker is charged with two felony counts of tampering with government records for altering the details of arrest reports to make himself more promotable. "When [police internal affairs officers] looked into those arrests, they found he in fact did not arrest either of the suspects," Terese Buess of the Harris County DA's office told the AP. "They determined he had written a false supplement to the arrest report."

Prosecutors say Parker admitted to fudging details in the reports; he has been placed on paid leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation. The problem with falsified arrest reports — in addition to the fact that they're incorrect government documents — is that they can make it difficult to prosecute crimes. "There is always the potential of that having an adverse impact on a good case," Buess said. "It could muddy the water." She said this is the first time she's heard of an officer fudging reports to try and get promoted.