Baton Rouge Police officer Ken Camallo is currently serving three suspensions at once for warrantless searches that took place in 2017, 2019, and 2020. The older incidents came to light after the City of Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Police Department (BRPD) settled a lawsuit over illegal strip searches that Camallo conducted in 2020 (see video below). Camallo also has a long history of being investigated by internal affairs.
The warrantless search that took place in 2017 led to the discovery of illegal explosives and firearms. The feds took the case, but a federal judge dismissed it after ruling that all of the evidence was obtained illegally. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) described the explosives as bombs intended to kill (https://www.wbrz.com/news/atf-agent-bombs-confiscated-from-baton-rouge-man-designed-to-kill/). The suspect's family described the explosives as homemade fireworks and said that he was not a terrorist. So, depending on who you believe, either a harmless 24 year old kid playing with fireworks was wrongfully arrested due to Camallo's illegal search or a dangerous terrorist is back on the streets because he failed to get a warrant.
The 2019 case involved coercing an elderly woman into letting him enter her home to search for her son. Camallo threatened to take her to jail if she didn't waive her Fourth Amendment right to be free from warrantless searches of her home.
The 2020 case involved illegally strip searching a black man and his 16 year old brother in public in broad daylight on New Years Day. You can see some of the body camera footage from that search in the video below. Then Sgt. Camallo was the supervising officer when he and at least three other BRPD officers including officer Troy Lawrence Jr. stopped 23 year old Clarence Green and his 16 year old brother. Camallo handcuffed Green and made him turn around with his underwear exposed. He then grabbed Green's underwear and pulled it down fully exposing his genitals. While his genitals were exposed Camallo can be seen reaching for them. The genitals are blacked out in the video, but Green family attorney Thomas Frampton described what took place as a groping. Camallo then did the same thing to Green's 16 year old brother. Later, Camallo searched Green's home without a warrant. Police reports were later altered to include a claim that Green's mother had consented to the search. A gun was discovered and Green spent five months in jail until a judge ordered his immediate release after determining that officers "demonstrated a serious and wanton disregard for [Green]'s constitutional rights."
The Green family filed a federal lawsuit against the city and recently agreed to a $35,000 settlement. The $35,000 settlement was paid out of the city's judgement fund meaning that the taxpayers paid the bill and Camallo paid nothing. He was demoted from sergeant to corporal, so in theory his lost wages may eventually exceed the settlement amount. However, that will not save the taxpayers anything because now someone else is being paid to perform the job of sergeant while the number of officers on the force remains the same. Camallo also received three unpaid suspensions of 60, 65, and 70 days, but is being allowed to serve all three concurrently even though they are due to three separate incidents. By contrast if he were convicted of three different crimes stemming from three separate criminal episodes the law would typically require that he receive consecutive sentences.
We have obtained a copy of Camallo's internal affairs history and are uploading it as a PDF with this article. His prior misconduct complaints include an expunged 2006 complaint involving an unknown issue, an un-sustained allegation for failing to carry out orders in 2007, a letter of caution for damaging department property in 2008, a letter of caution for damaging department equipment in 2009, a letter of caution for damaging department equipment in 2016, COO/Conduct/Truthfulness in 2019, COO/Conduct/Truthfulness in 2020, and COO/Conduct/Truthfulness in 2021.
According to public records, Kenneth Joseph Camallo is a 47 year old resident of Walker, Louisiana. He has no criminal history. He is a registered Republican.