Mike Briseno, a 46 year old police officer in Farmington, New Mexico, has quit the police force after being involved in an Internal Affairs investigation for a domestic violence dispute with his girlfriend.

It’s long been said that the badge attracts many shady individuals that want to weild the power and use it to bully others beneath them. Briseno is no exception.

According to the article below, he is no stranger to brutality. He was charged with misdemeanor battery charges in 2008 against his then 13 year old daughters 17 year old boyfriend.

A couple months before that he was accused of shoving a nurse during an altercation. He has also been named in two seperate civil rights lawsuits, and 22 cases of brutality in 1997 alone with his previous department.

The Daily Times carried the story

Controversial officer calls it quits

By Elizabeth Piazza The Daily Times

FARMINGTON — A Farmington police officer long embroiled in controversy over allegations of police brutality and misconduct, resigned over yet another allegation of a domestic violence incident, this time involving his girlfriend, authorities said.Mike Briseno, 46, a nearly nine-year veteran of the department, resigned Thursday following an internal affairs investigation looking into the alleged domestic incident with his girlfriend who also is a Farmington police officer.

Police officials first learned of the situation after an internal complaint was filed Feb. 7, one day after the alleged incident, according to the complaint.

“We investigated it internally and sustained complaints against Briseno,” Police Chief Kyle Westall said in a phone interview Friday. “Directly after we sustained (the complaint) he resigned before we made it to the disciplinary process.”

The female officer is not facing any disciplinary action from the department, Westall said.

The details surrounding the alleged incident remain unclear and Westall, citing the internal investigation, declined to release any specifics.

Westall, upon learning of the allegations, requested the state police conduct an external investigation.

State police officers did not file criminal charges against Briseno following the investigation, state police Sgt. Ron Foreman said.

“She didn’t want to give a statement and she didn’t want to do a report of any kind,” Foreman said of the alleged victim.

Neither the state police nor any Farmington police officers responded to the scene Feb. 6, Foreman said.The Daily Times made a public records request Friday for the state police investigation report.

Briseno has a history of allegations of police brutality and misconduct including a December 2008 incident in which he was charged with misdemeanor battery charges against his daughter’s 17-year-old boyfriend.

Briseno allegedly disapproved of the relationship involving his 13-year-old daughter and after going to the boyfriend’s home, a verbal altercation escalated and became physical, according to reports.

He pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct, a petty misdemeanor, and was required to pay a fine of $317 to Aztec Magistrate Court.

In October 2008, the former officer was accused of shoving a San Juan Regional Medical Center nurse during a verbal argument regarding patient privacy. The nurse, Jimmy Weaver, later was fired for making the complaint public.

An internal administrative investigation of Briseno’s conduct found no foundation to the complaint.

Briseno was named in a civil rights lawsuit in November 2004 in which Farmington resident Juan Mata accused him and five other officers of police brutality. He also was the subject of a 2003 civil rights lawsuit involving Farmington resident Chester Mitchell, who claimed Briseno arrested him without probable cause and entered his home without a search warrant.

Briseno, before becoming a Farmington police officer, worked for the Bloomfield Police Department, where he was investigated on 22 allegations of police misconduct in 1997. He was cleared of wrongdoing in all of the cases.

Most recently, Briseno was involved in the fatal shooting of a Farmington man who led police on a high-speed chase after he allegedly robbed the Citizen’s Bank near 20th and Clayton streets in Farmington.

Briseno, and Officer Jacob Swenk, 31, were placed on administrative leave following the shooting — standard procedure within police department policy.

“We indicated to the police department upon our initial review of the information given to us that the use of deadly force was justified,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin O’Brien said. “My initial review of the evidence… indicates three officers made the same decision to pull the trigger at the same time and consequently that suggests they all felt the same threat.”