Philadelphia Police Officer Chris Hulmes was arrested last Thursday, April 23, on accusations that he lied on search warrant applications and in a preliminary hearing for a criminal case stemming from the search. Hulmes, who at the time was assigned to the city’s troubled Narcotics Field Unit, testified in court in December 2011 that he had lied under oath in the case against Arthur Rowland, whom he arrested on drug and gun charges in Kensington in 2010.

The District Attorney’s office did not begin an investigation into the alleged perjury until Hulmes’ admission was made public by a CityPaper investigation in 2014 and continued to call Hulmes as a witness in the meantime. The office also failed to notify defense lawyers of the admission. A spokesperson for the District Attorney claimed that the oversight was an isolated one, but said that “mistakes were made” and that “an investigation of his testimony should have occurred when [the admission] happened in 2011.”

Hulmes’ attorney Brian McMonagle could not be reached for comment, but he told CityPaper that Hulmes had lied to protect an informant. According to McMonagle, “Chris made misrepresentations in an effort to protect a man’s life. And the decision to do that cost him his career.” However, police and prosecutors have other methods for keeping informants safe, including identifying them with numbers instead of names, which judges allow in the absence of serious evidence of misconduct. Philadelphia Police policy also requires informants to be warned that their anonymity cannot be guaranteed. DA spokesperson Cameron Kline stated that “the best way to do your job as a police officer and to protect informants is not to lie.”

Hulmes’ lawyer, McMonagle, is part of the law firm of McMonagle, Perri, McHugh & Mischak. The Philadelphia Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police had previously posted the following message to its website: ” EFFECTIVE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2014… THE FOP’S NEW LAW FIRM FOR CRIMINAL… AND INTERNAL AFFAIRS MATTERS WILL BE MCMONAGLE AND PERRI.” The posting has since been removed. An FOP representative was not available to comment on whether its legal trust fund, paid for by the city, is being used to fund Hulmes’ defense.