INKSTER, MI -- Inkster's former police chief is among the leading critics of a department that came under fire last week after video of a controversial and violent arrest of a Detroit man emerged.

Former Inkster Police Chief Hilton Napoleon ripped his old department in an interview with MLive Detroit, saying it's staffed with "too many bad apples."

Police are supposed to be "beyond reproach," he said, "and, unfortunately, Inkster has some officers who do not fit into that category."

Napoleon talked about several questionable incidents involving Inkster police officers during his tenure, including the assault of a handcuffed suspect, claims of officers stealing cash from citizens and falsified time sheets for unearned overtime.

"Any time you lose two-thirds of your officers, the ones that are left there are going to have a lot of issues and complaints," Napoleon said, and "you have some problem officers" in Inkster.

Napoleon, the brother of Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon and a Detroit police officer for 29 years, retired as the Inkster chief last July after 3 1/2 years on the job. At the time, he cited "extreme work conditions" caused by a lack of resources and police manpower in the financially struggling city for his retirement.

He oversaw the city cutting staff from 73 to 24 officers, and said those cuts hurt the overall quality of the department. The cuts were forced as the city as a whole struggled financially. Inkster, with a population of nearly 25,000, is located about 20 miles west of Detroit and is currently under a financial consent agreement imposed by the state.

Napoleon called it "quite unfortunate" that "problem officers" reflect poorly on the good ones, but said the good ones must come forward.

He said his attempts to clean out corruption created tension with the police union, the Teamsters Local 214. "They didn't want to be held accountable for anything," the ex-chief said, "and I was holding them accountable."

Teamsters Local 214 Business Representative Al Lewis agrees there was an adversarial relationship between the force and chief, but cites a different reason. He says the friction arose because Napoleon on a weekly basis threatened to outsource policing to the Wayne County Sheriff's Department.

Napoleon says he recommended three officers be fired while at the helm of the department.

"I was overruled on two of them," Napoleon said. "I had one firing that was overruled by the arbitrator and the other was the city manager."

One of the cases involved a suspect who was hit by an officer while in handcuffs -- Napoleon's recommendation for termination was reduced to a suspension, he said -- and the other involved an officer under investigation for corruption by the FBI.

When a key witness died, the FBI turned the case over to the Inkster Police Department. Even though it didn't warrant prosecution, Napoleon said there was enough evidence to take action internally. Napoleon wouldn't discuss the accusations in the FBI case, but said he recommended the officer be fired.

It was overruled in union arbitration.

Napoleon said he learned about a sergeant who had been submitting 6 hours a week in overtime for time spent filling pop and snack machines in the union hall.

"I took 486 hours from that sergeant," Napoleon said.

Some detectives were logging up to six hours a week -- sometimes more -- for outside-of-work phone calls related to investigations, Napoleon said.

"These are the types of integrity issues that I've been dealing with all through my tenure," Napoleon said. "These officers feel entitled and they feel the department is there to work for them, not for them to work for the department.

"I was minding the store."

Richard Marsh, who took over as Inkster's city manager last summer, wouldn't specifically address Napoleon's comments or the Jan. 28 case, but said the Police Department is receiving assistance from upwards of 15 Inkster-based state troopers who work as detectives, narcotics investigators and provide added patrol.

The city is also $560,000 in state funds to pay for a narcotics detective for the next three years and an additional patrol officer for the next four. About $40,000 of those funds are for training costs.

The department is currently has 27 officers.

The controversial arrest video released to the public last week involved Floyd Dent, a 57-year-old Detroit man who was pulled over Jan. 28 in Inkster for running a stop sign after leaving a motel police say is popular with drug dealers and prostitutes.

Dent's Novi-based attorney, Gregory Rohl, says his client, who has no criminal history, was delivering a bottle of booze to a friend, not buying or selling drugs.

The video shows a volunteer civilian auxiliary officer pull Dent from his white 2011 Cadillac. Inkster Police Officer William Melendez proceeds to place Dent in a choke-hold on the concrete and punch him in the head 16 times. Another officer used a Taser on Dent three times, according to police reports.

Dent also claims police planted crack cocaine in his vehicle. His attorney says the dash-cam video substantiates the claim.

Officer Melendez testified in a pretrial hearing the cocaine was found under the passenger seat.

Melendez's involvement in the arrest has drawn criticism. The former Detroit police officer has been named in at least a dozen prior lawsuits, including claims of falsifying reports, planting evidence and assaulting suspects.

Hilton Napoleon declined to comment on Melendez's role in the controversial arrest.

"I'm not going to say anything about Melendez," Napoleon said, but there are "a lot of serious problems there in that police force."

MLive Detroit has attempted repeatedly and unsuccessfully to reach Inkster Police Chief Vicki Yost, a former Detroit police officer of 19 years, for comment.

"We started this investigation," she said last week, according to the Detroit Free Press. "We're not hiding from it."

State police were notified and began investigating Dent's case early last week, according to State Police Lt. Michael Shaw.

Dent said he spent three days in a hospital after his arrest, the entire time handcuffed to the bed.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, based on reports filed by the Inkster Police Department containing claims by Melendez that Dent threatened to kill him and bit his arm prior to the beating, filed charges against Dent for cocaine possession, resisting a police officer, simple assault and battery of a police officer and operating a motor vehicle while license suspended or revoked.

A judge in Inkster's District Court dismissed the resisting and assault counts; the charges of cocaine possession and driving on a suspended license are pending.

Dent's attorney said the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office offered Dent probation if he pleaded guilty to the cocaine charge, but Dent refused, stating he wouldn't plead guilt to a crime he was innocent of.

"I'm not aware of a plea deal," Wayne County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Maria Miller told MLive in an email Monday.

Dent's accusations against Melendez, the ex-Detroit police officer known to residents as "Robocop," aren't the first.

According to WDIV, Channel 4 News, the Detroit Police Department fired Melendez for falsifying police reports. Detroit police officials refused to answer questions from MLive about about Melendez's dates of employment or reason for termination. A Freedom of Information Act request has been filed in an attempt to obtain those details.

And Melendez has faced accusations of assault, planting evidence, stealing property and lying on police reports before.

In an open federal lawsuit stemming from a July 26, 2011 raid in Inkster, DeShawn Acklin is suing the city and seven officers, including Melendez. Acklin claims he visited the home and was using the bathroom when police "barged into the house."

The complaint says Acklin complied with officers' orders, dropped to the floor and was subsequently choked and beaten unconscious. Inkster police detained Acklin for three days before releasing him from jail. He was never charged with any crimes.

Another of at least 12 lawsuits on record involving Melendez involves the killing of Ernest Crutchfield II. The lawsuit, filed by the victim's son and eventually settled by Detroit for $50,000, claims Melendez and other officers raided Crutchfield's home in November 2003 without a warrant and fatally shot the man.

Melendez was indicted along with 16 fellow Detroit police officers in 2003 stemming from claims they planted evidence, falsified reports and stole cash and property from suspects. A jury acquitted the officers in that case.

Dent is scheduled to return to Wayne County Circuit Court April 1 for an arraignment on the felony cocaine possession charge.

Dent supporters are planning a protest from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. later in the day outside the Inkster Police Department.