Disgraced former police chief James Burke arrested for allegedly soliciting a prostitute

The disgraced ex-Suffolk County police chief who botched the Gilgo Beach murder probe — and who went to federal prison for beating a crook who stole his dildo and porn stash — was arrested Tuesday morning for reportedly soliciting a prostitute in a Long Island park.

James Burke, 59, was picked up in the Suffolk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park by park rangers at about 10:15 a.m. and charged with offering a sex act, public lewdness, indecent exposure and criminal solicitation, according to News12 Long Island.

He was allegedly trying to solicit a prostitute, TMZ reported.

The charges will further blacken the reputation of the county’s former top cop, who admitted that he roughed up suspect Christopher Loeb in 2012 for snatching his sick stash of sex goodies.

Burke also had drug-addled trysts with hookers and once fled from a drunken wreck, according to court records and various reports.

He was sentenced in November 2016 to 46 months behind bars for assault and obstruction of justice, and was released from federal prison in 2018.

Attorney John Ray, who represents the families of Gilgo Beach victims Jessica Taylor and Shannan Gilbert, also said Burke did a bare-bones investigation into the serial murder case, freezing out the FBI and other agencies working on the discovery of 11 bodies along Long Island’s South Shore in 2010.