A three-year investigation into the police’s habit of fixing traffic and parking tickets in the Bronx ended in the unsealing of indictments on Friday and a stunning display of vitriol by hundreds of off-duty officers, who converged on the courthouse to applaud their accused colleagues and denounce their prosecution.Read the rest here.
As 16 police officers were arraigned at State Supreme Court in the Bronx, incensed colleagues organized by their union cursed and taunted prosecutors and investigators, chanting, “Down with the D.A.” and “Ray Kelly, hypocrite.”
As the defendants emerged from their morning court appearance, a swarm of officers formed a cordon in the hallway and clapped as they picked their way to the elevators. Members of the news media were kept behind metal barricades at the ends of the hallway by court officers, and the assembled police officers blocked cameras from filming their colleagues.
Corruption is corruption and it can't be condoned. That said I do smell the distinct odor of hypocrisy and selective prosecution here. If we sacked every cop who ever fixed a ticket for mom or a buddy... or in more than a few cases for a public prosecutor... we would be in deep trouble. Seriously folks. Ticket fixing is a slap on the wrist offense as long as that's ALL we are talking about and they don't make a habit out of it. I do understand from the article that some of the officers are facing more serious charges. That's a whole different ballgame. They get their day in court like anyone else and let the chips fall where they will.
But hooking up mom cuz she was late for work and double parked? Give me a break. To my mind that's a couple days of the most boring clerical work the duty officer can invent and maybe a day or two of docked pay with a written "Don't do it again" warning. These guys deal with the dregs of society day in and day out and the kind of crap 90% of us would not put up with for any money. I think a little perspective is in order here.
3 comments:
God forbid we actually prosecute the banksters.
John thanks for what you wrote. I totally agree with you. We aren't feeling a lot of love right now and moral here is pretty low. It's good to know we still have a few friends. Thank you again.
Orthodox (ROCOR) and NYPD
I agree. If we think of ticket-fixing as being similar to writing a motorist a ticket for the less-than-actual speed, we'd naturally conclude that it's a form of plea bargaining and an exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Police agencies tend to think that such activities aren't optimal, and departmental regs reflect those misgivings. Departments have internal resources to handle reg violations, and that's where the matter should have ended.
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