NY COP FORUM SEPTEMBER 1999
QUESTION:
Lieutenant Patricia Feerick, and two fellow police officers, Orlando
Rosario and John DeVito, have been sentenced to serve jail time after having been found guilty in a ten year old case.
A fourth officer, Myra Schultz, has been given a three-year sentence of probation. The officers were accused of abusing their power by conducting an illegal search for a stolen police radio from members of an alleged East Harlem drug gang. What is your opinion?
DUE TO THE VOLUME OF RESPONSES TO THIS PRESSING ISSUE, THE AUGUST 1999 QUESTION REMAINED ON THE FORUM. WHAT FOLLOWS ARE THE ADDITIONAL RESPONSES RECEIVED DURING AUGUST:
RESPONSES:
"I have been following this case and my heart is broken.
I saw the Lieutenant on a TV show just the other day with her newborn and husband. Will Governor Pataki do anything? I wonder. I think it is the end of the line. My prayers go to New York's Finest. God bless them."
Jdm1013@netzero.net
"Is it any wonder why the City of New York has to beg people to apply for the police exam? The salary alone is an insult, then add the political persecution and you can
see how truly bad off this job has become."
Precinct6@aol.com
"I am a NYC police officer and I must say that I am outraged. I can't believe the perps in this case are being considered the
victims and the cops are being considered the perps.
Morale in the NYPD is at an all time low and this is one example of why. Let it be known to the public that if this alarming trend of witch-hunting with the NYPD doesn't stop, the crime rate will reach an all-time high and even surpass the crime rate during the Dinkin's Administration."
Pointman62@aol.com
"Never have I heard of anything so outrageous!
Does the public and the DA's office understand that if a person simply holds down the transmit key, all radios tuned to the frequency are out of communication? Potentially placing hundreds if not thousands of people at risk? It is not just the cops who are prevented from doing their jobs, but for each cop there are hundreds of civilians who could not summon a cop in an emergency because the dispatcher can't radio them."
Ohfuzz339@aol.com
"I think it is time for all of us to stop working for about a year and see if they still want to put us in jail.
Year after year, we see this kind of thing - don't do your job or we are going to punish you for it."
Rcga@buffnet.net
"Lt. Feerick and the other officers are being unjustly persecuted
(note: I didn't use the word prosecuted). If this wasn't such a serious situation, I would think that the Manhattan DA's office is playing a joke on the Police Department. We all better get used to this
type of treatment, if we won't stand together to fight it."
Mack2470@aol.com
"We lay our lives on the line everyday that we take to the streets. Our responsibilities are great, at
times we must make immediate life and death decisions and at times we lose our lives in this process. It is a crime and a shame that these officers are being treated worse than the criminals that they
pursue. What the Lt. And her team did was not a crime; they do not deserve any type of punishment. The DA's in this city are a joke; however, the joke is on us, the working members of the NYPD. My
advice to everyone is once you put in your time, RETIRE.
Also, advise your family and friends not to join this department at a time when drug dealers are considered the victims and we (the police) are the culprits."
Rwall92542@aol.com
"This only
goes to show that a cop cannot get a fair trial in NYC. I would hope and have written a letter to the Governor asking him to step in. We all should call our State officials and break their chops."
Theheals@warwick.net
"That Lieutenant should receive a commendation for taking the action she did - along with her fellow officers. I will wear my MOURNING BAND in support of them should they
actually do time, because this City is killing us all one at a time. Remember them always!"
nycesu@aol.com
"I was totally unaware of that police radio situation in NYC. I live
in Florida where there was no news of this down here.
The only NYPD news that I get is from the SPRING3100 and the NY FINEST magazine or the Broward 10-13 Club. Unfortunately, I hope that these three police officers have an appeal going. I cannot for the life of me understand the DA position on this matter. Retrieving a department radio from a bunch of hoods and getting arrested for it?
You can guess what will happen if the liberal idiots who reside in NY elect Hillery Clinton as their "carpetbagger" senator.
Hasn't the PBA done anything to bring a new trial?........Every police officer should get on DA Hickey's case and have him removed and get the legislature, state officials, and the Mayor to denounce this as the biggest travesty of justice ever to hamper the good works of the NYPD."
John F. McCarry, Retired 73rd Precinct, NYPD 1957-1977 McCarry193@aol.com
"Reminds me of the OJ case...a travesty of justice. Here the good guy loses...there the bad guy
won......shame!"
Tc1013@aol.com
"It is a terrible miscarriage of justice. DA Morganthau claimed that he had no knowledge of what was going on. If so, who is running the Manhattan
DA's office? It you noticed, how come he set aside all of the arrests of the demonstrators in front of Police Headquarters?"
chardan460@aol.com
"It's a sad world when police officers
are sent to jail for doing their duty. Something should be done to correct this miscarriage of justice."
Alsharp@epix.net
"That Lieutenant was doing what was expected of her.
She was given a implied order to retrieve the radio and she did. Another unfortunate example of how society feels towards its police."
Wenke@warwick.net
"Let's just say perps who commit
homicides don't do jail time.
Why should officers in performance of duties with all good intent be punished with jail time? And the Department wants to know why no one wants to stay past twenty on this job."
Losouvos@aol.com
Copyright © 1999 Edward D Reuss
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