Kleinfield and Eligon report: "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 DA' 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 prevented by court officers from walking down the hallway where more than 100 off-duty police officers had gathered outside the courtroom."
Hundreds of off-duty officers gathered on Friday at the Bronx County Hall of Justice, backing 16 colleagues in a ticket-fixing case. (photo: Kirsten Luce/NYT)
NYPD Officers Angered by Corruption Probe
29 October 11
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.
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 DA" 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 prevented by court officers from walking down the hallway where more than 100 off-duty police officers had gathered outside the courtroom.
The assembled police officers blocked cameras from filming their colleagues, in one instance grabbing lenses and shoving television camera operators backward.
The unsealed indictments contained more than 1,600 criminal counts, the bulk of them misdemeanors having to do with making tickets disappear as favors for friends, relatives and others with clout. But they also outlined more serious crimes, related both to ticket-fixing and drugs, grand larceny and unrelated corruption. Four of the officers were charged with helping a man get away with assault.
Jose R. Ramos, an officer in the 40th Precinct whose suspicious behavior spawned the protracted investigation, was accused of two dozen crimes, including attempted robbery, attempted grand larceny, transporting what he thought was heroin for drug dealers and revealing the identity of a confidential informant.
The case, troubling to many New Yorkers because of its implication that the police officers believed they deserved special treatment, is expected to have long tentacles. Scores of other officers accused of fixing tickets could face departmental charges. Some officers have already retired. Moreover, the indictments may jeopardize thousands of cases in which implicated officers are important witnesses and may be seen as untrustworthy by Bronx juries.
The contentious scene in the Bronx concluded a week of deep embarrassment for the New York Police Department and Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, who at a news conference acknowledged the difficulty of having "to announce for the second time this week that police officers have been arrested for misconduct."
Federal agents earlier in the week arrested eight current and former officers on accusations that they had brought illegal firearms, slot machines and black-market cigarettes into New York City. Recently, other officers have been charged in federal court with making false arrests, and there was testimony in a trial in Brooklyn that narcotics detectives planted drugs on innocent civilians.
Of the 16 officers arraigned on Friday, ranking as high as lieutenant, 11 were charged with crimes related to fixing tickets. All of them pleaded not guilty, and all but two were released without bail. Officer Ramos was held in $500,000 cash bail. Jennara Cobb, a lieutenant in the Internal Affairs Bureau, was released after posting a $20,000 bail bond. She was accused of leaking information about the investigation to other officers.
Five civilians were also arrested in the case. Among them was Officer Ramos's wife, charged with participating with him in an insurance scam.
The outpouring of angry officers at the courthouse had faint echoes of a 1992 march on City Hall by off-duty officers to protest Mayor David N. Dinkins's call for more independent review of the police. And it raises unsettling questions about the current mind-set of the police force.
"It is hard to see an upside in the way the anger was expressed, especially in Bronx County, where you already have a hard row to hoe in terms of building rapport with the community," said Eugene J. O'Donnell, a professor of police studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "The Police Department is a very angry work force, and that is something that should concern people, because it translates into hostile interactions with people."
The behavior could be construed as violating department rules. Even when officers are off duty, the police patrol guide states, "Conduct which brings discredit to the department or conduct in violation of law is unacceptable and will result in appropriate disciplinary measures."
Mr. Kelly said he did not witness the officers' courthouse conduct, but added, "I think it's understandable that officers rally around when there's a time of trouble."
A police official said Mr. Kelly did not condone the hostile comments made by some officers. Particularly disturbing, the official said, was a news report that said some officers chanted "EBT" at people lined up at a benefits center across the street, referring to electronic benefit transfer, the method by which welfare checks are distributed. The people had apparently chanted "Fix our tickets" to the officers.
"To begin ridiculing people in the welfare line across the street doesn't endear you to the public eye," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to be heard directly criticizing members of the force.
The charged officers, accused of extending favors, seemed to have received a favor of their own from the authorities. They were spared a "perp walk," the ritual in which suspects are walked to their booking or arraignment while photographers and videographers document their shame.
Instead, the officers were loaded into black vans at the Central Booking garage, then driven into a garage in the courthouse.
The ticket-fixing investigation began serendipitously in December 2008, after investigators began looking into accusations that Officer Ramos allowed a friend, Lee King, to sell drugs out of two barber shops named Who's First that the officer owned in the Bronx. A wiretap was placed on Officer Ramos, which yielded conversations about fixing tickets.
The authorities said Officer Ramos provided Mr. King with an apartment, a cellphone, a car and a parking placard. He was one of the civilians arrested.
Prosecutors said the bulk of the vanished tickets were arranged by officials of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, the city's largest police union. All the officers charged with fixing tickets are either current or past union delegates or trustees.
As the investigation unfurled, the union played down its significance and consistently referred to ticket-fixing as "professional courtesy" inscribed in the police culture.
Patrick J. Lynch, the union president, said in a news conference that the officers had been arrested on something "accepted at all ranks for decades." He did distance himself from those charged with graver offenses. He said he would have turned his back on Officer Ramos if he could have done so without insulting the court.
Mr. Kelly said that those who tried to rationalize ticket-fixing as part of the culture "are kidding themselves, especially if they think the public finds it acceptable."
During the investigation, overseen by the Bronx district attorney's office, prosecutors found fixing tickets to be so extensive that they considered charging the union under the state racketeering law as a criminal enterprise, the tactic employed against organized crime families. But they apparently concluded that the evidence did not support that approach.
The Bronx district attorney, Robert T. Johnson, said the tickets fixed had robbed the city of $1 million to $2 million.
While the union's highest echelons were untouched by the indictments, the timing was troubling for the organization. It faces various labor issues, like the loss of members because of the department's shrinking size and efforts by public officials to reduce their expensive perquisites.
Stephen C. Worth, a lawyer for the union who with his partner represented 11 of the defendants at the arraignment, criticized the case as "prosecutorial overcharging" for "relatively minor administrative misconduct at best."
On Thursday afternoon, the police union sent a text message to 400 delegates urging them to show up at the court. Scores of police officers began filtering in around midnight on Thursday, when some of the accused officers arrived for booking. Some off-duty officers wore dark-blue T-shirts with the message on the back, "Improving everyone's quality of life but our own."
Forming a wall four deep in the main foyer, they applauded as the defendants appeared. The indicted officers waved and pumped their fists. A court official who came out to calm the crowd drew insults. A woman told the officers to return for the arraignments.
On Friday morning, on the street outside the courthouse, some 350 officers massed behind barricades and brandished signs expressing sentiments like "It's a Courtesy Not a Crime."
When the defendants emerged, many in the crowd burst into raucous cheers. Once they had gone and the tide of officers had dispersed, the street was littered with refuse.
Reporting was contributed by Al Baker, Joseph Goldstein, Colin Moynihan and William K. Rashbaum.
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Comments
A note of caution regarding our comment sections:
For months a stream of media reports have warned of coordinated propaganda efforts targeting political websites based in the U.S., particularly in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
We too were alarmed at the patterns we were, and still are, seeing. It is clear that the provocateurs are far more savvy, disciplined, and purposeful than anything we have ever experienced before.
It is also clear that we still have elements of the same activity in our article discussion forums at this time.
We have hosted and encouraged reader expression since the turn of the century. The comments of our readers are the most vibrant, best-used interactive feature at Reader Supported News. Accordingly, we are strongly resistant to interrupting those services.
It is, however, important to note that in all likelihood hardened operatives are attempting to shape the dialog our community seeks to engage in.
Adapt and overcome.
Marc Ash
Founder, Reader Supported News
Worrisome here is the abuse by these cops at the behest of their union of the extraordinary powers we have granted them. They are armed; they may use force. And as we saw Friday they believe collectively that they should be immune to prosecution.
As troubling--the faint reaction by Ray Kelly or Mayor Bloomberg to Friday's collapse of police dignity and discipline.
NY police officers have to recognize, and rather early then late, that they are part of the 99% - absolutely disposable and without any respect from the Superiors with Superiority complex.
Police, judges and politicians should be held strictly accountable for their behavior.
As one looks at some of the NYPD behavior with Occupy Wall Street protesters, we have to wonder about whom they are supposed to represent and protect! And they have a union too???
I vass chust falloving ze hoarders is your standard Nuremberg Trials defense, invoked by Nazis of all stripes. Perhaps it's a form of "admission against interest" by the NY Pinkertons?
Cops are told by their Superiors who to do favors for esp big league and PAL contributors. This is decades if not century old..get with it.
Every one who does the favor of letting tickets go etc also gets to do it for their friends and family. That they say it is only 2 million is a hunk of turds, more like in the ten million in favors...Kelly has done his share to get where he is. He would not be where he is if he did not do as he was told, told others where the bear craps.
So if you are going to investigate do not stop with these few, lets clean up the NYPD altogether.
Funny thing is there are more snitches in the PD than in the Jails, one does learn from the other.
I remember cops takin care of their neighborhoods, and their own, my family were cops.
I think there is a lot worse going on in the PD than doing some parking ticket favors. This a a rue, beware NY.
Rest of you who do not like paying your tickets, pick up your trash and obey the law, then you friends and family wouldn't be investigated. Hypocrites, fine role models for your kids. I know your types, you are the problems not the solutions.
Look up Kelly's Favors
President and the Congress. Those that hold the weapons rule the country! Didn't you know that? Well you are certainly learning it now.
Students of history will understand exactly what I mean when I call the NYPD the New York Pinkerton Delinquents.
And it seems to me that it would be justifiable to ask all the cops who support these crumbs to chip in to pay the tickets for the city.
Those were the words of Adolf Eichmann
As long as the power actions supported the Govt of the days agenda, a blind eye was turned to such events, even when mini civil wars broke out in the cities streets.
How long will it be before similar happens in the U.S. ?
IMHO, not too long now.
Yes they are psychos with guns ...
Budgets are slashed - but the police tickets are NEW revenue - $100 for dog of leash, $40 traffic tickets --etc. SICK autocratic society - police state
Nice people don't run around with guns looking to kill people... bullies and assholes do. And if you're a cop reading this, yes, I just publicly called you an asshole. Tough shit..
From the ordered assasinations of government leaders to the police force that is suppose to protect us but instead attacks us and falsely imprisons us .
This whole country needs to be dismantled and reassembled anew from the bottom top down .
RSS feed for comments to this post