| Monday July 10, 2006
3:01 AM
For a few dollars more.....or less. - Bruce Tait
"Spare no expense to save money on this one"
-Samuel Goldwyn (1882 - 1974)
I’ve heard from quite a few Quincy taxpayers who weren’t too happy about the last entry in this column. Not unhappy with me, mind you, but about the circumstances I described….about how their neighborhoods, the same neighborhoods that recently saw an 18% property tax increase, as well as a water & sewer rate increase, sometimes don’t have dedicated police coverage. Ladies and gentlemen, I understand your frustration. However, I’m here to tell you, the situation hasn’t changed one iota. For example, if you live in the Governor’s Road section of Quincy, you had no police coverage last night on the 4pm-Midnight shift. Oh, and don’t allow yourself to be bamboozled by 1 Sea Street, about how the other area cars make regular patrols of your neighborhood. When that area is short-staffed, as it seems to always be lately, believe me when I tell you, the other area cruisers usually don’t have time to cross the expressway on a routine patrol, unless they’re answering a radio call.
What are the reasons for this? One seems to be simple ignorance; On the Midnight-8am shift that runs from Saturday night into Sunday morning, Chief Crowley has decreed that a maximum of 11 sector cars be deployed for the shift, which is 2 short of full-staffing. Why? Because it’s technically Sunday (after midnight on Saturday), so Crowley believes that full-staffing isn’t necessary. Well, a shaved chimp with a room-temperature IQ could tell you that it’s actually a continuation of Saturday night, which tends to be one of our busiest nights of the week. Even if we’re to take Crowley’s reasoning seriously, this also betrays his total lack of understanding of working the street. Ask almost any police officer who works street patrol, and they’ll tell you that Sundays can be one of the worst nights of the week. My own theory is that some people don’t want to let go of the weekend, but whatever the reasoning, Sundays can be absolutely crazy at times. Of course, if Crowley had ever spent any significant time in a black & white, shagging 911 calls, he’d know this.
Anyway, I had the opportunity to work the midnight shift this past Saturday….errrr….Sunday (I bet Crowley will be thrilled to see that OT slip cross his desk), and it both reinforced what I already knew, as well as enlightened me on a few things. Besides renewing the respect I already have for the officers who work that shift on a regular basis (I’m still feeling it now), it also showed me, first-hand, why so many midnight officers are absolutely fed-up with being short-staffed. The radio didn’t quiet-down until nearly 4am, with cruisers playing ping-pong, going back & forth across the city, trying to answer calls and back each other up, because there simply weren’t enough police officers working the street. Even with the sergeant pitching-in to answer calls, it was bad. Of course, I’m used to this on my own shift, but not having worked midnights in quite a few years, I now know how much busier that shift is, compared to 7-8 years ago. Even with hiring me on overtime, there were still two patrol sectors unfilled, the Hough’s Neck car and one of the Wollaston/North Quincy sectors. As always, the areas of the city that have among the highest property taxes.
Keep in mind that the fiscal year for the city starts on July 1st, so barely a week into the fiscal year, and Crowley is already pinching pennies, at the expense of your safety, as well as ours. Less than a week ago, when the 4pm-Midnight shift was again short-staffed, I had to go to a domestic call alone in Quincy Point, because there was no one else free to go with me. Once again, ask any police officer what are the most dangerous calls to respond to, and I guarantee that domestics will be in the top three, if not number one, every time. By the time another officer was free to assist me, he was coming from West Quincy, near the Braintree line, so even running lights & siren across the city, I had already handled the call, and was leaving by the time he got there. Now, I know some of you are thinking that we shouldn’t enter a dangerous call by ourselves. Well, Columbine taught the entire law enforcement community about the potential tragedy of waiting outside, and besides that, I don’t know of many police officers who could sit outside a house, where someone could be being beaten or worse inside, because they’re supposed to wait for assistance. What are we supposed to do……call the police? Fortunately, that particular call I was on didn’t turn violent, as so many domestics do. I just hope every other Quincy Police Officer is as lucky as me, when it happens to them.
So….I’ve saved the worst for last. When I first heard, third-hand, about this particular incident of Crowley pathological penny-pinching, I honestly didn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it. However, I’ve spoken with two people (both of whom I trust implicitly) who were there, and it’s every bit as bad as it sounded at first.
Recently, a Quincy resident was the victim of a horrific crime. I don’t want to say too much about the particulars, in order to protect the victim’s identity, but suffice to say, this incident will never make the “Quincy Police Hot Spots” in the Quincy Sun. The victim nearly died, and the suspect is being charged with attempted murder. Needless to say, QPD Detectives, who are specially trained to investigate this type of crime, were immediately called to the scene. Unfortunately for the victim and for common sense in general, the crime happened near the change of shifts from the 8am-4pm to the 4pm-Midnight shift. At about 3:30pm, the victim was being treated in an ambulance, while the detectives were speaking with the victim, trying to get a statement, photographing injuries, etc. when a supervisor from the evening shift arrived, under orders from Crowley. It seems that Crowley heard about the incident, and instantly reacted.
Did he go to the scene to personally inspect the investigation?
No.
Did he order more detectives onto the case, in order to find the person responsible?
No.
Did he do anything whatsoever to assist the officers/detectives on-scene?
Of course not.
What did he do?
Hold onto your hats, ladies & gentlemen, because you’re not going to believe this. He ordered the night supervisor to tell the day detectives to terminate their investigation, because he didn’t want to start paying them overtime at 4pm. Completely disgusted, the day detectives did just that.
Yes, go back and read it. You’re not seeing things. Crowley ordered the detectives to stop what they were doing, and call it a day. He figured the night detectives, once they attended roll call and got their equipment, presumably by about 4:30pm, could handle it, because they wouldn’t be on overtime. This incident occurred about one week after the start of the new fiscal year.
A few things;
1) A crime that horrific, wouldn’t it make sense to have the day AND night detectives work on it?
2) I freely admit the only training and field experience I have in investigations relates to drugs, but sweeping the cobwebs off my police academy memories, one thing I do remember is that you shouldn’t continually ask the victim of a traumatic crime the same questions. Day detectives get pulled; night detectives have to ask the same questions again. Just to save a few dollars.
3) What’s more important…..the investigation of brutal crimes, or hiring private investigators to follow patrol officers who were injured in the line of duty? To Chief Crowley, the answer is clear.
4) This was classic Crowley….order someone else to do the dirty work. I can only imagine the frustration and embarrassment of that night supervisor, having to order those detectives out of the ambulance.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but the morale of the patrol officers of the Quincy Police Department is at the breaking point. It’s gone beyond a sense of despair, into a sense of anger. When you have to come to work every day, knowing your boss not only doesn’t support you, but can’t wait to throw you to the wolves, your portable radio STILL doesn’t work, you get a toilet of a cruiser, you have to go to dangerous calls by yourself because of short-staffing, and the most frivolous, outrageous complaints against you are given 1000% credibility by the chief’s office (see Bizzaro World – Part 2 below), what else does anyone expect?
There is an old saying, that a fool and his money are soon parted. Chief Crowley had better hope that no member of this union ever gets hurt because they had to go to a call by themselves on a short-staffed shift, because he could very well discover the wisdom of that saying, in a civil courtroom.
Thursday June 29, 2006
2:39 AM
When you call 911 and no one comes, here's why..... - Bruce Tait
You’re probably asking yourself why there is a picture of an empty room in this space. That’s actually a picture of an upcoming Quincy Police Department roll call, if things progress the way they have been.
For those who don’t know, the Quincy Police has broken the city into four distinct patrol areas, A through D, with each letter area having three sectors, except for area B (known as the Bravo area), which has four sectors, for a total of thirteen patrol sectors in the city. These sectors are broken down like this;
A-1 (773) - West Quincy; Wollaston Hill
A-2 (774) - West Quincy; Lakin Square
A-3 (775) - West Quincy; Brewer’s Corner
B-1 (776) - Wollaston Center
B-2 (777) - Wollaston Hill
B-3 (778) - North Quincy; Atlantic
B-4 (779) - Squantum
C-1 (780) - Hough’s Neck
C-2 (781) - Germantown
C-3 (782) - Adams Shore
D-1 (783) - Quincy Center
D-2 (784) - Quincy Point
D-3 (785) - South Quincy; Doble’s Corner
When I first started on the Quincy Police Department, all 13 sectors would be staffed every night on the “first-half” shift (4pm-Midnight), as this tends to be the busiest shift for priority calls. That only made sense…..police coverage is like buying insurance, you may never need it, but you want the maximum coverage possible when things turn bad. I don’t even flinch when I send-off my checks to Safety Insurance every couple of months…it’s money well-spent.
Unfortunately, Quincy Police Chief Robert Crowley is like the person you sometimes hear about on the evening news that doesn’t buy insurance, and is then shocked when they lose everything in a fire. He steadfastly refuses to spend any money on overtime to ensure adequate coverage in the patrol division, even though the money is there. Last evening (Wednesday night), the first-half shift only had 9 sector cars filled for the entire night. This was exacerbated by some officers guarding a prisoner at the hospital, as well as other officers tied-up at a house explosion in South Quincy for hours. In a very ironic twist, the four sectors that went without police coverage (A-1, B-1, B-4, and C-3) pay some of the highest property taxes in the city. I know if I owned one of the beautiful homes in Adams Shore, or out in Squantum, I’d be pretty annoyed if I found out that I routinely had no police coverage. I’d be REALLY pissed-off if I thought about that when I opened my property tax bill, especially with the recent 18% increase.
Why is the patrol force coverage so thin? Sometimes, people forget that police officers are human, also. We have the usual family commitments and obligations that sometimes require us to take time-off. For instance, I took last night off, because a scheduling conflict required me to be home with my children. These things happen, and the police department budget is funded to cover overtime hiring, which is the cost of doing business. Unless we hire a lot of people to push us up to 188 patrol officers (which the city ordinances require), it’s going to necessary to hire overtime to ensure adequate police coverage. The problem is that Crowley treats the budget like it’s his own money, and refuses to authorize even 2 hours overtime to cover a sector car until the 6pm-2am shift comes in. The fiscal year for the city ends in a few days, and it will be very interesting to find out how much money Crowley returns to the city treasury. When we find out, you’ll find out, I promise.
When I was hired as a Quincy Police Officer, the man in charge was Chief Francis Mullen (Chief Mullen, if you’re reading this, you have no idea how sorely you’re missed), and he understood how things should work. He made sure there was adequate police coverage for the city, even if it meant hiring overtime. If he ran low on money, he went to the city council, and requested more. He understood that police departments are not in the business of making money. It sounds harsh, but the reality is we spend money. And, I know very few people who would complain about spending budgeted money for public safety coverage.
So….let’s review Bob Crowley’s idea of how a police department should be run in 2006;
1) Make sure your officers have a crappy, unreliable radio system, so if they call for help, no one will be able to understand them. Don’t spend any money to attempt to fix it.
2) Don’t adequately staff the patrol sectors, so not only will the patrol officer’s safety be jeopardized, some citizens of the city, usually in nice neighborhoods with huge property tax rates, will have no police coverage. Refuse to spend a dime to rectify this, even though you have more than enough money in the budget.
3) Allow the patrol vehicles to fall into such a state of disrepair, they constitute a safety hazard to the officers who have to drive them. For good measure, buy yourself a new SUV. Don’t spend any money to fix the problems with the cruisers, if it’s going to come from the police budget (starting to see a pattern here?).
4) Refuse free money, training, and equipment from the Federal government (more on this to come).
I’m sure the overriding question everyone has now is……why? Why does Crowley refuse to spend money that he already has? Why does he allow unsafe staffing levels in the patrol force? I can only offer my opinion, which is that Crowley, for whatever reason, has it out for the patrol force. He seems to think, if you wear a silver badge, you’re somehow a second-class human. Perhaps it’s because he never really did the job of a patrol officer, and this is his way of “showing us”. I honestly don’t really understand it, and probably never will.
To the citizens of Quincy who are reading this; be sure, when you get your next property tax bill, to remember that it’s a crapshoot every night, whether you have police coverage in your neighborhood. If you have to call 911, and it seems like it takes forever for us to get there, at least you now know the reason why.
Saturday June 17, 2006
2:15 AM
The Thin Blue Line is a Little Thinner - Bruce Tait
I freely admit that I usually try to make this space somewhat entertaining, and/or amusing, but there is nothing entertaining or amusing about a police officer being killed in the line of duty. On 6/15/06, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Paul F. Barry was killed in a motor vehicle crash on I-495. He was returning home from a detail, and therefore was on-duty when he was killed.
The Quincy Police Patrol Officers' Association extends our deepest sympathies to Trooper Barry's family, friends, and co-workers. Our ranks are thinner with his passing.
In additon to being (by all accounts) an exemplary road trooper, Trooper Barry was a family man, devoted to his wife and seven children, which makes his death even more tragic.
A fund has been set-up to take care of Trooper Barry's family, and the QPPOA has made a very generous contribution to that. I encourage anyone who can afford it, to donate to this fund;
The Children of Trooper Paul F. Barry Memorial Fund
Bank of America
80 Franklin Village Drive
Franklin, MA 02038
Thursday June 15, 2006
1:46 AM
Bizzaro World - Part 2 - Bruce Tait
Ask anyone who has been in a military or para-military organization what a sure-fire morale killer is, and you’ll most likely hear that mixed signals from the upper ranks is near the top. Now, sometimes this can be effective, especially when training new soldiers in basic training. Anyone who has been through basic training, boot camp, whatever you want to call it, will probably get a chuckle when they recount the “mind games” played on them by their drill sergeants, drill instructors, training instructors, etc. A very common practice in basic training is for the drill sergeants to order you to do something, then after you’re finished doing it, they scream at you, make you do push-ups, and generally punish you for doing what they wanted you to do in the first place. As I said, this can very effective. New soldiers need to be conditioned to follow orders without question, no matter how absurd or dangerous they are. After all, a soldier that won’t charge an enemy position on the order of a superior is a liability on the battlefield. As the soldier matures and gains more rank, he is eventually the one who gives the orders, and expects unflinching obedience.
However, this type of attitude has no place in a police organization. At the Quincy Police Department, we generally work alone, with one officer to a cruiser. Instead of following orders without thinking, we have to have the ability to think on our feet, and make split-second decisions, since we usually have no one giving us orders on the street. Mixed signals, besides being a morale-killer, can be far more dangerous.
Perfect example of mixed signals; In spite of what you’ve probably been told, the Quincy Police Department DOES have a ticket quota. The administration isn’t stupid enough to actually put it in writing, but I’m here to tell you it exists. Why? Because Chief Robert Crowley’s method of rating police officers is based solely on two criteria;
1) How many traffic citations they write.
2) How many sick days they use.
That’s it. It apparently doesn’t matter how many arrests an officer makes, how many reports they write, or even how many citizens love them. Tickets and sick time, that’s all that matters to Crowley. How do I know this? I’ve been a QPPOA official, in one capacity or another, for over 3 years, off & on. I’ve been the designated union representative for detective and other specialist interviews several times, and for the ones where Crowley made an appearance, ALL he was concerned with were the officer’s tickets and sick time. Nothing else registered.
Now, how do I know there’s a quota? Because at the end of every month, the street sergeants meet with their assigned patrol officers, to “counsel” them about the number of traffic citations they’ve written for the month. I can say with a comfortable degree of certainty that my sergeant couldn’t possibly care less if I ever wrote a single traffic ticket, so I know it’s coming from over his head. Doing some enquiring up the chain of command (Yes, chief, we have some honorary members who wear gold badges), I’ve determined that the whole ticket-obsession is coming from the Chief’s Office. Considering Crowley has removed officers from their contractual assignments in the past for not writing enough tickets, this shouldn’t come as any sort of surprise.
So….with Crowley’s overriding concern with the Patrol Division being traffic citations, surely someone who writes a lot of them would be rewarded, or, at the very least, left alone?
HAHAHAHA!!!!
Bizzaro World, remember?
Just recently, a patrol officer stopped someone for two traffic offenses; license plate not visible, and too-dark tinted windows. In addition to being cited already for these offenses by another officer previously, let’s just say this particular individual won’t be getting many nominations for the Quincy Sun Citizen of the Year. I’ll mention he’s a “person of interest” to the Drug Control Unit, and leave it at that. Anyway, the officer stops this person for totally legitimate reasons, and issues him a traffic citation. No problem, right?
Wrong.
The individual apparently took umbrage at being cited for breaking the law, so he filed a formal complaint against the officer for “racial profiling”. Think back for a second…..one of the offenses for which he was cited was having his windows tinted too dark. How was the officer supposed to know who was driving, until he got to the driver’s window? In any event, as usual, this person was given instant credibility, and the patrol officer was automatically the bad guy.
Instead of letting the Internal Affairs investigation run its course to the inevitable dead-end, this officer, the next night he worked, was removed from his assignment, which is a contractual right, and reassigned to a walking beat, to “cool off”. Cool off from what? From writing traffic citations? Isn’t that what Crowley wants? What a fantastic message to send to a young officer….."Write citations, damn it, but if you write the wrong person, you’ll be pounding a walking beat the next night!!" It’s akin to the drill sergeant punishing the private for doing what he was supposed to do. And some of the brass wonders why so many of us don’t care anymore.
Now, in the grand scheme of things, that incident is pretty minor. Aside from a very valuable lesson to a young officer that no one really cares, it’s not going to amount to anything. Much more ominous is a recent decision by Chief Crowley to throw some of his men overboard.
On April 30th, 2006, Quincy Police Officers responded to assist a state trooper who was fighting with a suspect on Hancock Street. As a result, several people were pepper-sprayed and arrested. Nothing out of the ordinary, except some (if not all) of the people were members of the “Chinese Progressive Association”. Take a look at their website, and then decide for yourself what their true motivations are;
http://www.cpaboston.org
The people who were arrested are now claiming they were beaten-up and arrested, solely because they’re Asian. I realize nothing terrifies politicians and political appointees like the race card, but Crowley surprised even me with the swiftness of his decision to kowtow to this group. In spite of what I may think of Internal Affairs personally, they are more than capable of investigating something as straightforward as these allegations. However, my little birdies told me that Crowley could not be talked into allowing his hand-picked Internal Affairs people to handle the case, instead passing the buck to “an outside agency”, which my sources tell me is the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office. Now, I have confidence in DA Keating and his staff to conduct an impartial investigation, but the message has already been sent to the officers involved……you’re presumed guilty. In the newspaper article about the case, Crowley was uncharacteristically silent;
http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2006/06/09/news/news08.txt
Here was a chance for Crowley to finally publicly stand-up for his officers, and he whiffed, as usual. As I’ve mentioned before, Crowley has claimed to have worked with LAPD Chief William Bratton in the past;
http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2004/07/29/news/news05.txt
He apparently didn’t learn much from working with him, because Crowley, in a lot of ways, is the anti-Bratton. Before I was appointed to the Quincy Police Department, I was with the Boston Housing Police, during which time Bratton was first superintendent-in-chief, then police commissioner of Boston. He may rub some people the wrong way, but Bill Bratton “gets it”, as far as a patrol officer goes. To this day, he very vigorously defends his officers in the media, a big reason why he has won over the rank & file at every police department he’s commanded. He doesn’t toss his officers overboard at the first sign of a political mess.
Since Crowley won’t stand-up for his officers, I’ll be more than happy to do so. Predictably, the “victims” in this case are seeking……..MONEY!!!! What a shock!! In addition, they are also seeking to have the officers involved suspended, have mandatory “sensitivity training”, and, of course, have all the criminal charges dropped. Considering the matter is still under investigation, I won’t comment on what actually happened that night, other than to say I have full confidence the officers involved will be vindicated. There are a couple of things working against the argument that these people were targeted because they’re Asian;
1) The impeccable records of the officers involved.
2) The excellent relationship the Quincy Police Department has with the mainstream Asian community.
Notice I said “mainstream”. I have it on good authority that the mainstream Asian community views the Chinese Progressive Association as rabble-rousing troublemakers, which certainly makes sense if you read their allegations. Take a look at this article again;
http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2006/06/09/news/news08.txt
Notice how the community meeting about this “incident” yielded absolutely no allegations about the Quincy Police Department, and about two-dozen supporters of us. That speaks for itself.
Instead of the Quincy Police Department having to undergo sensitivity training, I would suggest that the Chinese Progressive Association needs a little training of their own. Since online college courses are all the rage now, think of this as an online course in Civics 101.
To Ms. Chen and her friends.......some rules for civilized society;
1) Don’t attack police officers.
2) If you do attack a police officer, expect to be arrested.
3) If you don’t want to be arrested, refer back to Rule #1.
4) If you can’t help yourself, and violate Rule #1, don’t fight with the arresting officers. The US Supreme Court, who probably knows a bit more about the law than you, has ruled it’s not up to the arrestee to decide if the arrest is lawful or not.
5) If you violate Rules 1 & 4, you should know we carry all sorts of things with which to defend ourselves. Of course, you found that out already, the hard way, so there’s no need to dwell on it. Take solace in what one of my drill sergeants used to say; "The lessons you learn the hardest are the ones you remember the best".
6) Once you’re under arrest, and the officer searching you asks if you have anything sharp on your person, simply answer “Yes”, or “No”. An inappropriate response would be; “Yeah, my dick, bitch!!!”
If Ms. Chen and her friends had simply followed those guidelines, the entire unpleasant episode could have been avoided. Then again, I suspect they actually wanted an unpleasant episode….one more thing they can list as a “Major Accomplishment” on their website.
Anyway…..quick review of the current state of the Quincy Police Department;
1) Write tickets, but if someone complains, we’ll stick it up your a**.
2) Go out and arrest the bad guys, but if they complain about it, we’ll consider you expendable.
Is it really any wonder why so many Quincy Police Officers have figured out that it’s much safer for their careers to avoid any sort of conflict? We're going to get thrown under the bus in a split-second by the administration, so what's the point in being any kind of proactive? As one beaten-down officer recently said to me…."Bruce, you can’t get in trouble when you’re hiding behind (insert covert location here)”.
What am I supposed to say to that? When you’re right, you’re right.
Friday June 2, 2006
11:55 PM
Anyone Seen Lamont or Aunt Esther?? - Bruce Tait
“In spite of what some people may think, the fleet is in the best shape it’s been in years” – Chief Robert Crowley, during a recent labor/management meeting.
Just in case you don’t know, the “some people” would be me.
If this is the best shape the fleet has been in years, then we’ve either had a collective case of amnesia, or Crowley has a radically different definition of “best” than the rest of us. When I went to work on Thursday afternoon, it was one of those typical hot, muggy, oppressive days that we’ve had too often lately. After roll call was over, we all headed downstairs to find our cruisers.
Or, in the case of about 4 of us…..not find our cruisers. Between front-line and spares, there were so many cruisers down for repair, that there weren’t nearly enough for the 4pm-Midnight shift. That’s not counting the additional two officers who came in for the 6pm-2am shift. Needless to say, in keeping with the typical open lines of communication within the QPD, none of us knew that our cruisers were down, so we waited, like 6th grade boys at a school dance holding up the wall, waiting for the cruisers that would never come. Once we finally figured out what was going on, the always interesting adventure of finding an operable cruiser began. A few of us were able to find spares, none of which had working air conditioning. Anyone who has worn a dark-blue wool and polyester uniform, Kevlar body armor, and a gun belt inside a mostly black car on one of those hot, humid days knows what an enjoyable experience that is. Just to add some whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry to this s*** sundae, the toilet-on-wheels I was driving had an incredibly annoying rap in the motor, and the QPD radio system was having one of its frequent seizures, with an incessant chirping coming over the speakers, as if the repeater was in an endless loop of being clicked off and on. As I said, quite an enjoyable experience. Fun for the whole family.
What of the other officers looking for an operable vehicle? I saw one picking the boneyard near the DPW garage, looking for something, anything, that would start. He’s probably still looking. I saw another one trying to jump-start the prisoner transport wagon, which is certainly not designed for street patrol. Try taking a corner at moderate speed in a full-size van, and you’ll see why. To be honest, I don’t know what they were able to scrounge-up for the 6pm-2am officers, I think they just assigned them to walking beats. Of course, the real fun began when the torrential rains began that night. Being inside a police cruiser with no air-conditioning during heavy rain is like being inside a steam bath. In addition to the body heat you’re throwing, there is the laptop computer, siren control box, emergency lights control box, and two-way radio all throwing heat. I saw one officer pass by me, and the only part of any of the windows that was clear was where the officer had rubbed a spot to see out of the windshield. Other than that, it looked like a fog bank had settled inside his cruiser. Of course, if that officer had gotten into an accident because he couldn’t see out the windshield, he would have been immediately benched, and sent to remedial driving school.
I should mention here that the night captain and shift commander eventually offered me the shift commander’s cruiser that evening, which is a pretty decent vehicle. It was certainly a very gracious gesture, indicative of leaders who care about their subordinates, but that’s only a band-aid for a police department that needs major surgery. In addition to the cruiser and radio problems, the police station itself is falling apart. During any heavy rainstorm, being inside 1 Sea Street is like being on-board a U-Boat that just got hit with a depth-charge. The duct-work is filled with mold, people are getting sick, the air-conditioning either doesn’t work, or someone refuses to turn it on, and on one recent night, 2/3rds of the computers in the report room didn’t work. The Quincy Police Department is literally coming apart at the seams, and no one who’s in a position to do anything about it seems to give a damn.
After work that Thursday night, as I was wringing the sweat out of my t-shirt over my bathroom sink, a question came to mind. Do you suppose the air conditioning in Chief Crowley’s Explorer, and in Chief Crowley’s Crown Victoria, are operable?
Sunday May 28, 2006
1:45 AM
Happy Memorial Day.......or is it Happy Halloween? - Bruce Tait
I just got home from work, and as you can imagine, Saturday night of the Memorial Day weekend was quite busy. Having the long weekend off, plus the warm, muggy weather, brought the usual assortment of calls to keep the QPD 4pm-Midnight shift very busy.
Apparently, not busy enough for our boss.
About 9:30pm or so, a call went out to have the area car check “The Rock” in Squantum for kids drinking. For those who don’t know, this is a very secluded area on the tip of the Squantum peninsula, right on the water. The only way to access it, other than by boat, is to drive to the end of Dorchester Street, near the Nickerson Legion Post, and walk about 10 minutes into the woods. It’s been a favorite teen drinking spot since I was a teenager, and probably a lot longer than that. Because of this, it’s become the focus of intense scrutiny from Chief Crowley, as kids drinking in the woods is apparently the Number 1 priority of the Quincy Police Department since Crowley took over. Although I disagree with the disproportionate amount of attention he gives this rather minor annoyance, I will concede that teenage drinking is not acceptable, and needs to be dealt with.
Dealt with, not obsessed over.
Anyway, when the call came in, the patrol sergeant (the only street supervisor to cover the entire city at the time) had just left The Rock, he parked his cruiser and walked into the wooded area, not finding anyone there. He had barely left the area when the call came in, so he asked dispatch how the call had come in.
The dispatcher responded, “That came from Sierra-9”.
Sierra-9 = Chief Crowley.
The sergeant then called dispatch on the phone, telling them he had just left that area, and nobody was there. The dispatcher already knew this, because when Crowley called-in this phantom incident, he told dispatch that the “770" (the sergeant’s cruiser number) had just left, and when he did, a horde of kids emerged from the bushes, and ran towards The Rock. At that point, the sergeant remembered seeing a vehicle parked near the Nickerson Post that looked suspiciously like one of Crowley’s personal vehicles. On the Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend, Crowley was skulking around the end of Squantum, looking to call-in wraiths and apparitions, as if we weren’t busy enough dealing with real crime to worry about such foolishness.
So, taking the usual Crowley strategy of using a 10-pound sledgehammer to kill a housefly, the sergeant returned to The Rock with 5 motorcycle officers and 2 patrol officers, who then spent the next half-hour searching The Rock. Do you suppose they found anyone there?
That answer would be……….no. A sergeant and 7 patrol officers wasted a half-hour on a ghost hunt.
Now, if there’s anything I’ve learned about teenagers drinking in the woods from my many years as a police officer, it’s that they have no concept of noise & light discipline. When you get a bunch of teenagers together, especially with alcohol involved, about the only other thing they could do to give away their position would be to send-up a few parachute flares. Catching kids drinking in the woods is one of the easiest things to do…..park a little bit away, kill your lights, then just follow the yelling and laughing to the party spot. They’re usually so clueless that we can walk right up to them, and even pretend to be a teenager ourselves for a minute (just for amusement) before we spring the nasty surprise.
So, if we’re to believe Crowley’s version of events, a bunch of teenagers, loaded down with alcohol, and perhaps already intoxicated, timed things so perfectly that they were able to see the sergeant driving up Dorchester Street, then find hiding spots in the bushes, not alerting the several homeowners in the area. They were able to keep quiet long enough for the sergeant to leave, and then charged toward The Rock, again unnoticed. Then, when they got to The Rock, they were able to know ahead of time that 8 police officers were coming back, so they donned ghillie suits, and once again found perfect, undetectable hiding spots. Or, perhaps they were beamed-up to the starship Enterprise, or decided to take a collective swim on such a warm evening.
I think the more likely scenario is that Crowley decided, for reasons known only to him, to give us a little tickle, as if we had time to waste tonight. For almost a half-hour, 8 Quincy Police Officers were chasing ghosts and apparitions. What would have happened if something really serious had happened in the Bravo area while this was going on? The officers would have had to run back their cruisers out of the woods, then respond, which would have taken 10+ minutes. Essentially, 8 police officers were taken out-of-commission for a half-hour for Chief Crowley’s ghost hunt. What if I needed the patrol sergeant right-away in Quincy Point? Now we’re talking 15+ minutes.
I’ll pass on commenting why a single man who makes well over $100K a year spends a Saturday night on a holiday weekend chasing ghosts, and focus on the public safety aspect of this foolishness. The City of Quincy is not Mayberry, and a LOT of things happen that you’ll never see in the Patriot Ledger, and especially won’t see in the “Quincy Police Hot Spots” in the Quincy Sun. We can ill afford to tie-up 8 police officers on the whim of a police chief that seems to have seriously misplaced priorities.
Note to Chief Crowley……..the next time you want to have someone chase ghosts, give these people a call. They’re much better equipped to deal with ghost hunts than we are;
http://www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/
They’re probably a bit pricey, but we all know that you’re not averse to spending city money on anything other than things that would benefit your patrol force.
Monday May 22, 2006
2:50 AM
ECHO.....ECHo.....ECho.....Echo.....echo..... - Bruce Tait
“I’m not always right, but I’m never wrong” – Contemporary Bumper Sticker
It’s official….the cows have come home, and Hell has frozen over. I have finally been issued my new portable radio. On the surface, it’s a pretty neat thing. We had a block of instruction about the mega-channel plan we now have access to, as the result of US Homeland Security funding the new radios. I’m pretty sure that we could talk to the Space Shuttle on this new radio, if we really needed to.
That’s if…..it worked correctly.
When you’re right, you’re right, and I was right when I speculated a few blogs ago that the new portable radios wouldn’t work correctly.
Those of you who have young children are no doubt familiar with the “echo mics” (pictured above) that are so popular with kids. If not, when you speak into this echo mic, your voice becomes distorted, and echoes almost endlessly. If you don’t have kids, imagine a guitar amplifier with the reverb turned to 10. That’s pretty much how our new radios sound. If you try to transmit within a few feet of another officer who has their radio turned-on, you get horrible feedback & echo, rendering the transmission unreadable. Yet again. If you’re not near another portable that’s turned on, you simply get the echo.
Should you take my word for this? You should, but I won’t take offense if you don’t. There will soon be examples for you to listen to, just so you know we’re not making this stuff up. Get ready to hear some familiar phrases;
”My cruiser radio is dead”.
“That radio is unreadable, try it again”.
“That radio is terrible”.
Also, when I was checking-out my new portable, I tried to transmit on some of the dozens of non-QPD channels we have, mandated by Homeland Security. In addition to the Homeland Security channels, I couldn’t transmit on ANY non-QPD channel. BAPERN, transit police, surrounding communities, you name it. I now have this ultra-fancy portable radio, that no doubt cost the US taxpayers a hefty sum, and it can’t do anything that my old “silver refrigerator” couldn’t do. At least the silver refrigerator was dead-on reliable, which this echo-chamber most certainly is not.
As I’ve mentioned before, the problem with the Quincy Police radio system was two-fold….the radios themselves, and the overall radio system. The portable radios have now been replaced, so it’s glaringly obvious that the radio system itself is now the main problem. Just to confirm this, I recently conducted a test of my new radio. I went to the prescription area of Walgreen’s on Quincy Avenue, and tried to transmit on my new portable. I knew this was a “dead spot”, because I couldn’t transmit from this area with my old portable, which I found out while answering an armed robbery call (how’s that for an officer safety issue?).
A little explanation is in order here…the Quincy Police uses a UHF radio frequency with a repeater system, meaning the transmitting radio has a relatively weak signal (4-5 watts for the portables), which is gathered by the repeater, then broadcast back out at a much higher wattage. After you transmit on your portable, you can tell if you “hit” the repeater by hearing a second or so of “open air” as the repeater stays open. If you don’t hit the repeater, no one (not even someone 10 feet away) is going to hear you.
So, I went to the prescription area of Walgreen’s, and tried to transmit. Anyone care to guess if I hit the repeater? If you guessed, “Hell, no!!!!”, you win the kewpie doll!! This is purely a radio system issue. The new portable doesn’t broadcast at any less wattage than the old one……the new or old just can’t/couldn’t hit a faulty repeater.
I have become beyond frustrated trying to understand how surrounding police departments that are smaller than us (Braintree, Weymouth, Milton, Hingham) have reliable radio systems, while we still operate on a “hit or miss” basis.
To resolve the inability to transmit on other channels, our new radios are scheduled to undergo their fourth re-programming. Yes…..fourth, as in 4 times. As much as I’d like to point the finger of blame at someone for this, there really isn’t anyone within the QPD who is culpable for the programming issues with the new portables, that’s the result of incompetent vendors. We certainly appreciate the efforts of those QPD people who worked hard to get us these new radios, but the root problem now lies with the radio system itself.
The bigger issue is, why do we have these new portables (new engine) while we still have a crappy overall radio system (bad transmission)? I speculate it’s because the new radios came under a Federal grant, meaning they were essentially free, while fixing the radio system would cost money. Money that could, no doubt, be better spent on private investigators to hound line-of-duty injured officers, or to replace Chief Crowley’s Explorer with a spankin’ new 2007 model, since his current one, no doubt, needs the oil changed by now.
When we file a public records request in a couple of months to see how much money the Quincy Police Department turned back to the city at the end of the current fiscal year, I'm wondering if it's going to be over/under what it would cost to repair the radio system, once & for all?
I think you know what my bet would be.
Tuesday May 16, 2006
1:56 AM
Welcome to Bizarro World - Bruce Tait
Anyone who is familiar with the “Superman” comic book series knows what Bizarro World is all about. For those that don’t know, Bizarro World is the exact opposite of Earth, as we know it. The planet itself is the shape of a cube (opposite of a ball), and is named “Htrae” (Earth spelled backwards). On Bizarro World, everything is the opposite of what it is on Earth…..bad is good, up is down, left is right, etc. Bizarro Superman was named “Namrepus” (Superman backwards). On Bizarro World, nothing makes sense. The Bizarro Code makes it a crime to do anything well, or to make anything beautiful or perfect. When the Mayor of Bizarro World asked Namrepus to investigate a crime, it’s because “You are stupider than the entire Bizarro Police Department”. On Bizarro World, that’s given, and taken, as a compliment.
In a later episode, Superman discovers that Bizarro World is partially the responsibility of Mr. Mxyzptlk, an imp from the fifth dimension. The only way to send Mxyzptlk back to the fifth dimension is to get him to say his name backwards, which Superman eventually does.
Well, we at the Quincy Police Department have our own little Bizarro World, on the 3rd floor of the police station, in the corner office. I’ve come to expect rash, bizarre decisions from Chief Crowley, but every once in awhile he manages to do something so totally outrageous that it surprises even his harshest critics. Last week, a Quincy Police Officer received a call to a local appliance store. Upon arriving at the store, the officer found a window smashed-out, with blood stains on the glass, as well as on the pavement. It was fairly obvious that someone had put their fist through the window, and was bleeding pretty heavily. As the officer followed the blood trail to a nearby coffee shop, the communications sergeant radioed that he was going to call the area hospitals, to see if anyone had gone to the emergency room with a cut hand. Sure enough, someone had been treated at Quincy Medical Center for a lacerated hand. The officer went to this person’s house, confronted them, and he eventually confessed to everything. He promised to pay for the window, and the officer let the owner of the store know that if he didn’t pay for the window within a week, there would be criminal charges filed. The owner was ecstatic, and could barely believe that we caught the person who broke his window.
A great job by the officer and the sergeant, right? A perfect example of a police officer teaming-up with a sergeant to go the “extra mile” to solve a crime, right? About 99.999999999% of police chiefs would think so, and would probably give both the officer and the sergeant a commendation, or at least an “atta-boy”.
In the Bizarro World of 1 Sea Street? Fat chance. Remember, the Bizarro Code states that it’s a crime to do anything well.
Not only did the officer not get at least an “atta-boy”, he was called onto the carpet by the chief…..oh, wait, the chief doesn’t actually confront anyone himself, so let me start over.
The officer was called onto the carpet by one of Chief Crowley’s minions, who asked all sorts of questions about the incident. Another supervisor then told the officer that Crowley wanted to suspend him.
Did you get that?
Crowley wanted to suspend this officer……for what? For catching the bad guy? Isn’t that why we’re here? I suspect the real reason is that everything with Crowley seems to be negative and personal. A perfect example….three Quincy Police Officers recently received the Dana Award, named after M.D.C. Police Officer Robert Dana, who was shot & killed in the line of duty. This is a very high honor, awarded by the Quincy District Court on Law Day, to recognize bravery in the line of duty by police officers. Surely, the Quincy Chief of Police would be there, to help recognize three of his police officers?
I think you know the answer.
Of course, he didn’t show. Having to sit there, listening to the brave exploits of patrol officers, would have been too much for Crowley to stand. I would tell you what he actually thinks of us, based on what I’ve personally heard him say about other patrol officers, but that would violate Crowley’s new “no profanity” edict, of which he’s the biggest violator. Instead, he sent the day patrol captain (who I’m sure the three officers preferred anyway), saying he didn’t feel well. However, he felt well enough later in the day to throw a temper tantrum in the records room, screaming at one of the traffic officers (who has nothing to do with the records room people) because he thought too many of the civilian workers took the day off. As always……negative, and personal.
Anyway, back to the officer who solved the broken window caper. I can say with a comfortable degree of certainty this all happened because the officer in question is in the Hot Top Ten on Crowley’s target list. Why is this particular officer targeted? He’s been a favorite target of Crowley’s for years, and as for the reason, that’s just the thing…..there usually isn’t a reason. Several years ago, when I myself was suffering the slings & arrows as Crowley’s favorite target (for reasons I still can’t fathom), I was approached by another officer. Our conversation went something like this;
Other officer: “You owe me”.
Me: “Why is that”?
Other officer: “I just replaced you as Crowley’s #1 target”.
Me: “Why, what did you do”?
Other officer: “I didn’t do anything, you know he doesn’t need a reason”.
Yes, I do.
So, the officer that investigated the appliance store break, who should have been awarded a commendation, was threatened with a suspension for solving a crime. Way to go, Chief Bob, that’s how to motivate your subordinates…..threaten them with a suspension for doing something well. The Bizarro Code at its finest.
Now, the officer hasn’t actually been suspended, yet. Why? I would lay good money that Captain John Dougan, who is the voice of reason in the Chief’s Office, and seems to be the only person capable of talking sense into Crowley, managed to talk him out of it. Whenever Crowley does retire/leave, he should buy Dougan a gold watch, for all the trouble/embarrassment he’s saved Crowley by occasionally talking some sense into him.
Nonetheless, the message has been sent by Crowley, and has been received by us, loud & clear. There is absolutely no incentive whatsoever for any Quincy Police Patrol Officer to do anything beyond answering our radio calls, during which we do the minimum required by law, and issuing one written warning traffic citation per shift. Doing anything else could very well land us in the jackpot. When an officer who solves a break is threatened with a suspension, what kind of incentive is that to us that work the street to be proactive?
None. None at all.
Message received.
Now, if we can just get Crowley to say “Yelworc Trebor”………
Thursday May 11, 2006
12:53 AM
The Ultimate Witch Hunt - Bruce Tait
Belvedere: How do you know she is a witch?
Villager #1: She turned me into a newt!!
Belvedere: A newt?
Villager #1: Well….I got better.
Villager #2: Burn her anyway!!!!
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Witch Hunt - noun: An investigation carried out ostensibly to uncover subversive activities, but actually used to harass and intimidate those with differing views.
On September 27, 2004, Quincy Police Officer Timothy Kaes was involved in a motor vehicle accident while off-duty. On a wet, misty, very foggy night, his vehicle lost control on a very slick roadway, after swerving to miss a coyote in the street, hitting a parked car and a building in Wollaston. After the accident, during which he suffered head and neck injuries, Kaes couldn’t locate his cell phone, so he headed to the nearest public place, the Wollaston MBTA station, to summon help. Upon seeing a marked Quincy Police vehicle, Kaes waved it over, telling the officer he had been in an accident, and requested a supervisor respond, per QPD policy. Does this sound like the actions of a guilty man? Of course not. However, Kaes was ultimately charged with OUI (drunk driving) and Operating to Endanger. Why? I think you know where this is going.
On May 10th, 2006, Kaes was found Not Guilty on all charges in Dedham District Court (moved because of a possible conflict at Quincy District Court). I was at the trial from start to finish, and was absolutely amazed as I watched police officer after police officer, including the supervisor who filed the criminal charges, take the stand, and state under oath they didn’t believe that Kaes was intoxicated. It’s important to note here that OUI is one of the most difficult cases to prove in court, because often the only evidence is the officer’s observations, including observations of the suspect’s coordination, balance, odor of an alcoholic beverage, responsiveness to questions, etc. When it comes down to it, the judge/jury has to rely on the officer’s observations in deciding guilt. I have had cases where the suspect couldn’t even stand up because he was so drunk, yet he received a Not Guilty. So….with the unanimous decision being that Kaes was not intoxicated, why was he charged anyway?
Because……drum roll please…….Chief Robert Crowley ordered it! In his never-ending quest to micromanage the police department, and intrude on the personal lives of the patrol officers, Crowley has decreed that any officer involved in a motor vehicle accident while off-duty in Quincy has to notify a supervisor. Who, of course, then notifies Crowley. So, the supervisor who responded to the accident (the same supervisor who testified under oath that Kaes was not intoxicated), was forced to do Crowley’s bidding. While Crowley was in the comfort of his own home, he somehow miraculously decided that Kaes was under the influence of liquor, to the point that it impaired his ability to safely operate a motor vehicle. Instead of relying on the judgment of his supervisor (a great cop and a great boss), who was actually at the scene, and talked to/observed Kaes, Crowley instead decided to make the decision himself, from inside his house. Crowley should call the Regina Russell Tea Room, and offer his crystal ball to them, he’d make a fortune.
Anyway….his supervisor’s opinion be damned, Crowley orders the supervisor to charge Kaes with Operating Under the Influence of Liquor. Without seeing, talking to, or making any observations of Kaes, Crowley orders him charged. As I mentioned, OUI is one of the most difficult cases to prove in court, because of the officer’s observations often being the sole evidence. Crowley, unless he suddenly became the Invisible Man and magically teleported himself from Butler Road to the scene of the accident, saw, smelled, and observed nothing. Instead, I imagine he simply uttered the phrase that we’ve all heard him say about a thousand times;
“Lock that a**hole up”.
As a result, Kaes was criminally charged, and had to appear for a clerk’s hearing in Dedham Court. For those who don’t know, a clerk’s hearing is a court proceeding where a clerk-magistrate (who is almost always a lawyer themselves) hears the evidence, and decides whether there is sufficient evidence for criminal charges to go forward. After a full hearing, not only did the clerk-magistrate not find sufficient evidence, the prosecution’s case was so weak that he felt the need to actually apologize to Kaes, because he felt so bad that Kaes had to face such bogus charges.
End of story, right? Surely you jest. Crowley apparently has a severe case of schadenfreude, and therefore stops at nothing to destroy those he has decided are worthy of destruction. You see, it seems that his position as chief is more about settling vendettas, and punishing his enemies, real or perceived (I know this from experience), than anything else. It seemingly has little to do with law enforcement, the welfare of his subordinates, or protecting/serving the citizens of Quincy. In an absolutely outrageous abuse of power, Crowley took the unprecedented step of having the district attorney’s office appeal the clerk’s hearing to a judge. I say unprecedented, because after 18 years as a police officer, not only have I never seen this done before, I didn’t even know it COULD be done. For reasons I still can’t understand, a judge’s appeal did allow the case to go forward to trial, which brought us to today.
As I sat in the courtroom today, I fully expected to see the prosecution’s main witness, Chief Crowley, make an appearance. After all, he was the one who ordered that Kaes be criminally charged, so obviously the prosecution would call him as a witness, right? Ummm……no. Perhaps realizing what a train wreck Crowley would be on the stand, the prosecutor decided to not go down that road. Well, you would figure that Crowley would be there anyway, considering he made the decision to file criminal charges, and therefore would want to see the outcome of the case. Guess again. Crowley was nowhere to be found, instead sending one of his minions to sit in the back of the courtroom, furiously taking notes in a pathetic attempt to intimidate the officers testifying, or perhaps to send a subtle message that they were next on Crowley’s target list. As if they weren’t already. And, exactly as I had predicted, the words “Not Guilty” were still lingering in the air when Crowley’s minion was racing for the door, powering-up his cell phone to call Crowley.
I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed Crowley didn’t have to testify. I would have thoroughly enjoyed seeing Kaes’ lawyer, Richard Bardi (who is as sharp as they come), do the legal equivalent of putting Crowley feet-first through a wood-chipper. I can just imagine some of the questions that would have been posed;
“Chief, have you ever operated a motor vehicle after consuming alcoholic beverages”?
“What first-hand observations did you make of Officer Kaes, before you ordered him to be criminally charged”?
“Where were you when you issued the order to criminally charge Officer Kaes”?
“Do you realize it’s over a mile from your residence, at the time, to the scene of the accident in question”?
“Were you in your pajamas when you issued that order”?
“How many times has the Quincy Police Department appealed a clerk’s hearing to a judge, other than in this case”?
The list is endless. As much as I was disappointed in Crowley’s non-appearance, I take solace in the fact that those questions can be asked during more upcoming legal proceedings, where Crowley won’t have the luxury of ducking & hiding.
May 10th was simply the first step in righting a horrible wrong done to a good person. If you saw a Hiroshima-like mushroom cloud erupt over 1 Sea Street at about 3pm on May 10th, you now know the reason why.
Saturday May 6, 2006
4:16 PM
Say What???? - Bruce Tait
I receive quite a few e-mails from readers of this website, both regular citizens and other police officers. The most common question I get, by far, is some variation of “How bad is the Quincy Police radio system”? It’s become quite tiresome to write back “As bad as you think it is, it’s much worse”, so I’ve decided to let you all judge for yourselves, by expanding the website to include audio files, to soon be followed by very interesting video files.
If you go the “Image Gallery”, click on the audio file titled “QPD Radio Disaster”, and listen for yourself. That audio file is a recording of the Quincy Police Department’s main dispatch channel for April 9th, 2006. It hasn’t been altered in any way….what you hear is what I heard that afternoon. I want to emphasize that this abomination is certainly not the exception….it’s more the rule. Whenever we transmit over our portable radios, we fully expect to hear the dispatchers respond with “That radio is unreadable, try again”. The only reason I chose this particular incident is because I happened to have my pen in my hand when this happened, and jotted down the date & time. There are literally hundreds of other examples that could have been featured.
When you do listen to this, try to catch some of the very few discernable words uttered by the patrol officer…..that his cruiser radio didn’t work, his portable radio didn’t work, and he just wanted to document that he had no communication whatsoever with dispatch. “If you can hear me”. No, we couldn’t.
That left him with……..his cell phone as a means to get help if he’s in trouble. It’s important to mention here that we’re not issued a cell phone, nor are we required to have one. Also note the frustration in the voice of the poor dispatcher, who was left to guess what to make of the static-ridden gibberish she heard over her speaker. Having been a dispatcher many times, I understand the bond between dispatchers and the cops on the street. There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to understand what a police officer is saying when they’re on a radio call, and therefore in a potentially dangerous situation.
Thankfully, this officer was just trying to clear a fairly routine call. What would have happened if he needed immediate help? What if he had gotten jumped (which happens), and was on the receiving end of a good, old-fashioned ass-kicking? He would have been on his own, because no one would have been able to understand what he said on the radio. As we’ve come to expect.
So……as you listen to this, keep in mind this has been a problem for quite awhile. Also keep in mind that Chief Crowley and the Patriot Ledger editorial staff seem to think it’s just dandy for Crowley to blow $25,000 on private investigators to follow line-of-duty injured Quincy Police Officers, while the radio system of the Quincy Police Department is a totally unreliable piece of junk. Listen to the sound file, and then you decide if $25,000 would have been better spent on private investigators, or on fixing the radio system.
Just to turn the knife and rub salt in the wound at the same time, when I was at roll call the other night, it was announced that our new portable radios would finally be issued in May, “on schedule”.
On schedule?
As I’ve mentioned before, we were told the new radios would be issued by mid-February, so an early-May issue date is hardly “on schedule”, unless you think 3 months late is on schedule. The new radios are indeed FINALLY being issued, in dribs and drabs (why not just issue them en masse at roll call?). Anyway, I predict the new radios won’t work correctly, because this is like putting a new engine into a car with a faulty transmission.
Another frequent question I receive is “Doesn’t the chief listen to the radio”? Of course he does, probably obsessively. However, I speculate that any mention of real crime over the radio….armed robberies, shots-fired, drug dealing, domestics, etc., sounds to him like the teachers on Peanuts….”Wahhh wah wahhhh wahhh wahh”. He’s probably puzzled at our criticism of the radio system, since so much real crime radio traffic hasn’t been readable by him for his entire career. Mention “kids drinking in the woods”, or “illegally parked cars”, and that will get his full and undivided attention. Everything else probably comes across to him as triple-encrypted binary code.
If anyone who listens to the audio file of our radio system can justify $25,000 spent on private investigators, as well as $28,000 spent on Crowley’s totally unnecessary new Ford Explorer, rather than fixing the radio system, I’d love to hear the rationale. Please…..e-mail me, and let me know what I’ve misunderstood.
As I’ve mentioned, if I were the chief of police, I would be on FIRE if my officers didn’t have reliable radios, because I understand how important that is. I wouldn’t be worried about such foolishness as to how my officers answered the phones in the station, or prohibiting them from broadcasting cruiser deficiencies over the radio (don’t worry, chief, probably no one could understand them anyway). Fixing the radio system would be my #1 priority, bar none, because a police officer’s radio is his/her literal lifeline. Those of us who have actually worked street patrol, and have dealt with real crime (which automatically excludes Chief Crowley), understand this.
I can’t say this enough…..listen to the audio file, because it speaks for itself. As you’re listening to it, imagine that the patrol officer attempting to transmit is one of your loved ones, and that he’s trying to call for help.
Are you angry yet? You should be.
Now, go look at the receipts for Crowley’s Explorer, as well as the private investigator invoices. Unless you’re a Crowley Kool-Aid drinker, or a member of the Patriot Ledger editorial staff (which are apparently one in the same), I think it’s pretty clear that Chief Crowley has seriously misplaced priorities. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t care about Crowley’s many misplaced priorities, but this blatant disregard of a very serious public safety problem, that directly impacts the safety of the members of this union, is beyond outrageous.
When….not if…. the Quincy Police radio system gets someone hurt or killed, I’ve already decided what to say to the officer, or his family, after I offer my condolences and/or prayers; Get a good attorney, have them seize the radio recording, and then tell City Hall to practice writing lots of zeroes on the end of a settlement check. All because Crowley couldn’t resist spending public money to intrude on our personal lives, and to treat himself to a new SUV, rather than fixing the radio system.
Anyone who has been in the military will tell you that one of the most basic tenets of leadership is that you put the welfare of your subordinates above your own personal wants or needs. That’s the reason you’ll see Army (I use the Army as an example because that’s my only direct experience, I’m sure the other branches are the same) officers and NCO’s going through the chow line last….they make sure their troops are fed first, before they eat themselves. That’s leadership. Crowley would be finishing his dessert by the time the patrol officers could get their silverware.
Are you starting to get a general idea of what the “leader” of the Quincy Police Department is all about?
Saturday April 22, 2006
2:19 AM
Taking Your Ball & Going Home - Bruce Tait
One of the fundamental rules of physics is that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. For example, if you fill a glass with water to the very tip-top, then drop an ice cube into it, the water will overflow and spill everywhere. Likewise, whenever Quincy Police Chief Robert Crowley is challenged or embarrassed, he will act-out, in astoundingly juvenile and petty ways, at the patrol officers, regardless if we were the source of the challenge or not. Well, let me rephrase that. Crowley calls Captain Dougan, and has him drop the hammer, because it seems that Crowley can make the decision, but can’t actually implement it himself.
For the last couple of months or so, the Quincy Police Department has been hiring two officers on overtime in Quincy Square for a walking beat patrol on the weekend nights from 10pm-2am. Another walking beat officer was recently added to Wollaston Center from 8pm-12am. As much as it irks me to agree with one of Crowley’s decisions, I think this was a fantastic idea. The bars & clubs in Quincy Square have gotten a lot more active in the last couple of years, and when they let out for the night, the scene around Hancock Street, Ross Parkingway, and the Ross Parking Garage can become quite chaotic. Having two officers on walking patrol is a huge deterrent to public drinking and fights in the area. This was evidenced recently when the two walking officers on overtime happened upon a Casper Milquetoast-type person about to receive a beating from some wanna-be gang bangers at a bus stop. By having the officers in the area, an innocent person didn’t get assaulted, or even worse.
Likewise, Wollaston Center is a virtual magnet for teenagers during Spring & Summer Vacations, especially on the weekends. They can number close to a hundred, and while they are usually a nuisance more than anything, there have been some serious incidents stemming from groups of loitering teens. Having a dedicated walking beat not only keeps the kids moving, and therefore out of trouble, it also keeps the sector cars free to respond to the more serious incidents. When I first started with the Quincy Police in 1994, there were three walking beats staffed on the 4pm-12am shift, even if it meant hiring overtime….Quincy Square, Wollaston Center, and Norfolk Downs.
So, why am I telling you this? Well, as some of you may know, there was a front-page article in the Patriot Ledger on Thursday (4/20), concerning the hiring of private investigators to follow line-of-duty-injured Quincy Police Officers, to the tune of $25,000. You can read all about it on this website, or on the archive section of patriotledger.com. From what I understand, Chief Crowley was not happy about this publicity. I mean, REALLY not happy. However, he was quoted in the article as saying the $25,000 was a “wise investment”.
Really?
Anyone who has taken Economics 101 will tell you that a “wise investment” is an investment that yields a return. As I’ve mentioned, what type of return did Crowley get for the $25,000? When all was said & done….nothing. He may as well have tossed the money into a burning fireplace, for all the good it did. Also, if it was such a “wise investment”, why would he be mad about it being exposed in the media? Shouldn’t he be proud of such an accomplishment?
Anyway…..forget Economics 101, and get back to Physics 101, where there is always the equal and opposite reaction. The day after this Patriot Ledger article ran, Chief Crowley, through Captain Dougan (as always), cancelled the three walking beats scheduled for Friday night (4/21). When these walking beats were instituted, I was told by Captain Dougan the only reason they would be cancelled would be for inclement weather, meaning rain, which is reasonable. Well, Friday night was beautiful….a little chilly, but warmer than one of the nights I had the Quincy Square beat a couple of weeks ago. The bars & clubs in Quincy Square were hopping right until I got off-duty at midnight, and from talking to the officers who were assigned the Wollaston/North Quincy sector cars, there were tons of kids hanging-out in Wollaston Center.
So, why were the walking beats cancelled? Perhaps it’s because Crowley was embarrassed in the Patriot Ledger, and had to find some way to act-out against the patrol officers, his favorite target. Forget for a second the fact that three patrol officers had altered their plans on one of the weekend nights they get off every seven weeks, and were therefore cheated out of four hours overtime, there is also the fact that there were three less police officers patrolling areas where they were sorely needed. The last night of Spring Vacation, and the Wollaston Center walking beat is cancelled?
Whenever one of my children throws a temper-tantrum because things don’t happen the way they want, I have to check to make sure that I’m in my own house, instead of 1 Sea Street.
Wednesday April 5, 2006
1:14 AM
Spy vs. Spy - Bruce Tait
Due to the wonders of the Internet, I’ve been able to communicate with other police officers from all over the country, and even in other parts of the world. What has surprised me are the similarities of the different departments….it seems like there are some universal complaints among police officers, regardless of where we work. What surprised me even more was the fact that there are actually some police chiefs and police commissioners that care about their subordinates, and at least put forth some minimal effort to prove it. This is a totally foreign concept to those of us who work for the Quincy Police Department.
For example, one of my online police friends is with the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPD Chief is William Bratton, who is certainly no stranger to this area. Whenever there is an officer-involved shooting (and, unfortunately, there are many with the LAPD every year), Chief Bratton either calls or visits the officer, just to let him/her know that he’s aware of the situation, and cares about them. Chief Bratton is also famous for vigorously defending his officers to the media, which is the major reason why he is such a highly-respected figure in law enforcement circles.
Compare this to Quincy Police Chief Robert Crowley. When a Quincy Police Officer is injured in the line of duty, and that happens a lot more often than you probably think, Chief Crowley does indeed pick-up the phone. Not to call the injured officer to see how they’re doing, or to say “you’re doing a good job”. He picks-up the phone to call a private investigator. You see, Crowley seems to believe that every patrol officer injured in the line of duty, even those with broken bones, torn ligaments, and serious internal injuries, is trying to pull a fast one.
If you go to the “Image Gallery” section of this website, click on “Spy vs. Spy”, where you will see scans of the receipts from the private investigation firms that Chief Crowley has hired to hound line-of-duty-injured Quincy Police Officers (sorry about the coffee stains on some of them, but that's bound to happen to any document that spends time in a police cruiser). Feel free to go through them with your calculator, but I’ll save you the suspense and tell you the total is $24,674.55. Yes, almost $25,000 dollars, which doesn’t cover the last few months, since I filed the Freedom of Information Act request to get these records last year. Also notice that there are two different private investigation firms used. I imagine the first PI firm was dismissed when they didn’t get the results that Crowley wanted. Perhaps….and, to Crowley, this suggestion is like Boolean Algebra, digitally encrypted into Attic Greek, using a Zodiac Killer cryptogram…..the officers were legitimately injured, so the first hired gun couldn’t find any wrong-doing?
Anyway, who cares? It’s only public money, right?
So….what did Chief Crowley get in return for blowing almost $25,000 of city money in a quixotic rage? Other than very poor morale among the patrol officers and even more bad will….nothing, really. Some crappy video of an injured officer allegedly carrying some wallboard into his house. That officer has since retired, unrelated to the injury issue, so the “investigation” of him was a red herring. Every other investigation of members of this union has turned up nothing. Absolutely nothing.
What could that $25,000 have bought, other than some amateurish videotape? Take a look at the sad condition of some of our cruisers, and the answer is obvious, especially when a new, fully-equipped Ford Police Interceptor costs right around $25,000. Or, how about finally fixing the radio system, so we have something better than a 50/50 chance that our portable radios will work when we need help? No….it’s more important in Crowley’s eyes to screw with the patrol officers, rather than give us the proper equipment we need to safely do our jobs. If you’re a Quincy taxpayer, you should be outraged at this frivolous misuse of public money. Call your city councilors to let them know;
City Hall - 617-376-1000
If you want to be even more outraged, tune your cable TV to Channel 10, and listen to our radio system in action. Whenever you hear an officer's broadcast that is totally unreadable, which should take about 10 minutes, keep in mind that Crowley thinks hiring PI's to follow injured officers is a far better use of your tax money than fixing that abomination of a radio system.
So, why is Chief Crowley obsessed with following injured officers (and, after viewing the scans of the PI receipts, do you have any doubt whatsoever he’s obsessed)? I speculate it’s because he has no clue what it’s like to be injured on the job. The thought of an officer being paid to convalesce at home, even with serious injuries, seems to drive Crowley bonkers. Any police officer who has been out injured will tell you it’s no bargain. The first week or two is okay, but it gets depressing after awhile, especially if you’re physically unable to do simple things like pick-up your children, or take out the trash. As if that isn’t stressful enough, we now have to worry about some second-rate private gumshoe hiding in our bushes, parking in front of our neighbor’s houses, etc. One of the officers who had a PI following them expressed it best when they said, “I felt like a prisoner in my own house”. Is it really any wonder why the morale of the Quincy Police Department is the worst anyone can remember?
At this point, I’d like to invite Chief Crowley to send his private investigators to follow me, even though I’m not out injured. I promise those PI’s would be bored to tears, as they documented me driving to & from work, dropping my kids off at school, and other scandalous activity. If they’re lucky, they might catch me having a big day, like attending court, getting a haircut, or dropping-off/picking-up dry cleaning. If they’re REALLY lucky, they might bag me taking my kids to a playground, or out to Friendly’s on a day-off.
My question is…..how would Chief Crowley’s personal life stand-up to the same scrutiny? Perhaps it’s time to find out, because anyone can hire a private investigation firm.
Sunday April 2, 2006
12:51 AM
Tin Cans & String - Bruce Tait
I’m sure that everyone reading this, at least over the age of 30 or so, at some time during their childhood tried the experiment where you connect two empty soup cans with some string. When the string is pulled taut, you can yell into one empty can, and the words are audible over the other can, even at impressive distances. When I was a kid, my friends and I would use the tin cans and string until we graduated to the Radio Shack “Space Patrol” walkie-talkies, which were about $5 per set of two, back then. The really sad thing is that both those methods of communication are infinitely more reliable than the radio system/equipment of the Quincy Police Department.
The latest in a long line of embarrassing and tragedy-in-the-making situations involving the Quincy Police radio system happened last night. The Quincy Police Drug Control Unit (DCU) was conducting surveillance in West Quincy, when a DCU Detective observed an alleged drug transaction. This detective followed the alleged customer onto Route 3 South (arresting the customer is crucial in drug cases, in order to prove distribution on the part of the seller). So, this detective tried to radio Quincy Police dispatch on our Channel 1, which is the main dispatch channel du jour. No good, they couldn’t understand anything he said. He tried Channel 2…..once again, no good. So, he tried the BAPERN channels.
An explanation is in order here….BAPERN is an acronym for the Boston Area Police Emergency Radio Network. It’s a regional network of police frequencies that can be used by any police agency in the Greater Boston area…..the list of participating agencies is very lengthy. Whenever we leave Quincy during a police action, we notify the relevant agencies on BAPERN. This radio system is completely independent of the Quincy Police radio system, the only connection we have to it is our ability to (try to) use the frequencies.
Anyway, this detective tried to contact someone….anyone….on BAPERN. The only person that could somewhat understand him was the state police dispatcher in Boston. Unfortunately, this incident had already gone south of where SP-Boston covers, so a ridiculous game of radio relay ensued. For obvious reasons, DCU Detectives operate solely off their portable radios. Our regular cruiser radios have enough power to usually blast through any interference or other problems, but the DCU Detectives have no such luxury.
So…this detective is following the alleged drug buyer, trying to let other law enforcement agencies know where he is, but his portable radio is such a piece of crap (like so many of us have), he couldn’t get the information over the air. State police troopers were shutting-down lanes & exits on Route 3, not knowing that the detective & alleged buyer had already passed their locations, because no one could understand what the DCU Detective was saying. It’s a minor miracle that the buyer was eventually stopped & arrested in Hingham. From what I understand, the state troopers and assorted local police from Weymouth and Hingham were very apologetic for not locating the detective sooner, but the apology should be reversed. If any trooper or officer involved in that train-wreck is reading this, I sincerely apologize for any anxious moments you may have had. Our radio system/equipment should be called “The Widow Maker”, and no one on our command staff seems to give a damn about it.
There are two issues at work here….our radio system, and our radio equipment. The above incident puts to rest any doubts that our radio system is solely to blame. As I mentioned, BAPERN is a totally independent system, with their own frequencies, repeaters, etc. Our DCU Detective couldn’t transmit on BAPERN because his portable radio, like so many of us have, is defective. The other issue is the radio system itself. Anyone who has listened to our dispatch frequencies for the last few months knows that we’ve switched back & forth between Channels 1 & 2 about a dozen times, depending on what works at any given moment.
Where are the new portable radios? As I’ve mentioned before, we were told they would be in-service by mid-February. We’re now approaching mid-April, and there is no sign of them. The two most common excuses I’ve heard for the delay are;
1) They need to have the software installed.
2) They need to be engraved (to mark them as QPD radios).
My questions are;
1) After I was issued my current portable radio many years ago, I was called-in to have a software upgrade, so I could transmit to other local departments. It took about 30 seconds, after the radio was hooked-up to a laptop. Besides that, the Quincy Police radio technician currently has one of the new portable radios, and has for quite awhile, with the new software installed. If he has one, why don’t the cops on the street have the same?
2) Who cares if they're engraved? Even if anyone besides the brass did care, does it really take this long to engrave 250 radios? Is it being done in calligraphy, with gold relief?
How bad is the Quincy Police radio system? I’ve told my wife that if I’m ever shot, stabbed, or otherwise seriously injured, to have her get the union attorney to seize the radio recordings for the incident (that is, if they don't conveniently "disappear"). I’ve also adopted the habit of taking my Nextel phone with me on each radio call, when I previously left it in the cruiser, because Nextel is infinitely more reliable than my portable radio. If I can “chirp” a fellow officer after my portable radio fails, yet again, I figure I might at least have a chance.
My Nextel phone cost me about $75. My issued portable radio, which is about as reliable as a $2 watch, was over $1000. You do the math. Anyone else see a problem here?
Saturday March 25, 2006
2:49 AM
Christine -Part II - Bruce Tait
*NOTE* - Someone recently approached me, upset at the thought that people might think that I speak for the entire membership of the QPPOA in this column. I think it’s fairly obvious that it would be impossible to get 150+ people to totally agree on anything, and since I sign my name to each entry, I think it’s also obvious that what I write here is my opinion. In any case, I promised this person I would put in a disclaimer, and since I’m a man of my word; what I write here does not necessarily reflect the views of the *entire* membership of the QPPOA.
Now that we have the legalities out of the way…..an update on Christine. I recently had the chance to chat with the officer that was driving Christine when she decided to terminate the pursuit of the drug dealer/attempted cop killer on Route 3 South. It was a classic laugh-or-cry moment as he recounted being unable to get Christine over 40mph on the highway, watching the taillights of the suspect’s mini-van grow smaller in front of him. To add insult to injury, traffic was passing him, quite upset that a police cruiser with the blue lights flashing was going 40mph in the fast lane. Some of the passing motorists expressed their displeasure by giving the officer the “one-fingered peace sign” as they passed. The officer had to shut-off the blue lights, out of embarrassment, and limp Christine to the side of the road.
A couple of days ago, I was sitting in the station, writing a report, when I received a “chirp” on my Nextel phone. It was from the officer I knew was assigned to drive Christine that evening. His words were simple, but chilling;
“It did it again”.
The officer was approaching a stop sign, applied the brakes, and Christine once again went to full-throttle. Luckily, the officer was somewhat prepared this time, and she only lurched forward about 3-4 feet this time. The officer told me that he was going to try to get Christine back to the station, since we’re prohibited from broadcasting any cruiser problems over the radio (see the 3 chimps below). I told this officer to stop immediately, and call a tow truck. If Christine decided to act-up again on the way to the station, and someone got hurt, who do you think would land in the jackpot? Can you say “PATROL OFFICER”?? So, Christine was once again towed to the station.
We can all laugh about the absurdity of a police cruiser being unable to get over 40mph during a pursuit, or comparing it to a demonically-possessed car, but if a child on a bicycle, or a mother with a baby stroller was in front of Christine when she decided to lurch forward, no one would be laughing, the City of Quincy would be facing the prospect of a seven-figure lawsuit, and a totally innocent patrol officer would be facing a lifetime of misplaced guilt.
Why is this cruiser allowed to remain in service???
Sunday March 19, 2006
2:05 AM
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!! - Bruce Tait
This question comes from Jim in Wollaston, who wants to know;
Q: Why do you keep saying that Chief Crowley never worked the street?
A: Because, as far as we’ve been able to tell, he never did. In spite of being a self-proclaimed “gritty street cop” in the Patriot Ledger, we’ve been unable to find any example of him actually being a street cop. Like many aspects of the chief’s life, his pre-QPD law enforcement experience is a bit mysterious. From what I’ve heard from veteran and retired QPD Officers, Crowley came here in the early 1970’s, from some type of federal investigative agency. Now, federal investigators are excellent at what they do, investigations, but I would never call a federal agent a street cop, nor do I suspect they do. I’ve also heard rumors that he was once employed by the Boston Police, but have been unable to confirm this.
So….Crowley gets appointed to the Quincy Police Department, and is immediately assigned to the organized crime unit, working undercover. I’m sure he has some interesting stories to tell from his time in that unit, but I’d hardly call planting bugs, and watching suspected bookmakers, being a street cop.
Net time as a street cop = 0 days.
When Crowley finally leaves the organized crime unit, it’s as a sergeant. Not a regular patrol sergeant, but as supervisor of the motorcycle unit, which was then mostly tasked with traffic enforcement. Sergeants will, when needed, back-up patrol officers or take a radio call. Well, some sergeants will, and from what I understand, Sergeant Crowley was not one of them.
Net time as a street cop = 0 days.
Moving quickly through the ranks, Crowley is soon promoted to lieutenant, making the jump from pure supervisor to management. In this capacity, he worked mostly as a patrol commander, managing either the 4pm-Midnight or Midnight-8am shifts. In this capacity, his street experience consisted mostly of driving around and making work for the patrol officers by calling-in phantom incidents that always seemed to be unfounded, as well as the ubiquitous illegally parked cars & kids drinking in the woods.
Net time as a street cop = 0 days.
Soon enough, Crowley is promoted to captain. Another promotion, another layer of insulation from the street. In this capacity, Crowley worked several assignments….commander of night patrol, commander of BCI (detectives), and in an ill-fated experiment by thankfully-retired Chief Bill Falco (by the way, Bill, I had just as much material about you for this website….I bet retirement isn’t looking so bad right now) where he was named “operations commander”, becoming a de-facto deputy chief, in violation of a city ordinance that requires the senior captain become acting chief in the real chief’s absence. Once again, his street experience in these assignments consisted of making work for the patrol officers by stirring the pot, and generally being a pain-in-the-ass.
Net time as a street cop = 0 days.
Now, Crowley is the chief. The big cheese, the head honcho, the big man on campus. To prove that old habits die hard, Crowley has limited his law enforcement activities as chief to calling-in illegally parked cars in Quincy Center, and his continuing obsession with kids drinking in the woods. I’ll mention here that young rookie cops, just out of the academy, tend to put a lot of misplaced emphasis on incidents that are minor in the grand scheme of things. Incidents like……illegally parked cars and kids drinking in the woods. Starting to see the correlation?
Net time as a street cop = 0 days.
I freely admit that I stink at math, but I think I can handle this one;
0+0+0+0+0 = 0 days as a street cop.
Some of you may wonder why I care about this. Mostly, it’s because I think people have the right to know the truth, especially about someone as powerful as the chief of police, who is paid well over $100,000 per year. But, there is also another reason, admittedly a bit personal.
The title of street cop is something you earn. You earn it by doing your time in a black & white, shagging 911 calls. You earn it by being assaulted, spit-on, and being called every name in the book. You earn it by fighting with drunks, junkies, and generally bad people. You earn it by wading into a bar fight where you’re outnumbered 10-1, and you come out the winner. You earn it by sitting in some decrepit rooming house, waiting for the on-call judge to approve the emergency restraining order you’ve prepared. You don’t have that title handed to you, and you certainly don’t bestow it upon yourself. Those of us who actually are street cops resent it very much when someone tries to ride our coattails.
There is also one, non-negotiable rule about being a street cop. You don’t let your personal feelings come into play when another cop needs help. For example, a few years ago, when Crowley was still the operations commander, I was driving near Quincy Center, when I heard him request a cruiser at Hancock Street & Cottage Avenue. Now, it’s no secret to anyone who reads this blog that Crowley and I are not exactly on each other’s Christmas card lists, although I did thoughtfully send him a nice Christmas gift last year from the union. Our professional differences never entered my mind; I instantly drove to where he was, and backed him up. After the incident was over, Crowley somewhat sheepishly thanked me for backing him up, as if he couldn’t believe it. What he doesn’t understand is that almost every cop would crawl 100 yards over broken glass to get to another cop that was in trouble, regardless of their personal feelings towards them. I very easily could have turned left instead of right and left him on his own, but a cop asked for help, so I got there as fast as I could.
Compare this to October 30th, 2003. Officer Peter Curley (who is now the QPPOA Treasurer) was assigned the Quincy Center walking beat. At about 9:30pm or so, he was walking down Hancock Street when he observed an individual that is very well known to us. Ironically enough, considering the title of this article, we call this particular person “the flying monkey” because of his uncanny resemblance to the nightmare-inducing creatures of the same name in the “Wizard of Oz”. Less than 30 yards away, then-Captain Crowley, the operations commander, was sitting in his fully marked police vehicle, facing the location where Officer Curley was. Officer Curley could see Crowley watching him.
So, Officer Curley had dispatch check the flying monkey for warrants. Sure enough, he had 8 warrants out for his arrest, including one for Assault & Battery on a Police Officer. The dispatcher asked if Officer Curley wanted another unit to back him up, but he was expecting Crowley to get out of his cruiser, and walk across the street. Instead, he just looked-on. Officer Curley even gestured to Crowley, as if to say “are you gonna help me?” Finally, Officer Curley told dispatch to send another unit. The closest available were special operations units, which took almost 5 minutes to get there, even with lights & siren, as they were coming from another area of the city. So, for almost 5 minutes, Officer Curley was alone with a suspect who we know from experience has no problem mixing it up with the police, while Crowley, the operations commander, the second-in-charge of the police department, who is supposed to be concerned with the welfare of his troops, just watched from down the street.
Gritty street cop? I think not.
Coward? You tell me.
If you think I’m making this stuff up, write to Officer Curley, and ask him yourself. His e-mail is pcurley@qppoa.com
So, the next time you see Chief Crowley proclaim himself to be a “gritty street cop” in yet another puff-piece Patriot Ledger article, remember……the Great and Powerful Oz has spoken.
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