Lancet Jades
04-04-2004, 08:31 AM
PBA: Don't ticket cops
BY J. JIONI PALMER
Staff Writer
The law requires everyone to follow the speed limit and other traffic regulations, but in Suffolk County, exceptions should be made for cops and their families, police union officials say.
Police Benevolent Association president Jeff Frayler said Thursday it has been union policy to discourage Suffolk police officers from issuing tickets to fellow officers, regardless of where they work.
"Police officers have discretion whenever they stop anyone, but they should particularly extend that courtesy in the case of other police officers and their families," Frayler said in a brief telephone interview Thursday. "It is a professional courtesy."
Frayler's comments echo views expressed in the spring union newsletter, in which treasurer Bill Mauck exhorts "you don't summons another cop" and says that when officers decline to cite each other, "the emotion you feel should be that of joy."
Maurice Mitchell, a project coordinator with the Long Island Progressive Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group, said the PBA's position undermines taxpayer confidence in law enforcement.
"It's a slap in the face to the public," he said. "If you can't trust them to enforce a minor infraction, why would you with something more serious? Where do they draw they line?"
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said he is appalled the PBA would encourage its members to have two sets of rules.
"We can't be sending the message that some are above the law," said Levy, a Democrat who had earlier issued an executive order forbidding his staff to possess law enforcement cards to help them get out of tickets. "It goes to the very core of the professionalism in our government."
Angie Carpenter, a Republican lawmaker from West Islip and chairwoman of the legislature's public safety committee, said she didn't have a problem with the PBA's policy because she believes it will be applied judiciously.
"It's the same way they would offer a professional courtesy to a doctor pulled over on the way to the hospital to deliver a baby," she said. "Besides, I can't imagine that if some police officer was to commit an egregious offense that they wouldn't be cited, regardless of who they are."
Deputy Police Commissioner Roger Shannon said that while police officers are not required to issue tickets when they make traffic stops, the department has "no policy that excludes any group of people from enforcement of the law."
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Why the surprise? We already knew cops were above the law, in most cases anyways =/
BY J. JIONI PALMER
Staff Writer
The law requires everyone to follow the speed limit and other traffic regulations, but in Suffolk County, exceptions should be made for cops and their families, police union officials say.
Police Benevolent Association president Jeff Frayler said Thursday it has been union policy to discourage Suffolk police officers from issuing tickets to fellow officers, regardless of where they work.
"Police officers have discretion whenever they stop anyone, but they should particularly extend that courtesy in the case of other police officers and their families," Frayler said in a brief telephone interview Thursday. "It is a professional courtesy."
Frayler's comments echo views expressed in the spring union newsletter, in which treasurer Bill Mauck exhorts "you don't summons another cop" and says that when officers decline to cite each other, "the emotion you feel should be that of joy."
Maurice Mitchell, a project coordinator with the Long Island Progressive Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group, said the PBA's position undermines taxpayer confidence in law enforcement.
"It's a slap in the face to the public," he said. "If you can't trust them to enforce a minor infraction, why would you with something more serious? Where do they draw they line?"
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy said he is appalled the PBA would encourage its members to have two sets of rules.
"We can't be sending the message that some are above the law," said Levy, a Democrat who had earlier issued an executive order forbidding his staff to possess law enforcement cards to help them get out of tickets. "It goes to the very core of the professionalism in our government."
Angie Carpenter, a Republican lawmaker from West Islip and chairwoman of the legislature's public safety committee, said she didn't have a problem with the PBA's policy because she believes it will be applied judiciously.
"It's the same way they would offer a professional courtesy to a doctor pulled over on the way to the hospital to deliver a baby," she said. "Besides, I can't imagine that if some police officer was to commit an egregious offense that they wouldn't be cited, regardless of who they are."
Deputy Police Commissioner Roger Shannon said that while police officers are not required to issue tickets when they make traffic stops, the department has "no policy that excludes any group of people from enforcement of the law."
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Why the surprise? We already knew cops were above the law, in most cases anyways =/