Police News Roundup
The Post reports that firefighters will be subject to random drug testing just like their police cousins. What remains to be seen in what will happen once a firefighter tests positive. In the NYPD, there is a zero-tolerance police for drug use. Any positive test is grounds for dismissal--no pension, no early retirement, nothing. Base10 does not dispute the wisdom of this policy but suspects firefighters will not be subject to such strict penalties.

A Brooklyn cop was charged with perjury after falsely testifying on behalf of a friend in Traffic Court in order to get him out of a ticket.

The Daily News reports a break in the case of the slaying of Police Officer Vito Chiaramonte's murder in 1977. Base10 has seen the information posters about this case, but never knew any of the details. Apparently, an informant recently extradited from Germany is trying to cooperate with authorities to get time off his sentence for new child abuse charges. It would be great to solve an old case like this, but remember, Chiaramonte was no angel and was involved in thefts from drug dealers.

Newsday reports that a judge has awarded Mollen Commission witness James Baird a three-quarters disability pension. Baird claims that he suffered debilitating stress as a result of shabby treatment he received at the hands of fellow officers after his identity became public. Without regard to whether Baird was harassed by his co-workers, the judge made a foolish decision. The city cannot allow disability pensions to be awarded for such loosely defined psychological condition as "stress." Psychological problems can become grounds for disability, but the three-quarters pension (3/4 of your salary tax free for the rest of your life) in this case is the equivalent of finding the promised land. Psychological conditions are largely diagnosed through self-reported information. A policy easily allowing them to result in three-quarters pensions would literally open the floodgates.

Newsday also has an update on Sgt. John Marchisotto, the self-styled corruption warrior fighting laziness in Staten Island's Viper Units. Apparently, Marchisotto testified at Manhattan BP C. Virginia Fields video surveillance hearings last week. The article also notes that the sergeant may not have all his oars in the water.

In a very interesting case, the Medical Examiner has determined that a nearly year-old death of a Rikers Island inmate was in fact a homicide. The homeless prisoner contracted pneumonia and died while in custody. He died largely from the fact that he had no spleen, and it took this long for investigators to determine why his spleen was missing. Apparently, the prisoner had been mugged and severely beaten in early 2002. When he was treated doctors discovered a severely bruised spleen which they removed. I find in interesting that Newsday ran the headline, "Prisoner's Death Ruled a Homicide," the inference being that Police or Corrections were to blame. The homicide was committed by the guy that hit him in the spleen.

And finally, in "the species is better off without him" department, last week's New York Press reports the following incident which is--but for its senseless tragedy--terribly funny. It's just too good not to quote fully,

Ignoring the rules of logic, common sense and irony a few weekends ago, Thomas Woods, 59, set fire to a rug in his Fire Island home. Then he made a wager with his roommate that he could stay inside the burning house longer. Woods won the bet after his roommate fled to a neighbor's house to call 911. Sadly, he wasn't able to savor his victory for long, given that he died in the blaze. Local police suspect that alcohol might have been involved.

Base10 wonders if this was to be followed by a round of Russian roulette with an automatic, or a car explosion followed by burnt lips.
- posted by Base10 @ 6:50 PM