Police News Roundup.
Consider this: A small and predominantly white town near Columbus, Ohio is planning a memorial for a slain Police Officer. The officer in question was killed while guarding a witness against a notorious local criminal. The slain officer happened to be black. A local clergyman however is opposed to this. His reason is that the officer is black and believes that since the town is a white community, it should be honoring a white officer instead. Three questions immediately come to mind:

• Is Columbus such a racist community that it would make decisions of this type based solely on the color of the officer's skin?
  
• Can this clergyman rightfully be called a man of God for even suggesting such a thing?
  
• What kind of messages does this send to the children of Columbus? It's more important to honor white cops who die than it is to honor black cops?

Now, Base10 apologizes to Columbus, Ohio. Nothing of the kind happened there. It happened in Jamaica, Queens. And the slain officer in question was not black, he was white. The clergyman in question, Rev. Charles Norris of the Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church, believes that a PAL center to be named after Edward Byrne should be named after a black officer instead. Byrne was rookie cop when he was shot and killed in 1988 while guarding a witness who was to testify against local drug dealers "Fat Cat" Nichols and Pappy Mason. Three questions immediately come to mind:

• Is Jamaica, Queens such a racist community that it would make decisions of this type based solely on the color of the officer's skin?
  
• Can Rev. Charles Norris rightfully be called a man of God for even suggesting such a thing?
  
• What kind of messages does this send to the children of Jamaica? That it's more important to honor black cops who die than it is to honor white cops?

The Daily News has an interesting story about two unfortunate men named Otis Wilson. They happened to be born on the same day. However, one is a law abiding citizen and the other is a wanted criminal. Unfortunately, the good Otis has been arrested several times in place of the bad Otis. Let's hope this gets straightened out.

Mayor Mike has joined the fray and is now calling for the ouster of Justice/Jackass Laura Blackburne after she allowed a wanted felon to escape from her courtroom knowing a police detective was waiting to arrest him. Good for you, Mr. Mayor!

Michael Daly also has a piece about Blackburne's history with the Housing Police when she was Chairman of the Housing Authority. In fairness, she did get the ball rolling on police facility renovations that were long overdue. But her participation in a police raid and her supposed "death threats" were clearly political grandstanding.

Speaking of Justice/Jackass Blackburne, the Times bemoans the unavailability of information about Supreme Court Justices. This is true, it's almost impossible for the public to easily get any information of this type.

The Daily News has a nice profile of Capt. Douglas Ralston, Commanding Officer of the 115 Precinct. The article notes the fact that Capt. Ralston is returning to the precinct where he grew up.

Also in the News, a judge has ruled that Sgt. Eileen Barry can proceed with a $1 million lawsuit against the Department. The case involves retaliation against Barry after she became embroiled in a scandal involving falsified reports of truants by members of her unit. A judge has said the case illustrates how the so-called Blue Wall of Silence endures among New York's Finest.

There was a pretty horrific murder in Maspeth Queens on Sunday. Eighteen year-old Michael Desiderio hacked a friend to death with a Japanese sword.

The Post had a very nice story about Lt. Daniel O'Keefe who is slated to win the Department's Medal of Valor for bravery during 9/11. This in itself is great news, but it seems that O'Keefe's grandfather, Lt. Edward Quinn, won the same medal almost one hundred years ago. Quinn was a rookie at the time and chased an apprehended a suspect in spite of being shot in the leg. This is some family!

Newsday has a weird story about Darius McCollum, a man who has been arrested 20 times for impersonating transit workers. In his latest incident he was found in an LIRR facility in possession of restricted keys.

And finally, in the "savage breast" department, Nigerian police officers were caught singing along with a crowd of striking local workers and a local pop star. Nigerian Police officials deny that the police were joining in with the protestors. Instead, they suggested that the officers were in fact using music to calm the group so that they would not get out of hand. Who knew Nigeria had its own version of "Cop Rock?"
- posted by Base10 @ 10:08 AM