A three-year investigation into the police’s fixing traffic and parking tickets in the Bronx ended in the unsealing of indictments on Friday and a stunning display of vitriol by hundreds of unruly off-duty officers, who converged on the courthouse like a pack of wild wolves, to applaud their accused law breaking colleagues and denounce their prosecution.
In total 16 police officers were arraigned at State Supreme Court in the Bronx, incensed colleagues organized by their union cursed, taunted, intimidated prosecutors and investigators, chanting disrespectfully “Down with the D.A.” and police commissioner “Ray Kelly, hypocrite.”
What added to the outrage was the thuggish behavior of a crowd of off-duty police officers who went to the courthouse to support their accused colleagues. Some chanted “Down with the D.A.!” in reference to Robert Johnson, the Bronx district attorney whose office is prosecuting these cases. Others mocked welfare recipients who were lined up at a benefits office near the courthouse.
As the disgraced NYPD defendants emerged from their morning court appearance, a swarm of officers formed a cordon in the hallway and clapped as they picked their way to the Members of the news media were prevented by court officers from walking down the hallway where more than 100 off-duty police officers had gathered outside the courtroom. The assembled police officers blocked cameras from filming their colleagues, in one instance grabbing lenses and shoving television camera operators backwards.
The investigation has already begun to extend to Bronx trial courtrooms. It rolled into an attempted murder case in late May, and the following week touched drunken driving.
Any police officer swept up in the scandal is susceptible to being asked about the topic when showing up as a witness in unrelated cases. And if jurors cease to believe the words of police officers because they monkeyed with tickets, something many defense lawyers may hope occurs, then it is in these courtrooms that the most corrosive impact of the scandal may be felt.
The charges, detailed in a huge stack of paper made up of nearly two dozen indictments with roughly 1,600 criminal counts, include hundreds of instances in which 10 of the officers allegedly fixed traffic tickets, several people with knowledge of the case said. Six other officers were accused of engaging in a wide variety of corruption crimes, the people said. The charges were unsealed Friday morning in State Supreme Court in the Bronx. Many of the counts are misdemeanors, though all the officers, except for two, were charged with felonies, one of the people said.
Ten of the officers are officials in the union that represents police officers, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the city’s largest police union, and those officers essentially served as liaisons for fixing tickets, several people briefed on the case said. Also among those charged were two sergeants and a lieutenant.
The charges represent a blow to the union, and the case has already changed its culture of freewheeling favor trading, which many said grew from a kind of professional courtesy — one officer helping another — to fixing tickets for family, friends and more distant acquaintances.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vZVVfZOHz
Of the 16 NYPD officers arraigned the ranking as high as lieutenant, 11 were charged with crimes related to fixing tickets. All of them pleaded not guilty, and all but two were released without bail. Officer Ramos was held in $500,000 cash bail. Jennara Cobb, a lieutenant in the Internal Affairs Bureau, was released after posting a $20,000 bail bond. She was accused of leaking information about the investigation to other officers.
Five civilians were also arrested in the case. Among them was Officer Ramos’s wife, charged with participating with him in an insurance scam.
The public is demanding for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Commissioner Kelly and the union leaders to make sure the police live by the laws they are supposed to enforce.
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http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_york_city_police_department/ticketfixing_scandal/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
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In total 16 police officers were arraigned at State Supreme Court in the Bronx, incensed colleagues organized by their union cursed, taunted, intimidated prosecutors and investigators, chanting disrespectfully “Down with the D.A.” and police commissioner “Ray Kelly, hypocrite.”
What added to the outrage was the thuggish behavior of a crowd of off-duty police officers who went to the courthouse to support their accused colleagues. Some chanted “Down with the D.A.!” in reference to Robert Johnson, the Bronx district attorney whose office is prosecuting these cases. Others mocked welfare recipients who were lined up at a benefits office near the courthouse.
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| Pic by Spencer Platt |
As the disgraced NYPD defendants emerged from their morning court appearance, a swarm of officers formed a cordon in the hallway and clapped as they picked their way to the Members of the news media were prevented by court officers from walking down the hallway where more than 100 off-duty police officers had gathered outside the courtroom. The assembled police officers blocked cameras from filming their colleagues, in one instance grabbing lenses and shoving television camera operators backwards.
The investigation has already begun to extend to Bronx trial courtrooms. It rolled into an attempted murder case in late May, and the following week touched drunken driving.
Any police officer swept up in the scandal is susceptible to being asked about the topic when showing up as a witness in unrelated cases. And if jurors cease to believe the words of police officers because they monkeyed with tickets, something many defense lawyers may hope occurs, then it is in these courtrooms that the most corrosive impact of the scandal may be felt.
The charges, detailed in a huge stack of paper made up of nearly two dozen indictments with roughly 1,600 criminal counts, include hundreds of instances in which 10 of the officers allegedly fixed traffic tickets, several people with knowledge of the case said. Six other officers were accused of engaging in a wide variety of corruption crimes, the people said. The charges were unsealed Friday morning in State Supreme Court in the Bronx. Many of the counts are misdemeanors, though all the officers, except for two, were charged with felonies, one of the people said.
Ten of the officers are officials in the union that represents police officers, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the city’s largest police union, and those officers essentially served as liaisons for fixing tickets, several people briefed on the case said. Also among those charged were two sergeants and a lieutenant.
The charges represent a blow to the union, and the case has already changed its culture of freewheeling favor trading, which many said grew from a kind of professional courtesy — one officer helping another — to fixing tickets for family, friends and more distant acquaintances.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vZVVfZOHz
Of the 16 NYPD officers arraigned the ranking as high as lieutenant, 11 were charged with crimes related to fixing tickets. All of them pleaded not guilty, and all but two were released without bail. Officer Ramos was held in $500,000 cash bail. Jennara Cobb, a lieutenant in the Internal Affairs Bureau, was released after posting a $20,000 bail bond. She was accused of leaking information about the investigation to other officers.
Five civilians were also arrested in the case. Among them was Officer Ramos’s wife, charged with participating with him in an insurance scam.
The public is demanding for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Commissioner Kelly and the union leaders to make sure the police live by the laws they are supposed to enforce.
NBCNewYork.com
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_york_city_police_department/ticketfixing_scandal/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
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