Looking Back: A Police Story

Department

PROLOGUE

September 25, 2011

I found myself waking from a deep sleep. I opened my eyes and I was face down, lying on my stomach looking at the ground. All I could see was sand and rocks. I thought I was on a beach and I thought that was funny…what was I doing falling asleep on a beach?

It was very quiet. I couldn’t hear or see anyone. Time seemed to have stopped! It all seemed so peaceful! I felt I could lay there forever.

Slowly, I started to think about where I was. I realized I wasn’t on a beach. I was laying face down in the sand and rocks of Eastern Afghanistan. I was stunned…then I heard someone yell run!

CHAPTER ONE

Eastern Afghanistan

I arrived in Afghanistan on August 20, 2011 looking forward to spending a year long deployment as a Law Enforcement Professional (LEP) assigned to a U.S. military outpost in Eastern Afghanistan.

LEPs were retired federal, state or local police officers who had years of investigative experience dealing with organized criminal groups, crime scenes, evidence, and interviewing and interrogation procedures. LEPs were embedded with U.S. military units at the brigade, battalion and company levels and served as advisors, mentors and trainers assisting with gathering evidence to assist in the prosecution of detainees who were captured on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

I was 61 years old. In 2008, I had retired as a Detective Lieutenant from the Suffolk County Police Department. I was honored to have been selected as a LEP and I was looking forward to the coming year. I was hoping that my years of experience in the police department would be an asset to my military commanders.

1977

Suffolk County Police Department

I learned my trade in policing in the Suffolk County Police Department which is located on Long Island in New York. The Suffolk County Police Department was formed in 1960 when the five western towns of Suffolk; Babylon, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown and Brookhaven joined together to form one police district with one police department. At that time, the department numbered around three thousand sworn officers and was around the tenth largest police department in the country. There are also some smaller towns and villages mainly on the east-end of Long Island which still have their own police departments and the Suffolk County Police assists them with investigations which require specialized units such as Homicide, Arson, or Narcotics.

Originally, the department was broken down into six police precincts with specialized squads and detective units working out of police headquarters in Yaphank, New York.

I was sworn in as a Police Officer on December 20, 1977 and assigned to the Suffolk County Police Academy in January of 1978. The academy is a 6 month basic training course which includes: academics, physical training, defensive tactics, first aid, range qualification and emergency vehicle operation. At that time, the police academy was located in an old military base in Westhampton and I would commute in from Queens New York which on a good day was a two hour commute each way.

I graduated from the academy in June and I was assigned to the First Precinct which covered the geographic area of Babylon Town. In 1978, patrol officers worked a 3 tour schedule. Every week the tour changed. One week we worked 8AM to 4PM, the next week we worked 4PM to 12AM and the following week 12AM to 8AM. The theory is that you get better acquainted with the area you are working when you see it through all of the different times of the day. Working a 4 to 12 tour is a lot different than an 8 to 4 tour or a 12 to 8 tour. The calls for services are different and the people you encounter and the crimes committed are also different.

The First Precinct covers the geographic area of Babylon Township. The town is divided into hamlets and villages which include: Babylon Village, West Babylon, North Babylon, Deer Park, Wyandanch, East Farmingdale, Lindenhurst Village, Lindenhurst, North Lindenhurst, Copiague and North Amityville.

At that time, the precinct was broken down into 23 separate sectors with each sector from one to twenty-three having its own marked police car assigned. The twenty-three sectors were then divided into four areas of supervision controlled by a road sergeant. Essentially, a squad works under the supervision of their sergeant.

The First Precinct building was located in West Babylon. Assigned to administrative duties were: a desk sergeant, a desk squad and a lieutenant who had the overall supervisory responsibility for that tour. In charge of the day-to-day administration and supervision of the precinct were a Captain, a Deputy Inspector who is the Executive Officer, and an Inspector who is the Precinct’s Commanding Officer.

Each precinct has a detective squad assigned for Felony Investigations. In the First Precinct, the detective squad is known as the 1st Squad. The 1st Squad is made-up of three teams of detectives with a Detective Sergeant supervising each team and a Detective Lieutenant as the Commanding Officer of that squad.

A Plainclothes Unit is assigned to Misdemeanor Investigations and Street Crimes. This section is the Precinct’s Crime Section (PCS). This section is made up of three teams of investigators with a sergeant supervising each team and a lieutenant as the Commanding Officer.

The department is also divided into Divisions. There is the Patrol Division which includes all of the uniform officers, the precinct officers as well as other specialized units and sections including: Highway Patrol, Aviation Section, Marine Section and K-9. There is also a Support Services Division which includes: the Police Academy and the Quartermaster Section. The Police Academy is further broken down to include: Recruit Training, In-service Training, the Range and Emergency Vehicle Operation or the EVOC Section. The Detective Division includes all of the Precinct Detective Sections and specialized units such as: Homicide, Narcotics, Arson, and Vehicle Theft. Each division has their own command structure with a Chief in charge of each division and a Chief of Department as the highest ranking officer and a Police Commissioner in overall charge of the department.

Police officers who were assigned to the Patrol Division worked in a twenty-two squad system. Each day a new squad would start rotating through the three tours with days off in between each week of tours. I was assigned to Squad 3 and I started off in the precinct as a relief operator. Rookies had no permanent assignment and were assigned to whatever openings occurred during that tour. Duties included: working inside the precinct as a desk officer, walking a foot post or working in a sector car.

There’s a saying that it’s hard to undo a first impression. While a recruit at the police academy, I took to heart the advice that rookies should: look, listen, and learn. And, so thinking this was good advice and being somewhat quiet to begin with; I started my new career looking to listen and learn from the senior police officers.

During our training, we had been told that upon graduation we would be assigned to Field Training under the supervision of a Field Training Officer. Field Training would consist of being assigned to three different precincts for six weeks each. Field Training would round out and complete our training. The Field Training Officers would take us from the classroom and the theoretical to the real world of policing. At the end of field training we would be assigned to our permanent precinct.

While at the police academy, part of our classroom training consisted of one day of instruction in report writing and forms. We reviewed one fill-in-the-blank form after another over the course of an eight hour day. By the end of that day, we were all confused by the mass of information which had been imparted and that we were trying to process. But, we were told not to worry because our field training officer would give us on-the-job training in paperwork!

Just before graduation, we were informed Field Training was being cancelled! There was a manpower shortage and we were being directly assigned to our permanent precincts. I was assigned to Squad 3 in the First Precinct.

I was not familiar with Suffolk County. I grew up in Queens and I only knew how to get to my precinct and how to get home after my tour was over. I normally drove around the precinct and to my assignments with a map on my lap trying to figure out where I was and where I was going to! I had grown up where the streets and the avenues were numbered. It was easy to find your way from 138th street to 102nd street in Queens but in Suffolk all the streets had names. There was no rhyme or reason as to how the streets were set up! I would constantly get lost trying to find my way back to the precinct. What I wouldn’t have given for a GPS!

I got off to a bad start and I quickly ran afoul of my Squad Sergeant and the Field Training Officer who I was assigned to for my first three weeks in the precinct. I didn’t know the area, I didn’t know the paperwork and I was too quiet. Within those three weeks I had become a target for my sergeant. According to him, I couldn’t do anything right.

Sometime after those initial three weeks I was assigned to a sector car in Lindenhurst. It was a midnight tour and I was working alone. The officer in the adjoining sector had made an arrest and was out of service processing his arrest at the precinct. So I took it upon myself to cover his area as well as mine. I slowly drove through both sectors checking the glass or looking for a break in the storefronts which would indicate a burglary. I was in the process of checking this area when my sergeant drove up and wanted to know why I was out of sector. Although what I was doing was right, I was ordered back to my sector and told not to leave it again. This was the way my first year in the precinct played out. The one positive I learned in my first year was how not to treat subordinates. It was a lesson I carried with me throughout the rest of my career.

I was still living in Queens, New York and I commuted into Suffolk County every day. I remember one Sunday morning while driving into work. It was just after seven in the morning and I was listening to 1010WINS News Radio. I listened to a news story about an escaped prisoner from a New York City Prison called Rikers Island who was involved in a shooting with detectives from the 1st Precinct. The detectives had information the escapee was hiding out in a house in West Babylon and they had a shoot out with him but he had escaped on foot and fled the area. According to the radio, there was currently an ongoing manhunt. How exciting I thought as I drove in, a manhunt in my precinct!

I arrived at the precinct and was met by my lieutenant, Dick Kenny. Lieutenant Kenny advised me that; I was assigned to an unmarked car with another officer (Greg) to patrol the West Babylon area to look for the escapee! I was amazed; Greg and I were the manhunt!

We were told to patrol the area of West Babylon which bordered Babylon Village. Greg drove and we met up with the 109 Sector Car Operator who covered this same area. We stopped to discuss the situation and while we were speaking a radio call was dispatched of a man with a gun at the Babylon Highway Department. The highway department was just a couple of blocks from where we were sitting.

We drove south on Rt.109 and as we neared the highway department we saw one of their trucks pull out onto Rt. 109 heading south. There were a group of workers who were pointing to the truck and yelling, There’s a man with a gun! We had found our escapee!

As we pulled close to the truck, a male on the passenger front side leaned outside of the truck cab and pointed a handgun at us. Meanwhile, Ken (the 109 operator), pulled over and engaged the suspect, firing at him. We continued around and past the 109 car and followed after the truck which was still moving. By this time, our suspect had jumped back into the truck’s cab and I could see he had a gun to the driver’s head. I radioed there was a hostage in the truck and to cease firing.

The truck turned west onto Montauk Highway and we followed closely behind. What ensued was something out of a movie. The escapee would lean out of the passenger door and point his handgun at us and Greg would veer our car over to the drivers’ side of the truck so we would be out of the line of fire.

We drove through Suffolk County and into Nassau County and as we entered the small villages along our route we encountered crossing guards who were stopping traffic for early morning church goers. The truck dutifully stopped each time at the direction of the crossing guards and we would stop behind it while we patiently waited to be waved on. Meanwhile, there must have been 15 or 20 police cars with lights and sirens in a line directly behind us. Once we were waved on, our slow motion pursuit would start again.

In the meantime, we received information over our police radio that the State Police were setting up a roadblock and we were directed to continue our pursuit to the roadblock. As we neared the roadblock, the truck pulled into the grassy median that separated the west and east bound lanes and attempted to turn around. There was no way we were going to let this pursuit continue.

Greg drove our vehicle across and in front of the truck blocking its way. We stopped the truck and as we kept the suspect occupied at the front of the truck one of our precinct detectives inched around from the back of the truck to the passenger door and extended his handgun through the passenger side open window and shot the suspect.

At the sound of the shot, Greg and I ran forward and opened the passenger door and pulled the suspect out of the cab and cuffed him on the ground. We found his handgun behind his seat. He had flung it backwards in an involuntary reaction as he was shot. The suspect was transported in an ambulance but died on the way to the hospital. The hostage was shaken but unharmed.

Greg and I then drove back to the precinct to wash up. We had become splattered with the suspect’s blood when we cuffed him. We then went and had a cup of coffee to calm our nerves and then later met with Internal Affairs (IA) Investigators who were investigating the incident and gave them a statement. This wasn’t a typical Sunday morning.

Desk Duty

My first permanent assignment was working inside the precinct as a desk officer assigned to Squad 2. It wasn’t a position I wanted but I used the experience to become better acquainted with paperwork and procedures. I worked for Sergeant Runz, who was the Desk Sergeant and Lieutenant Dick Kenny who was the Platoon Lieutenant. They both took me under their wing and taught me a lot about police work, procedures and how to effectively deal with people. They also got me out of Squad 3 and away from my first sergeant.

The desk itself was elevated so you towered over and looked down on anyone entering through the front doors of the precinct. This of course gave the officers a psychological advantage when dealing with the public and was also a barrier which provided physical security for the officers and for the building itself.

The precinct desk was always chaotic. The phones rang non-stop and the walk-in complainants were never ending. You were always busy juggling multiple things at the same time. Besides the phones and the walk-ins you were also responsible for processing and lodging any prisoners who were arrested or were lodged during your tour.

Each precinct contained a male cellblock which consisted of six separate cells with a camera that fed live coverage to six video monitors which were located on the front desk. There were prisoner logs that were maintained for each prisoner and each prisoner had to be visually checked with an entry to the log every 15 minutes. There was also a female cellblock with two separate cells. There were no cameras in this area and a female matron would sit outside the cells and physically monitor any female prisoners. Juvenile prisoners were segregated in a Juvenile Office and were never lodged in the cellblocks.

An arresting officer would process his prisoner’s arrest package and then the desk officer would fingerprint and take the prisoners mug shots (photos). Once this was completed the prisoner was either lodged in the cellblock to be later transported to court for arraignment or bailed out with an Appearance Ticket for a future court date. Of course, the desk officers had to lodge the arrestee or write out the bail paperwork and the Appearance Tickets.

Lodging prisoners was at times, a violent process which required the assistance of more than one officer. Sometimes, the arrestee was drunk or sometimes they would just make a show in front of other arrestees to maintain face kind of like bragging rights or sometimes they were just violent individuals.

There were many times when all of the precincts cellblocks were filled with arrestees as well as the processing rooms and the hallways. The precinct’s prisoner van and multiple police cars would be used the next morning to transport all of the prisoners to court.

I worked as a desk officer for approximately 12 to 18 months and then was assigned as a steady sector car operator. I received the news of my transfer over the telephone, when the precinct’s Executive Officer Deputy Inspector Jeffers called me at home with the news. I appreciated the news and how the inspector took the time to call me at home. There was no doubt in my mind that Sgt. Runz and Lt Kenny had a hand in helping me land this assignment.

I was being transferred into Squad 4 and the Squad 4 Sergeant met with me the week before I started my new assignment. He was right to the point…he told me he didn’t want me in his squad but he didn’t have a say in the matter. I don’t remember what I said to him but I do know his attitude towards me motivated me. I would never forget his words of encouragement!

My new sergeant was old school. He didn’t know me and we had never worked together. He didn’t like the idea I was being assigned to his squad without his input. It didn’t take too long before he changed his mind about me. Eventually, we even partnered up running a off duty security force together.

I was assigned as a steady operator of the 123 car, which was a marked police vehicle. 123 was a sector within the precinct which covered parts of the hamlets of North Babylon and Deer Park and bordered on the east with the 3rd Precinct and on the south with the Southern State Parkway. It was a busy area which comprised: 2 major roads, multiple strip malls, clubs, a large factory area and 2 distinctly different residential areas. It was a single unit – that is I worked alone.

CHAPTER TWO

The 123 Sector

Working as a sector car operator is probably the best job there is in policing. Your office is your car. You respond to dispatched calls in your area as well as backing up your adjoining sector car operators and patrolling your area when you’re not on call. You are the first to arrive at any scene. You are the one who is taking the initial action, making the primary decisions and ultimately responsible for the end results of those decisions. It is also the most dangerous assignment in policing with everyone else either following up or assisting you on your calls.

I worked the 123 sector for 5 years and during this time I became familiar with many of the residents and business owners as well as the local street criminals who lived in and hung out in the area. There were a lot of burglaries in those days and I made it a priority to stop and talk to the many of my residents who had their house’s broken into. Sometimes, I would take the initial report but other times the reports were taken when I was off duty. The formal investigations into burglaries and any follow-ups were conducted by the detectives from our precinct but these investigations were a low priority and unless the detectives had a suspect or evidence which pointed to someone then the report would just be filed with no additional follow-up.

I took burglaries in my sector personally! Maybe, it was because sometime around 1970 my home in Queens had been broken into a couple of times. These burglaries had occurred at night while we were sleeping and after the second time it happened I took to sleeping on a downstairs couch armed with a rifle. The burglar was breaking a small window in our front door and then reaching in and unlocking the door. The burglar was taking small amounts of money and then leaving the same way he came in. So, I knew what it felt like to be victim and I didn’t like the feeling.

Our burglaries stopped when shortly after I took to sleeping on the downstairs couch, I heard a noise at the front door and went to investigate. When I opened the front door, I saw a person standing on the sidewalk and I approached him with rifle in hand and I asked him what he was doing? I don’t remember our conversation but needless to say we never had another break-in after that. So, I didn’t like burglars!

While working in the 123 sector, I would stop and introduce myself to the homeowners who had been burglarized. I would emphasize to them and I would let them know I would be looking for whoever had broken into their home. I would ask them for the details of the break-in such as: the method of entry, and the items which had been stolen. I would also ask them if they had a suspect in mind, someone they thought might have committed the crime? I would tell them, I couldn’t arrest someone just because they thought someone might be responsible, but it might give me a starting point or a lead I could pursue. I also knew all the local burglars which helped.

As part of my patrol technique, I made it my business to know the street criminals who lived in my area; where they hung out, who they hung out with and where they lived. I would gather information by talking to people on the street and I would put this information together like putting the pieces of a puzzle together.

In those years, we had no personal computers so sector car operators would make entries into notebooks and keep car books where we would record information which we could refer back to.

Usually, I had puzzles within puzzles some interconnected and some not. When I had all the pieces put together I would then develop the probable cause to make an arrest. I found the more people who were involved in a crime the easier the crime was to solve. I would look for the weakest link, speaking to everyone on the streets until someone gave me the information I was looking for.

I wasn’t on my own though! I had some excellent Patrol Officers that were in my squad, worked around me and were always willing to help in my investigations. The sector cars that worked to my immediate North, South and West were all manned by officers from Squad 4. Dave and Mike worked in the two sectors above me in Deer Park. Charlie in the sector to my West in North Babylon. JC worked to my South, also in North Babylon. Steve and Eddie worked to the West of Charlie in Wyandanch. We were all single car operators (except for Steve and Eddie) and we all looked out for each other. We backed each other up and we trusted each other explicitly.

As part of my method of operation (MO), I made it a habit to stop and talk to people I had previously arrested or with anyone they hung out with or with anyone who appeared to be suspicious. Often times, these individuals did not want to talk to me or be seen talking to me but I was persistent and time was on my side. I wasn’t going anywhere and I never let on what I knew. They would see me coming and they would get nervous. They never knew what I knew or what I wanted. Was I coming to arrest them or was I just fishing for information? Often times, they would give up information on someone else just so I would leave. Sometimes, they would give me bad information which would point me in the wrong direction away from them towards someone who was innocent (of that particular crime), but I would eventually work this out and I always verified the information through other sources or through the case facts and like I said, time was on my side.

Over time, I developed a relationship with my local criminals. When it was time to lock them up, I would just tell them they were under arrest and to get in the car and it was like where are they going to run to? I knew where they lived, where they worked and where they hung out. Where are they going to go? And, more importantly, they knew me! Why bother fighting or resisting, they knew the process. Usually, I wouldn’t have a problem. We each knew what our respective jobs were. Their job was to commit crimes and try not to get caught while my job was to catch them. There was usually nothing personal in this. They would usually pause for a moment, look at me, shrug and get in the car.

Then we would drive to the precinct. On the way in, I would ask about their family, their girlfriend or wife and what was new in the neighborhood. I was always developing rapport and through rapport I was developing information. At the precinct, I would get them a drink or a cigarette and always treat them well. The next time I would see them, I would stop and say hello and the process would start all over again.

I was on a day off and heading home one evening with my four daughters and we stopped at a local McDonald’s. While on line, I saw one of my regulars and he walked over towards me. He greeted me with respect, shook my hand and then introduced me to his new fiancée. It was all very pleasant. My daughters and I returned to our car and they asked me who the person was that I was speaking to? I told them it was someone I knew and the last time I had seen him was when I was arresting him.

I would normally start my day by driving around the streets of my sector, looking to see if I saw anyone I was looking for or if anything seemed out of place. One morning around 8AM, I drove past the Ivan’s (not their real name) house. The Ivan’s were well known to me, they were petty thieves, burglars and street thugs and there was no love lost between us. As I passed their house, I noticed a car I had never seen before – it was out of place. I drove past again and wrote down the license plate number and then drove further down the block and parked so I could watch the house and car without being seen. I ran a check on the plate through our data dispatcher and was notified the car was wanted by the Nassau County Police Department in connection with a shooting which had occurred earlier that morning. The driver of the vehicle was also identified and I remember his last name was Love.

I spent 30 minutes watching the house during which time I tried to get a plainclothes unit to respond and assist me with a stakeout. There were no plainclothes officers available (because they didn’t start work until 9 AM), so I was on my own. Suddenly, I saw a group of individuals exit the house and enter the car which then took off. I called for backup, followed the vehicle and then pulled it over with my lights and siren.

I ended up taking all the occupants out of the car at gun point. I knew all of them except for the driver whose last name was Love. My backup arrived while I had everyone sitting (at gunpoint) in the road. It was a who’s who of my local criminals. I checked everyone for active warrants but there were no hits except for Love who I then took into custody.

On the way to the precinct, Love told me that he had thrown his handgun away while crossing a bridge (in Nassau County), and we would never find the gun. On arrival at the precinct, I turned Love over to our detectives and also to the Nassau County Detectives who had responded to take him into custody.

On another evening tour, I received an Alarm Ringing call in the factory area of my sector. During this time, I had a problem with burglars breaking into a number of the factories by breaking through the garage doors. The location of the factory was on a street with woods directly across the street and with no other buildings located on that side. As I drove up the street, I could see a car parked across from the building (on the wooded side), where no cars normally parked. As I passed this car, I looked through the car’s window and didn’t see anyone inside. The car was parked just south of the driveway that ran down to the side of the building which also housed numerous connecting businesses.

As I pulled into the driveway, I could see the first business’s garage door had been broken into. It was getting dark and I pulled my vehicle right up to the broken garage door and put my car’s bright lights on with the idea of blinding whoever was still in the building. I then stepped back between the building and the road so I could watch both the building and the car which was parked on the road. I then called for backup.

I