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NYPD cop arrested for conduct at Met’s baseball game www.privateofficer.com
Officer Eduardo Cornejo had a legit ticket to the Mets’ sad 6-3 drubbing by the Cincinnati Reds, but ballpark management confronted him once they realized he was stretched out in a seat better than the one he had purchased.
“He was in a section he wasn’t supposed to be,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. “They asked him to leave. He wouldn’t. [A] supervisor asked him to leave. He wouldn’t. The uniformed police sergeant asked him to leave. He wouldn’t, and he was arrested as a result.”
The obstinate 30-year-old was arraigned on criminal trespass charges Thursday and released.
When Cornejo and a woman arrived at his Staten Island home afterward, he was sporting a Mets cap.
“I’m sorry but I have no comment,” Cornejo said.
He works within the 67th Precinct in Brooklyn and has been with the NYPD since 2005.
Source:www.nydailynews.com
Findings Show Higher Paid Security Officers are Better Prepared to Handle Emergencies
A new report released today details how raising wage and benefit standards for more than 3,000 private security officers in Philadelphia could pump $230 million into the local economy and improve public safety. The report, Securing Our Future: Security Officers Standing Up for Good Jobs and a Better Philadelphia which will be presented at a City Council hearing on Monday, May 21st also shows adequate pay keeps more experienced security officers on the job and better enables officers to respond to – and help prevent – emergency situations.
“This report provides important evidence illustrating how raising standards for the men and women who keep us safe is a critical matter of public safety,” said Mark Price, PhD, Labor Economist, Keystone Research Center. “Paying livable wages and benefits is not just a matter of fairness and a responsible business practice, but it saves taxpayers millions of dollars with a rare opportunity to boost our economy.”
The 32BJ SEIU report, based on extensive worker surveys and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau found that increasing pay to help the average security officer with two children would mean their families would no longer qualify for food stamps. This would provide $140 million for Philadelphia’s security officers and their families over the next decade, potentially generating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity for the city.
The median hourly wage for officers, who protect commercial office buildings, hospitals, government offices and universities is just $10, with some reporting earning as little as $8 an hour. Few have benefits that include quality health care or paid sick or vacation days.
The paper illustrates how just compensation translates into reduced turnover and improved training. For example, in New York City buildings where security officers are union and earn more than their union counterparts have significantly less turnover than buildings with non-union security officers.
As the largest union of security officers, 32BJ SEIU has raised the industry’s wage, benefit and training standards in New York and Washington, DC. With more than 120,000 members, including 10,000 in the Philadelphia area, 32BJ is the largest property services union in the country.
SOURCE SEIU Local 32BJ
Three security officers commit suicide at client’s property www.privateofficer.com
Max Desir, 22, was found dead in a vehicle inside the Loggerhead Club Marina parking garage at 11:41 p.m., according to Riviera Beach Police spokeswoman Rose Anne Brown.
The Loggerhead Club Marina at 2620 Avenue A sits on the west side of Intracoastal Waterway at the foot of the bridge to Singer Island.
This is the third security officer who committed suicide on duty in the past 10 days.
Bruce Wallace, a Kansas security officer was found dead of a self inflicted gunshot on Sunday and an unidentified security officer killed himself on a client’s property on Thursday.
Source: WFLX
Broward County School secuirty officers may be cut from budget www.privateofficer.com
Broward County Fla May 18 2012 Security guards and clerical staff may be on this year’s layoff chopping block in Broward County Schools.
On Friday, the district will release the list of workers to be cut at the end of the academic year, some of whom will be hired back as the budget fluctuates but many of whom will be out of a job.
The list is expected to target security specialists, campus monitors and clerical staff, said Broward union chief Daniel Reynolds, who as president of the Federation of Public Employees represents workers in cities, jails and schools.
“When parents start hearing about this, they are going to be nervous,” said Christie McVay, PTSA president at Deerfield Middle School. Her daughter is an eighth-grader. “There are already many issues with security at many of the schools.”
An administrator at the school said four of the school’s five security officials would be let go. The administrator said some clerical staffers will also be laid off.
Source:sun sentinel
Death of Bedford NH police officer ruled suicide www.privateofficer.com
Bedford NH May 18 2012 A Bedford police sergeant who committed suicide last Friday was facing a theft charge along with a Hill officer alleging they stole a vest with a “Road Dawgs” police motorcycle club insignia from a Concord store last year.
Gary Norton, 48, a 15-year veteran of the Bedford department, was found dead in his Newbury home last Friday night, according to Assistant Safety Commissioner Earl Sweeney.
Sweeney confirmed Norton’s death was a suicide and that he died from a gunshot wound, but he wasn’t sure whether Norton used a personal or police-issued weapon.
“He was a highly respected and very much people-oriented person,” Sweeney said. “It certainly is a tragedy for someone to take his life over something like that. It’s a shame for him and his family.”
Norton and Hill police Sgt. Jonathan Evans, 56, were charged with theft by unauthorized taking, a class B misdemeanor, in connection with the vest theft May 21, 2011, from the Pepper Defense Supply store in Concord.
They were both said to be members of Road Dawgs Motorcycle Club at the time, which is only open to active and retired police. Evans did not return phone calls.
Criminal complaints against Norton and Evans were filed last Friday morning in Concord District Court, according to Assistant Cheshire County Attorney John Webb, who is prosecuting because of a conflict in the Merrimack County Attorney’s Office.
The owner of the store, Brian Blackden, 47, who is also a freelance photographer for various news organizations, has a history of run-ins with police.
Blackden was shocked to learn that Norton took his own life.
“It makes me feel terrible for his family, and I just don’t think this would have been reason enough to do something like that,” Blackden said.
The vest, which Blackden obtained three years before in a storage bin sale, was taken from his 485 North State St. store by five men wearing Road Dawgs Motorcycle Club vests, he said.
“They rushed the store. Three of the men blocked me in front of the counter,” Blackden said. Another man blocked the entrance while another forcefully removed the vest from a mannequin, he said.
Blackden immediately called Concord police with full descriptions and a vanity plate.
He said he can’t understand why it took almost a year to investigate and only two faced charges.
“If it had been the Hells Angels or anyone else, they would have been arrested within hours by a SWAT team,” Blackden said.
Blackden believes the theft was retaliation because he sued New Hampshire State Police after troopers confiscated his camera at a fatal accident scene in Canterbury in August of 2010. Belsito Communications, a New York-based news agency that lists Blackden as a correspondent, is suing state police as well.
Blackden, who has sold photographs to the New Hampshire Union Leader and other news outlets, drove a converted ambulance with the words 1st Responder News on the side to the Canterbury crash.
He wore a fire protective coat and helmet with the word Photographer on both sides when police confiscated his camera, according to news reports at the time.
After the lawsuit was filed, Blackden was charged and convicted of impersonating emergency personnel at the Canterbury crash scene and a red light restriction violation. Concord Attorney Penny Dean has appealed the impersonation conviction to the state Supreme Court.
Hill Police Chief David Kratz said Jonathan Evans has been with his department for about seven years. He and selectmen decided there will be no change in Evans’ employment status to see what happens at trial, Kratz said.
“Sgt. Evans has always been a superior officer for us,” Kratz said.
Mike Brady, chairman of the Hill selectmen, said he was aware of the pending theft charge against Evans.
“John has been a good officer in Hill,” Brady said.
Evans was formerly a member of the Road Dawgs Motorcycle Club, but is no longer affiliated with the group, Brady said.
Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office charge auxiliary police officers with misconduct www.privateofficer.com
The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office said Thursday that Juan Martinez, 30, of Paterson, and Jonathan Lopez, 29, of Hackensack, have been arrested on several charges.
Prosecutors say the two auxiliary police officers were driving an OEM vehicle in Paterson on April 17 and following behind a motorcycle at a distance of 100 feet or less while improperly activating the siren.
Prosecutors allege that Martinez and Lopez then witnessed the motorcycle crash on North 1st Street and did not stop to render aid or contact police or their superiors.
The driver of the motorcycle, 31-year-old Randolph Waddy of Paterson, died from his injuries.
It is not immediately clear who is representing the defendants.
Collinsville police officer indicted on four counts of obstruction of justice www.privateofficer.com
Officer Luke Tillman pulled over a driver on November 16, 2011 for failure to display registration. The driver, a 50-year-old woman from Maryville, had a valid driver’s license and no warrants. Tillman searched the car and found up what he labeled a potential crack pipe.
The driver was arrested and later charged with possession of a controlled substance. Those charges were issued by the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office based on a review of facts that included Officer Luke Tillman’s report.
In March 2012, the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office was notified by the woman’s defense attorney that they had information indicating the driver did, in fact, have a valid temporary registration affixed to her car at the time of the stop. The defense attorney also inquired as to whether Officer Tillman made a video and audio recording of the traffic stop.
Per procedure, all traffic stops made by Collinsville police are audio and video recorded. If the end result of a traffic stop is a felony charge, that video must be logged.
Officer Luke Tillman did not mention anything about audio or video recording in his report. The state’s attorney’s office subsequently learned that Tillman did not ever log any evidence of the audio or video recording. Investigators also discovered that the driver did have a valid temporary registration affixed to her vehicle.
On March 13, 2012, the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office dismissed the felony charge against the driver and began reviewing the actions of Officer Luke Tillman. Tillman was ultimately suspended by the Collinsville Police Department.
Tillman’s bond was set at $10,000.
If convicted, Luke Tillman faces up to three years in prison for each count.
Source:KSDK
Los Angeles Unified teacher’s aide arrested for lewd acts with child www.privateofficer.com
Jorge Dominguez, 25, was a part-time aide at Gratts Elementary School in Westlake, Los Angeles and has worked there since 2004. The alleged victim isn’t a student at the school.
Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Fabian Lizarraga told CBS2/KCAL9 that police received the recording Wednesday evening. “We have enough evidence on the video to effect the arrest and book him,” said Lizarraga, and police arrested Dominguez the next morning before dawn.
Superintendent John Deasy called the allegations “sickening and horrifying” in a statement. The school district has since fired him.
In addition to his work at Gratts, Dominguez once worked as a coach at the Los Angeles Academy of Arts & Enterprise, a nearby charter school, reports the Los Angeles Times. He was hired through the Youth Policy Institute, an organization that runs free after-school programs on dozens of campuses. YPI administrators told the Times that they didn’t believe the victim attended their program at the Los Angeles Academy.
Parents at both schools were invited to attend a school meeting about the arrest Friday morning.
The young teacher was popular among students at both schools, and the school community is stunned at the allegations. Parent Mary Cano told ABC7, “He’s cool. He’s always laughing and joking and running back and forth playing soccer with the kids.”
A student who knew Dominguez well told KTLA, “He watches out for the yards, plays soccer with us and I’m really shocked.”
Steinbrenner High School Spanish teacher arrested on charges of drug trafficking and grand theft www.privateofficer.com
TAMPA Fla May 18 2012
A Steinbrenner High School Spanish teacher and CVS Pharmacy technician has been arrested on charges of drug trafficking and grand theft.
According to a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, Lamonte Hambrick is accused of removing bottles of prescription Hydrocodone and Alprazolam (Xanax) pills from the CVS Pharmacy at 813 Bearss Ave. W. in Tampa between March 1 and May 11.
According to the report, 9,200 Hydrocodone pills and 7,200 Alprazolam (Xanax) pills were taken. Detectives said Hambrick was a pharmacy technician at the store.
“Hambrick would remove the bottles of prescription pills and provide them to a friend who in turn would sell the prescription pills,” the report stated.
None of the activity took place on the high school’s campus. Hambrick has been teaching in Hillsborough County since 2009.
Students at the high school who spoke to Bay News 9 on Thursday said they were surprised to hear their teacher was arrested.
“I was shocked,” student Brandon Mauriello said. “Jeff Odom, our sports editor on the newspaper, he told me about the story. I was baffled. I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t believe him at first, but once I saw the record, I was very surprised.” The high school’s student newspaper reported on the teacher’s arrest.
A letter from Steinbrenner High School principal Brenda Grasso was sent home explaining Hambrick will not finish the school year as a teacher and students will continue to receive Spanish instruction:
Dear Parents,
The purpose of my letter is to notify you that Spanish teacher, Lamonte Hambrick, will no finish the school year with us, and to address how that will impact your son or daughter.
First, I assure you students will continue to receive instruction for the remainder of the school year and will be prepared for the upcoming semester exam. Upon meeting with the department chair, a decision has been made to move students into other Spanish II classes, so students will be taught by certified teachers on our staff. This will ensure students receive the necessary preparation for the exam, and provide them with the best instruction available as they complete these last few days of the 2011 – 2012 school year.
As always, our goal is student success. If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact the school.
Sincerely,
Brenda Grasso, Principal
Detectives said Hambrick admitted to the charges. He was arrested at the CVS store at 6:03 p.m. Tuesday.
Hambrick had notified the school district he would not return for the next school year before his arrest and formally resigned in March.
His remains in the Hillsborough County Jail on $252,000 bond.
