Post by coots on Apr 15, 2014 22:49:35 GMT -5
new york daily news
NYPD Internal Affairs Chief Sends Scathing Memo Warning Cops Against Making Arrests Just To Earn Overtime
New NYPD Chief of Internal Affairs Joseph Reznick fired off the fiery missive on April 8, telling cops to make arrests that they think will lead to intelligence on dirty cops, not just to pad their overtime, the Daily News has learned.
New NYPD Chief of Internal Affairs Joseph Reznick pulls no punches in a scathing memo, lambasting cops making arrests just to earn overtime, the Daily News has learned.
When Internal Affairs gets a tip about police corruption it will often make arrests or execute warrants — then question prisoners about the officer in question.
Reznick believes that too many recent arrests were examples “collars for dollars,” as the practice is known within the department.
“The reasons for enforcement were nonsense,” the tough-talking Reznick says in a April 8 memo, which was sent out to the commanding officers of six groups within IAB in response to an explanation of recent overtime.
“Don’t test me. Most arrests lacked quality and the end result was the same (no intelligence),” according to a copy of the memo that was obtained by the News.
Reznick was tapped by Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to replace now retired IAB Chief Charles Campisi.
His critics complained that under Campisi, Internal Affairs spent too much time on minor wrongdoing.
Reznick points out that someone caught smoking marijuana in public can get a summons, suggesting too many offenders were put through the system, leading to cops spending hours of overtime processing the paperwork.
“Some overtime was borderline abuse,” Reznick writes.
He references a March 27 meeting at which he told the commanding officers of five IAB groups that he wasn’t happy with recent arrests.
“They are supposed to be proactive measures, not overtime measures,” he writes.
“I will not tolerate overtime abuse or short cuts.
“High standards and strong integrity remain as the foundation for everything we do.”
Reznick also said in the memo that too much police paperwork was incomplete.
“And to think that hundreds of [command disciplines] have been issued to subject officers for the very same thing,” he notes.
In 2011, IAB conducted 552 operations that led to 1,015 arrests so prisoners could be quizzed about police corruption, according to an IAB report also obtained by the News.
There were 599 such operations conducted in 2012, with 953 arrests made, the report said.
Statistics for last year were not available.
The NYPD declined comment, but a high-ranking official who knows Reznick and the memo, said: “Overtime has been Joe Reznick’s thing since his early days in the Detective Bureau. He’s adamant about responsible overtime. He’s going to take that same position, clearly, in Internal Affairs.”
Bratton is expected to make Reznick a civilian deputy commissioner in July, when Reznick turns 63 and would otherwise be forced to retire.
Reznick joined the NYPD in 1973 and was actually laid off in 1975 during the city’s fiscal crisis.
He paid the bills by bagging groceries, then was called back to the NYPD nearly two years later.
He is considered a skilled investigator but is also known for his no-nonsense brusque manner.
Just last week, the News reported that the city agreed to pay $280,000 to a now-retired detective who said Reznick and others called him a “rat”after he reported to IAB a plot to cover up a fellow detective’s role in a botched 2005 homicide investigation.
NYPD Internal Affairs Chief Sends Scathing Memo Warning Cops Against Making Arrests Just To Earn Overtime
New NYPD Chief of Internal Affairs Joseph Reznick fired off the fiery missive on April 8, telling cops to make arrests that they think will lead to intelligence on dirty cops, not just to pad their overtime, the Daily News has learned.
New NYPD Chief of Internal Affairs Joseph Reznick pulls no punches in a scathing memo, lambasting cops making arrests just to earn overtime, the Daily News has learned.
When Internal Affairs gets a tip about police corruption it will often make arrests or execute warrants — then question prisoners about the officer in question.
Reznick believes that too many recent arrests were examples “collars for dollars,” as the practice is known within the department.
“The reasons for enforcement were nonsense,” the tough-talking Reznick says in a April 8 memo, which was sent out to the commanding officers of six groups within IAB in response to an explanation of recent overtime.
“Don’t test me. Most arrests lacked quality and the end result was the same (no intelligence),” according to a copy of the memo that was obtained by the News.
Reznick was tapped by Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to replace now retired IAB Chief Charles Campisi.
His critics complained that under Campisi, Internal Affairs spent too much time on minor wrongdoing.
Reznick points out that someone caught smoking marijuana in public can get a summons, suggesting too many offenders were put through the system, leading to cops spending hours of overtime processing the paperwork.
“Some overtime was borderline abuse,” Reznick writes.
He references a March 27 meeting at which he told the commanding officers of five IAB groups that he wasn’t happy with recent arrests.
“They are supposed to be proactive measures, not overtime measures,” he writes.
“I will not tolerate overtime abuse or short cuts.
“High standards and strong integrity remain as the foundation for everything we do.”
Reznick also said in the memo that too much police paperwork was incomplete.
“And to think that hundreds of [command disciplines] have been issued to subject officers for the very same thing,” he notes.
In 2011, IAB conducted 552 operations that led to 1,015 arrests so prisoners could be quizzed about police corruption, according to an IAB report also obtained by the News.
There were 599 such operations conducted in 2012, with 953 arrests made, the report said.
Statistics for last year were not available.
The NYPD declined comment, but a high-ranking official who knows Reznick and the memo, said: “Overtime has been Joe Reznick’s thing since his early days in the Detective Bureau. He’s adamant about responsible overtime. He’s going to take that same position, clearly, in Internal Affairs.”
Bratton is expected to make Reznick a civilian deputy commissioner in July, when Reznick turns 63 and would otherwise be forced to retire.
Reznick joined the NYPD in 1973 and was actually laid off in 1975 during the city’s fiscal crisis.
He paid the bills by bagging groceries, then was called back to the NYPD nearly two years later.
He is considered a skilled investigator but is also known for his no-nonsense brusque manner.
Just last week, the News reported that the city agreed to pay $280,000 to a now-retired detective who said Reznick and others called him a “rat”after he reported to IAB a plot to cover up a fellow detective’s role in a botched 2005 homicide investigation.
