Naked City, a one-hour New York-based police drama that aired on ABC (1960-1963), had an episode that I haven't seen in years but is still very memorable. The episode, "Today the Man Who Kills Ants Is Coming," aired March 7, 1962, and guest starred John Larch as a uniformed police officer whose mind snaps after a button on his uniform coat pops off. He later returns to the precinct house and at gunpoint takes his fellow officers hostage.
I don't know if such a thing has ever happened or could ever happen but that episode underscored the tremendous stress members of law enforcement endure daily and showed how it might make them act in an irrational way.
Showing posts with label New York Police Department. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York Police Department. Show all posts
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
The Police, Protectors Or Victimizers?
One of my favorite scenes in the 1995 French film La Haine [Hate] is the one in which a plainclothes cop tells Hubert, a black youth from a Paris housing project that the police are there to protect him and his friends. "Who protects us from you?" asks Hubert. A great question in light of the stop and frisk policy of the New York Police Department which targets mostly African-American and Latino young men.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
No Police Response
Howard Safir, Commissioner
Police Department
One Police Plaza
New York, NY 10038
July 17, 1996
Dear Commissioner Safir:
On the night of July 15, I called the 28th Precinct twice--at 9:16 and approximately 15 minutes later about a young African-American man who was playing rap music (profanities included) from a makeshift cart equipped with a green and white umbrella. He was standing in front of [a building on West 113th Street], across the street from my bedroom window. I often see this person in the neighborhood selling music cassettes (obviously home recorded) and playing the music at a very high volume.
The officer who answered the phone that night told me his name was Joynes. He also told me that it was "a very busy night" and that the first available car would be sent. No car came. Although at 9:50 a police van was traveling down 7th Avenue toward Central Park at the same time that the young man was going in the opposite direction (up 7th Avenue) with the music still playing loud. No attempt was made by the officers in the van to silence him.
Mayor Giuliani is always talking about bettering the quality of life for city residents , but I see very little enforcement with regard to quality of life in Harlem. Such behavior wouldn't be tolerated on the Upper East Side, Chelsea, or other more affluent areas. Whereas in Harlem anything goes. This young man is a nuisance and should be ticketed and/or have his music-box-on-wheels confiscated because the music is way too loud. He is as much a nuisance as a panhandler or squeegee man.
If cops were put on foot patrol at night instead of rolling around in cars, it would help discourage this kind of behavior.
Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith
cc: 28th Pct. Commander, Dep. Insp. Joyce Stephens
Police Department
One Police Plaza
New York, NY 10038
July 17, 1996
Dear Commissioner Safir:
On the night of July 15, I called the 28th Precinct twice--at 9:16 and approximately 15 minutes later about a young African-American man who was playing rap music (profanities included) from a makeshift cart equipped with a green and white umbrella. He was standing in front of [a building on West 113th Street], across the street from my bedroom window. I often see this person in the neighborhood selling music cassettes (obviously home recorded) and playing the music at a very high volume.
The officer who answered the phone that night told me his name was Joynes. He also told me that it was "a very busy night" and that the first available car would be sent. No car came. Although at 9:50 a police van was traveling down 7th Avenue toward Central Park at the same time that the young man was going in the opposite direction (up 7th Avenue) with the music still playing loud. No attempt was made by the officers in the van to silence him.
Mayor Giuliani is always talking about bettering the quality of life for city residents , but I see very little enforcement with regard to quality of life in Harlem. Such behavior wouldn't be tolerated on the Upper East Side, Chelsea, or other more affluent areas. Whereas in Harlem anything goes. This young man is a nuisance and should be ticketed and/or have his music-box-on-wheels confiscated because the music is way too loud. He is as much a nuisance as a panhandler or squeegee man.
If cops were put on foot patrol at night instead of rolling around in cars, it would help discourage this kind of behavior.
Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith
cc: 28th Pct. Commander, Dep. Insp. Joyce Stephens
Friday, February 1, 2013
Fighting Homophobia Within Law Enforcement
In 1983 the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL) was twice turned down for membership by the New York Police Department-sponsored Police Groups's Brotherhood-in-Action, a fraternal law enforcement umbrella organization. It was later disbanded by then-police commissioner Benjamin Ward because of its rejection of GOAL on the basis of sexual orientation.
Most recently, GOAL has encountered similar bigotry in its attempt to join the five-year-old Committee of Police Societies (COPS), made up of 21 ethnic, religious, and honor groups.
Although GOAL has traditionally been supported in its membership efforts by the Guardians Association (African-American officers) and the Hispanic Society, three other COPS groups have joined the cause: the Viking Association (Nordic officers), the Policewomen's Endowment Association, and the Shomrim Society (Jewish officers). All five have threatened to drop out of COPS if GOAL is rejected.
Said one source, a member of one of the affiliated organizations, to New York Newsday: "Every society in COPS has gay members. They don't want their membership money spent on a group that discriminates against some of their members."
Although it's "great" having allies, admits GOAL co-founder and executive director Sam Ciccone, "that's not going to determine what our action is going to be. We're taking this on. We're not asking anybody else to take it on with us."
As things stand now, GOAL is "waiting for a response from [COPS]," says Ciccone. "We have requested application last year [November 1989] and still have not been accepted. But they haven't refused us yet."
COPS, founded in 1985, was set up to provide members with a forum to discuss job-related issues as well as to promote brotherhood and understanding.
However, brotherhood and understanding become empty words when it comes to the immediate admission of GOAL into the fold. Art Strier, COPS's attorney, in comments to Newsday, has gone so far as to call into question GOAL's legitimacy as an "organized, recognized fraternal" organization in the eyes of the NYPD.
Sam Ciccone fires back: "That's bullshit!" It's COPS, not GOAL, that is not recognized by the department. He also asserts that the NYPD "doesn't have any regulations as to what is a group or not." Despite Strier's comments, the department records do indicate that GOAL (with its 300-plus membership) is recognized by the NYPD and has been since 1983, one year after its founding by Charles Cochran and Ciccone, both now retired. As far as Ciccone is concerned, it comes down to one thing: many of the members of COPS are "bigots."
According to GOAL and NYPD estimates, between 2,800 and 3,000 officers on the New York police force are gay or lesbian.
Says Ciccone of GOAL: "We're a very unique fraternal organization. We span every culture, every race, every gender. How could we not?"
This article was originally published in the Philadelphia Gay News (December 21, 1990).
Most recently, GOAL has encountered similar bigotry in its attempt to join the five-year-old Committee of Police Societies (COPS), made up of 21 ethnic, religious, and honor groups.
Although GOAL has traditionally been supported in its membership efforts by the Guardians Association (African-American officers) and the Hispanic Society, three other COPS groups have joined the cause: the Viking Association (Nordic officers), the Policewomen's Endowment Association, and the Shomrim Society (Jewish officers). All five have threatened to drop out of COPS if GOAL is rejected.
Said one source, a member of one of the affiliated organizations, to New York Newsday: "Every society in COPS has gay members. They don't want their membership money spent on a group that discriminates against some of their members."
Although it's "great" having allies, admits GOAL co-founder and executive director Sam Ciccone, "that's not going to determine what our action is going to be. We're taking this on. We're not asking anybody else to take it on with us."
As things stand now, GOAL is "waiting for a response from [COPS]," says Ciccone. "We have requested application last year [November 1989] and still have not been accepted. But they haven't refused us yet."
COPS, founded in 1985, was set up to provide members with a forum to discuss job-related issues as well as to promote brotherhood and understanding.
However, brotherhood and understanding become empty words when it comes to the immediate admission of GOAL into the fold. Art Strier, COPS's attorney, in comments to Newsday, has gone so far as to call into question GOAL's legitimacy as an "organized, recognized fraternal" organization in the eyes of the NYPD.
Sam Ciccone fires back: "That's bullshit!" It's COPS, not GOAL, that is not recognized by the department. He also asserts that the NYPD "doesn't have any regulations as to what is a group or not." Despite Strier's comments, the department records do indicate that GOAL (with its 300-plus membership) is recognized by the NYPD and has been since 1983, one year after its founding by Charles Cochran and Ciccone, both now retired. As far as Ciccone is concerned, it comes down to one thing: many of the members of COPS are "bigots."
According to GOAL and NYPD estimates, between 2,800 and 3,000 officers on the New York police force are gay or lesbian.
Says Ciccone of GOAL: "We're a very unique fraternal organization. We span every culture, every race, every gender. How could we not?"
This article was originally published in the Philadelphia Gay News (December 21, 1990).
Friday, February 3, 2012
Black & Blue At Blue's
Letters
Village Voice
842 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
October 8, 1982
Dear Editor:
The vicious police raid of Blue's, a black gay bar in the Times Square area, last week (September 29) showed New York's Finest at their very worst. As reported by WBAI and the Village Voice ("Black Tie and Blood," October 12), this raid involved the beating and robbing of patrons, the destruction of bar property, and the use of anti-black and anti-gay language--by the men in blue.
I think an immediate investigation should be initiated by Police Commissioner Robert McGuire. And those officers found guilty of abusing their authority during the raid should be dismissed from the force as unfit. We are not yet a police state.
One officer quoted in the Voice piece said that "Blue's is a very troublesome bar. There are a lot of undesirables who hang out there." That may be so, but lashing out at the bar and its patrons with such brute force is not the way to alleviate the problem. And it certainly isn't the way to win the police department any friends among the black gay community. This sort of police abuse, if it is allowed to go unchecked, will lead to an eventual bloodbath. People will tolerate only so much abuse.
If the higher-ups in the department ignore what happened, it is a clear message to the community at large as well as to the cops on the street that police abuse of gay men--especially if they're black--has been given official sanction.
How can the police department apprehend civilian gaybashers with a clear conscience when many of its own people are no better? Fortunately for both sides there were no deaths. But what about next time?
Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith
(An unpublished letter-to-the-editor.)
Village Voice
842 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
October 8, 1982
Dear Editor:
The vicious police raid of Blue's, a black gay bar in the Times Square area, last week (September 29) showed New York's Finest at their very worst. As reported by WBAI and the Village Voice ("Black Tie and Blood," October 12), this raid involved the beating and robbing of patrons, the destruction of bar property, and the use of anti-black and anti-gay language--by the men in blue.
I think an immediate investigation should be initiated by Police Commissioner Robert McGuire. And those officers found guilty of abusing their authority during the raid should be dismissed from the force as unfit. We are not yet a police state.
One officer quoted in the Voice piece said that "Blue's is a very troublesome bar. There are a lot of undesirables who hang out there." That may be so, but lashing out at the bar and its patrons with such brute force is not the way to alleviate the problem. And it certainly isn't the way to win the police department any friends among the black gay community. This sort of police abuse, if it is allowed to go unchecked, will lead to an eventual bloodbath. People will tolerate only so much abuse.
If the higher-ups in the department ignore what happened, it is a clear message to the community at large as well as to the cops on the street that police abuse of gay men--especially if they're black--has been given official sanction.
How can the police department apprehend civilian gaybashers with a clear conscience when many of its own people are no better? Fortunately for both sides there were no deaths. But what about next time?
Sincerely yours,
Charles Michael Smith
(An unpublished letter-to-the-editor.)
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Night They Raided Blue's
The vicious police raid at Blue's on the night of September 29, 1982 showed New York's Finest at their very worst. It is certainly a night patrons of the black gay bar on West 43rd Street will not soon forget. Since the raid, business has fallen off one-third to one-half. That should attest to the brutality that was meted out.
The police story is that they were responding to a ten-thirteen--an officer in trouble call--when six of their men were beaten up inside the bar after arriving there to stop a fistfight. Lew Olive, the bar manager on the 8 pm to 4 am shift, was there that ill-fated night and denied there was a fight and that there were six cops in the bar. He said that from different sources he found out that "One or two drag queens did beat up one or two policemen out there on the street" and to retaliate, the police raided Blue's. But, continued Olive, a friend of his was told by a policeman that "those drag queens do not come to this bar and he knows that as a fact."
Olive said he told one policeman at Midtown South, "If your story is correct and if we did beat up six police, that's a felony. You had us against the wall. You could have identified the assailants of those six police." Olive accused the cop of dereliction of duty for not arresting the assailants if they knew them to be in the bar at the time.
"We know as a fact," said Olive, that they [the cops] did gather in Smith's Bar [located at 44th Street and Eighth Avenue] and they proceeded from Smith's Bar to here after drinking in Smith's Bar. Those are damaging facts and that's no way to answer a ten-thirteen."
The raid "left at least ten people seriously injured," said Olive. Among them were two young black men, one of whom had four teeth knocked out. Olive would like the two men to get in touch with Blue's to get medical and/or legal assistance. (Olive himself was hit on the head two or three times with a blackjack.)
Olive showed displeasure with the lack of interest on the part of the Daily News and the Times--which is across the street--to send a reporter and a photographer over to cover the story when they were notified of the raid. He also had some harsh words for Arthur Bell's piece in the Village Voice. He called it "irresponsible" and "poor journalism" because Bell published a couple of quotes he didn't bother to substantiate. For example, "When he talked to the New York Times lady out on the street, the lady says she was called certain names and said things [to] by patrons from this bar. Bell's question should be, 'How do you know they were patrons from this bar?' Now this white woman saw black people and they associate all black people to this bar and that's ridiculous. All black people in this area do not come in this bar."
In fact, said Olive, Blue's despite its predominately black clientele, is open to anyone wanting to buy a drink there. "We insist that they be treated as they act. And we do not allow any customer here to tell another they don't belong here because they aren't this, that or the other. We don't care whether they're lesbian, gay, drag queen, or what."
At the present time, there are several agencies conducting separate investigations into the raid, among them the FBI--Olive called them in because "I'm not comfortable with the police investigating police."--the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the Police Civilian Complaint Review Board. "All the agencies that we can get involved in this case," said Olive, "we want to be involved in this case." The management of Blue's intends to pursue the legal battle even if it takes five years.
The police story is that they were responding to a ten-thirteen--an officer in trouble call--when six of their men were beaten up inside the bar after arriving there to stop a fistfight. Lew Olive, the bar manager on the 8 pm to 4 am shift, was there that ill-fated night and denied there was a fight and that there were six cops in the bar. He said that from different sources he found out that "One or two drag queens did beat up one or two policemen out there on the street" and to retaliate, the police raided Blue's. But, continued Olive, a friend of his was told by a policeman that "those drag queens do not come to this bar and he knows that as a fact."
Olive said he told one policeman at Midtown South, "If your story is correct and if we did beat up six police, that's a felony. You had us against the wall. You could have identified the assailants of those six police." Olive accused the cop of dereliction of duty for not arresting the assailants if they knew them to be in the bar at the time.
"We know as a fact," said Olive, that they [the cops] did gather in Smith's Bar [located at 44th Street and Eighth Avenue] and they proceeded from Smith's Bar to here after drinking in Smith's Bar. Those are damaging facts and that's no way to answer a ten-thirteen."
The raid "left at least ten people seriously injured," said Olive. Among them were two young black men, one of whom had four teeth knocked out. Olive would like the two men to get in touch with Blue's to get medical and/or legal assistance. (Olive himself was hit on the head two or three times with a blackjack.)
Olive showed displeasure with the lack of interest on the part of the Daily News and the Times--which is across the street--to send a reporter and a photographer over to cover the story when they were notified of the raid. He also had some harsh words for Arthur Bell's piece in the Village Voice. He called it "irresponsible" and "poor journalism" because Bell published a couple of quotes he didn't bother to substantiate. For example, "When he talked to the New York Times lady out on the street, the lady says she was called certain names and said things [to] by patrons from this bar. Bell's question should be, 'How do you know they were patrons from this bar?' Now this white woman saw black people and they associate all black people to this bar and that's ridiculous. All black people in this area do not come in this bar."
In fact, said Olive, Blue's despite its predominately black clientele, is open to anyone wanting to buy a drink there. "We insist that they be treated as they act. And we do not allow any customer here to tell another they don't belong here because they aren't this, that or the other. We don't care whether they're lesbian, gay, drag queen, or what."
At the present time, there are several agencies conducting separate investigations into the raid, among them the FBI--Olive called them in because "I'm not comfortable with the police investigating police."--the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the Police Civilian Complaint Review Board. "All the agencies that we can get involved in this case," said Olive, "we want to be involved in this case." The management of Blue's intends to pursue the legal battle even if it takes five years.
Author's Note: I wrote the above article about the police raid at the black gay bar called Blue's in 1982. It was never published, as far as I can recall, in any gay newspaper. I started submitting articles and book reviews to gay publications around 1982.
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