TomRetiredPD's Blog

This is my last post under this name I will be under a new name it is TomRetiredPD please look me up.

I signed on a new name is there anyway I can move these articles to the new name. Please help. The new name is TomRetiredPD. Maybe you can change my name here to thatI know I could when I ran blogs

one of the reporters suggested it but told me to wait on it. I got impatient

     The LIE Raceway or Expressway ? good question. Yesterday I was on the LIE for a joke I went in the center lane and did 55 MPH which is the speed limit for the state of New York, I got more fists shaken at me and middle fingers than I can shake a stick at. At 65 cars were still passing me I had to do between 70 and 75 to keep up with traffic.

     Nassau and Suffolk county PD’s are among the highest paid in the area around NY and in my book not doing such a great job. I’m just as guilty as the next guy for going a little over the limit but when you have cars weaving in and out of traffic at 70 it creates a pretty dangerous condition.

     It also bothers me when I see the police pull over a car in the right lane for doing 65 in a 55 zone when people in the HOV lane are traveling along at 75. Yesterday I had a guy with MD plates get out from behind me in the HOV lane and pass me doing like 80 to 85 shaking his head at me as he passed, then later re entered the HOV lane. Where is everyone going in such a hurry. No wonder there are so many accidents on the LIE. Try doing 75 within NYC limits on a highway and see what you get.

Tom_Retired_PD

I have always said I would open up, many Cops behind me but are scared of loosing their pensionso they hush, I can understand. Well I am here ask away I am retired and as long as I tell the truth I can't be hurt and I don't care who knows my real name. To the 52 Pct and any still there who remember me. The Pitcher LOL I can strike all you guys out. (Pvt Joke). I am Tom Petrozza. I drove many bosses there because I knew the job well I would tell you guys who to ask but they may still be on the job. Write me here I will let you know how to contact me.

 

 Tom aka WildThing

     Instead of complaining about the Police Department as so many do why not find out why some of the officers act the way they do. Read up on the procedures they follow and one big mistake people make that I have noticed is they quote Penal Law and Criminal Procedure Law, are you aware that NYPD Patrol Guide is what the Officers follow and it is stricter than NYS Law. EG. You can NOT shoot at a vehicle unless the driver or occupants are using Deadly Physical Force OTHER THAN THE VEHICLE. CPL you can shoot a fleeing felon PD says you can not just shoot any fleeing felon Depraved indifference to human life and the fact that if the Perpetrator gets away you feel that he will cause serious physical injury or death to another. There is that word feel leaving it to the perception of the Officer.

     In my opinion you have a bunch of rookies that do not have enough experience in the street and not enough seasoned officers to put them wise to the streets. The problem here is the officers that do have time? who did they learn from. The problems there having today are not the same as when I was on the job. To be very honest I had a big problem with the amount of shots fired in the Bell case.

     I don’t want to get into this story to deep because it’s long but I was picked out of what the Department called a lineup/ show up and it was neither, for police brutality of a Tropicana Truck driver, I was never at the scene, I was putting gas in my radio car in the 52 pct and was assigned to drive a Lieutenant who I informed about the call as it was coming over the radio. The job was a shooting in the 46 pct. It seems Police officers from several pct’s responded. They later found the officer who was responsible. My point here is there are cases of mistaken ID. When judging an incident put yourself in the Cops position my question to you is what would you do.

The Police do not always make the right decision, Their not Perfect

                                                 Tom_Retired_PD

Ok I said I would put up what I meant by serious corruption.

     I was working in the 40 Pct in the Bronx, when I used to come in to change clothes in the locker room there was an Officer who had a locker right in back of me in the same isle. Most cops lockers are full and sort of messy with all the crap we have to keep and store but this guys was just to full. He once showed me pictures of all the girlfriends he had both nude and clothed, and the fact he would change his cell phone like I change my sox was suspicious to me as well but that should have been all he did , I never would have suspected he do what he did . To make this story short he had one woman who had his baby and was asking him for money, he wanted nothing to do with her well she threatened to go to the Police Dept. Here is where it gets sick.

     He hired I think it was 2 guys may have been 3 don’t remember but they posed as workers for the landlord and came in to measure for new windows and left. The next morning with a house full of sleeping people came to the door, she answered. They pushed their way in taped her mouth and tied her in her room, one guy held her down while another hacked away at her face with a razor knife and fled. The family called the police I was driving the Patrol Supervisor, another radio car responded the woman refused to talk to them saying we all stick together and she would be killed next time. He followed procedure putting a rush on the ambulance and notifying the Patrol Supervisor whom I was driving. When we got there and heard the story the desk Lieutenant and Commanding Officer were notified the Borough Command was also notified. There was a woman on the first floor who we were told is always looking out the window. Upon a rather short investigation the Officer was arrested charged and later convicted.

     This Cop in my book should never see the light of day so when I hear of a Cop who gets fired for moving a garbage can I can only think of the puppets we have in charge of the police department who’s only concern is to cover their own butts. This was an easy fix because the Department does not need a reason to fire any probationary police officer. I have seen to many PPO’s let go for such stupid reasons. These types of crimes committed by police officers is by no means a common occurrence. There is corruption in all types of businesses that have the same number of employees.

 More to Come

                                                   Tom_Retired_PD

     Does it bother you or is it only me that once a year I go and have my vehicle inspected and fix what is wrong with it while others go to inspection stations and pay 100 to 150 dollars for an inspection sticker on vehicles that can’t pass inspection. The emissions test is a joke if it’s close by revving the engine twice the rpms the emissions lessen and if that don’t work sometimes they use a vehicle that they know passes. Some states have state run inspection stations and this kind of thing to my knowledge is avoided. Shame on you once did an investigation on such a station and it had a lot of stations worried this I know for a fact as I was a police officer at the time. Well I know what to look for to find stations such as these so they better beware because I am getting fed up with this kind of thing and I will be watching. What are your views on this subject.

                                      Tom_Retired_PD

And you thought read the fine print was just a saying.

I once bought a 3 year old vehicle and with it I got the extended warranty. Well I had to bring the car in 3 times the first month I had it for black smoke from the exhaust, they told me all 3 times they adjusted the carburetor. Eleven months later the engine went and the head literally melted.

I brought the car back and told them I had the warranty and the head was covered and showed them where it said it, they told me with a smile only 3 things can cause the head to go bad and they named them the carburetor was one of them, I said ok so what just fix it. The guy then said and I quote," If a non covered part blows a covered part the covered part isn’t covered anymore". The wording of course in my warranty worded it different but it said the same thing.

Sadly I took my car to my mech and told him the story he told me the guy could not have possibly adjusted the carburetor because on my engine the carburetor is a sealed unit and there are no adjustment screws. I gathered all my receipts and went back to the dealer, I quietly explained he collected from my warranty those 3 times but could not have done what he charged for and that’s insurance fraud, I continued I’m going home now and my phone better be ringing with you telling me your gonna fix my car for free or you’ll be talking to my lawyer in the morning and I walked out. He did call and fix my car at no charge but what a horror show I went through I just got lucky and now I’ll say it I never bought another Chrysler product.

Read those warranties before you go spending 1500 dollars on one for nothing.

Tom_Retired_PD

Many trucking companies are self insured up to the first 25,000 thousand dollars then their insurance picks up. If you ever had the misfortune to be in an accident with one you might already know this and they are very eager to tell you that and that they will pay the damages so that the police don’t have to make a report and it’s not necessary for you to tell your insurance company. Well we had a problem at one time I am not sure if it still exists but I will be on the lookout for it . It's unregistered delivery trucks i.e. ice cream trucks soda trucks potato chip trucks etc. you get the picture there was a large # of them not registered ,why, maybe because everyone thinks a company that large would not run illegal vehicles. This was my thinking at one time till one day I checked and was I surprised to see the # of trucks not registered or inspected. When was the last time you saw the police pull over a construction vehicle a large # of them are not registered or inspected that’s why they are trucked to construction sites. Many of the construction vehicles I have seen don’t even have plates on them. Check it out and see for yourself. The problem might be bigger than you think.

Tom

I brought this subject back because I don’t think I properly answered John Deutzmans question.

This was the question

We've done countless stories on "phantom" tickets. Tickets that are fake. Mostly written by traffic agents. Also ticket "dumping" by cops on known abandoned vehicles without any investigation if they are stolen or dangerous.
How common do you think the above practices are?

John Deutzman

Phantom tickets I think I answered but the abandoned vehicles is almost like a gray area .i.e. what constitutes an abandon vehicle. If a veh. Is left on the street and the plates are over 2 months expired it is considered abandoned by PD when I was in PD I don’t think that has changed. The procedure there is to summons remove plates and notify sanitation who in turn stickers the car and removes it from the street. A vehicle with valid plates and properly insured not reported stolen can still be abandoned but the guidelines are vague. After a couple of weeks I would say this vehicle was abandoned and would follow procedure. What I have seen happen is the next day the vehicle is gone and you will find it about a block away stickers removed and again parked illegal. What do you do ? It’s a good question. The same thing would happen with the 2 month expired vehicles the procedure there is to summons and remove the plates then call sanitation One officer got fed up, what he did was once sanitation would sticker and marked the vehicle for removal he would call in a backhoe and have the operator lower the shovel on the roof and crush it (once sanitation marks the vehicle it technically belongs to the city.) He did this to one vehicle and this is what happened the next day.

All Police Department Clergy have honorary rank of Inspector. One of the PD Clergy came into the Pct. with a camera crew for the El Diario and a TV station asking if it is common practice for PD to crush illegally parked cars as it was his car crushed. I really don’t know what happened in the end but the Clergy really had a bit of nerve to complain when he himself was in the wrong.

We would always run the plate and vin # to see if any vehicle we were about to mark abandoned was stolen. I am not quite sure what you meant by dangerous.

Today if a vehicle has no plates you can’t summons it all you can do is call sanitation to have them remove it.

I put this here as well as I think it's a very important topic.

This was my response to another blog topic. My father was a WW2 disabled vet. he had a ribbon and medal with 5 stars on it, this meant he was in all 5 battles and survived not many can make that claim. To make a long story short he passed in 1986 but not before being a victim to the VA Hosp. All he wanted was to be in a VA home in the end he had, chronic Bronchitis, Emphysema colon cancer and prostate cancer the VA said he did not need hosp care nor a home my mother insisted and they put him in a non-va home. After a week they wanted my mom to sign papers so they could start collecting his money. I told her not to sign anything and went to the home to sign him out, at the home I was approached by a DR and several nurses telling me he needs constant care and can't go home. I signed a release it went something like this as per (naming his VA DR)from the VA hosp my father does not need a home and can return to his residence on his advice I am removing and relieving the home of all responsibilities, I then took him to the va hosp., after seeing the letter they admitted him and in 2 days put him in a va home on the grounds. (I wonder why).
The fight was not over now his care was bad. My Mother and I went to visit one day and found him in a bed sheets dirty he was naked and feces on the floor in his room. (He could not make the bathroom in time). I didn't complain I told my mom wait in the sitting room and I went to my parish and returned with a priest Fr Villa may god bless him. He just walked into the room with us and walked out what he told the nurses I don't know, never asked, but we never had any more problems. Fr Villa continued to make unannounced visits till the day my dad passed.

This by the was happened at the Bronx VA Hosp.

    A number of years back the residents of City Island complained about Rodmans Neck (the Police shooting range) where the officers qualify with weapons. They were concerned that all the lead was poisining the waters saying that when it rained the water washing off the mounds the targets are in front of drained into the waters. The City responded with new Ny-clad bullets. These are bullets with the lead encased in nylon . I guess the intention there was the lead was now all covered. This was when we were using our 38 revolvers. What a crock that was as you all know when a bullet is fired through the barrel of a gun it gets very hot, this in turn melts the nylon the lead is once again exposed and your gun is harder to clean. The only good effect it had is it was found to reduce the amount of lead in the air around the shooter,  as far as an answer to their complaints it had no effect. The bottom line here is the lead from a bullet will always be exposed no matter what type of bullet you use.

       With the new standards and vesting opportunities it is my opinion you will begin to see a younger and more inexperienced Police Dept. In order to become a police officer you have to have a certain amt. of college credits and once on PD they will give you a free education. Before the 5 year vesting many continued with the police dept now they can vest out without waisting 5 years of working as they will get a reduced pension when they would have had 20 years on the Dept. The City would never have had to give the officer top pay as it takes 5 and 1/2 years to get there. What a thought the City will save a ton of money not having to pay out full pensions and always having Officers not at top pay yet. A City full of Rookie Police Officers. When I first enetred PD and hit my first cmd. it the the seasoned officer you looked for to try and learn the job.  I can see it already in the streets and from my dealings with the police they are becoming puppets for the now seasoned bosses my question is what happens in about 10 years. Yes some will stay with the Police Dept but the cops in the street will all be wet behind the ears.

    For a long time I looked for writer Mark Baker author of a book COPS. I wanted him to write my book but this is better. a way to inform the public.

    Remember years ago when the news tried to uncover a log kept by the Police Department of overtime and desk duty if you exceeded a certain # of hours and PD denied it, well I was the keeper of that log for the 52 pct in the Bronx for the Admn LT. It did exist.

    What about the summons quota , PD states cops have no quota bull 25,10,3 was it.

25 parkers 10 movers of which 3 had to be red lights or you could be walking a beat and not in a radio car (RMP) is the police term for radio motor patrol or in a car.

      I am brand new here but am very pleased at what fox5 has done here. If anyone has any questions about a news story I would only be to happy to give my input to police related incidents  (something I have 20 years experience in).  I will NOT however monday morning quarterback an action of a police officer but would comment on why he might have done what he did. I was born and raised in the south Bronx and and worked as a Police Officer there for 20 years. Enough about me I am getting boaring now.

Welcome All

Tom