One man’s protest
Posted on November 19th, 2008 by bile Tags: Bergen County, Elmwood Park, Fair Lawn, Felician College, FLPD, Fort Lee, George Washington Bridge, John Grappone, John Thompson, Michigan, New Jersey, New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Task Force, Rutherford Police Departmenthttp://www.southbergenite.com/NC/0/1971.html
People driving along Park Avenue near Borough Hall two weeks ago were greeted by a sign held up by the sunroof of a parked car. The sign advertised a protest of the Rutherford Police Department to be held on Sunday, Nov. 8, in Lincoln Park across from the station.
The protest was organized by John Grappone, a lifetime Rutherford resident and current student at Felician College. Grappone says that on Oct. 23 he was verbally abused and threatened by an off-duty officer.
John Grappone’s highly publicized police protest was basically rained out last week. Police cars regularly circled Lincoln Park as about half a dozen people gathered in the gazebo for the protest organized by Grappone, who claims an off-duty Rutherford officer verbally abused him on Oct. 23.
Grappone said he pulled up to the intersection at the corner of Donaldson and Mortimer avenues and stopped his car. In front of him, blocking his way was an on-duty police officer in his vehicle and an off-duty officer talking to him. Grappone says he flashed his high beams to let them know he was trying to pass. The two officers moved out of the way, Grappone drove by and, as he did, he said he heard the off-duty officer yell a threat at him.
A heated verbal dispute between Grappone and the off-duty officer ensued, he said. Finally, the on-duty officer told the other to leave and pulled Grappone over for a traffic stop, said Grappone. Grappone said he went right to the police station to file a complaint against the off-duty officer. At the station, he claims he was told that by filing the report he would be issued a summons for failing to yield at a pedestrian crossing, a ticket that the on-duty officer didn’t issue him at the scene.
The South Bergenite filed an Open Public Records Act request with the department, but was informed that all internal affairs complaints are kept confidential by the decision of the state attorney general. Police Director John Thompson said the final decision, or “disposition,” is public information, but records of the investigation aren’t publicly available and even the officer investigated is kept off limits. He acknowledged that a complaint had been received and that an investigation had begun, but said no further information could be released. Even Grappone wouldn’t be able to get a copy of the report he filed, according to Thompson. The attorney general’s rules also conceal the name of the complainant, which could be a resident but could just as easily be someone else within a police department.
Grappone, who placed his cell phone number in an advertisement placed in this newspaper, said he received numerous calls from people who supported him but who wouldn’t attend the protest. He’s heard similar stories from Felician students and other residents.
“If this didn’t happen to me I wouldn’t be spending money on an ad to organize a protest,” he said. “I want to get it out there that this happened.”
Only about six people ended up showing up for the protest, which got moved to the park’s gazebo because of rain. Nevertheless, police cars regularly made the rounds around the park all the while.
“People are scared to do this,” he said. “They know nothing’s going to happen because of the blue wall of silence.”
There are four different dispositions that result from an internal affairs investigation, according to Thompson. The complaint can be sustained, which means there was evidence to prove it happened; not sustained, which means the investigation failed to yield sufficient evidence to prove or disprove; exonerated, which means the alleged actions did occur but it was determined the officer was justified; or unfounded, which means it was determined they didn’t occur.
According to records obtained by the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Open Government Task Force, the Rutherford Police Department had 65 internal affairs complaints in 2004 through 2006. The only town in Bergen County with a higher number of total complaints during that time period was Fort Lee, which had 127, though Englewood, Elmwood Park, Fair Lawn and Lodi had comparable numbers in the double digits. Of those 65 complaints, 31 were sustained and resulted in some form of internal discipline. Eight were not sustained, two were exonerated and 15 were unfounded.
Interesting. I happen to live in Fort Lee and recently issued a complaint… though not officially. It’d be interesting to see why they nearly doubled the complaints of second highest. Perhaps due to the George Washington Bridge dumping out into the town? Should be compared to Weekhawken’s complaints. Do the number of complaints scale with the traffic density? Or with the number of official incidents? Or do they have bigger attitudes like the average NYPD officer? My experiences with the FLPD haven’t been the most pleasant. My recent adventures will be posted at a later time but more generally… I’ve received parking tickets for parking where the curb is yellow yet completely unnecessarily so. Street parking is tight enough as it is yet 1.5 or 2 car lengths of curb are technically unusable even though there would be no significant different in ability to view around corners due to a car parked their. Yet I’ve seen just the other day a FLPD officer drive by and ignore a cab driver who was pushing another cab car with his. I’m not saying he should have reacted so long as they were being safe… but if the ideology is to subvert risky situations… a car being pushed around corners by another through town appears far more dangerous then a parked car. Yet let us remember the ease at which a ticket is rendered. They even have a specialized machine to do it for them on thermal paper. Great revenue stream. Why tax when you can use thuggery? At least it’s not as bad as Michigan. I think.
