Westfield Police Chief David Wayman Featured Tonight on Race Relations Panel: Racist or Ignorant Fool?

Photo: Westfield Leader Newspaper

     Tonight, at 7:30pm., Westfield Police Chief David Wayman will take part in a panel discussion on race relations.  The gathering will take place in the Westfield High School auditorium.
     Wayman, a former resident of Clark, N.J. and graduate of ALJ High School, has been accused of racial profiling during his career as a Westfield police officer.
     In February 2014, TFoTM posted a story detailing some of Wayman's alleged racial tendencies.
     The public is welcome to attend tonight's event and ask questions.

Westfield Police Chief David Wayman was interviewed by Westfield Leader Newspaper reporter Paul Peyton for a story that appeared in the February 6th, 2014 edition of that newspaper.
     Peyton's "Puff Piece" detailed the use of Westfield's taxpayer funded emergency mobile command center for festivities in the city of Hoboken the week leading up to this year's Super Bowl.
     While Chief Wayman misleads the public with regards to the costs associated with having Westfield provide Hoboken with emergency response vehicles and manpower, Peyton falls short of asking investigative questions that would reveal a waste of taxpayer money and the overall mismanagement by Westfield's administration.  At no time does Wayman or Peyton address the issue sought at a previous town council meeting.
     There have been numerous uses of the purchased emergency equipment and the police of Westfield, distant from Westfield, that have gone unexplained by Mayor Skibitsky.  While it may be useful for Westfield policemen to learn how to control crowds of 50,000 to 100,000 people as Wayman described in his presentation to the town council, it would be interesting to determine when Westfield has such crowds.
     As the Mayor keeps pointing out, we must do "more with less."  How does the Mayor justify the priority given to displaying the Westfield police "toys" in foreign jurisdictions at occasions that can only be considered "equipment fairs."
     These various displays cost Westfield the money to own the vehicles, transport the vehicles. and the manpower needed to do so.  It also includes the overtime for those men and also for the men used to fill the void of the absent officers.
     On the topic of local crime, Wayman describes Westfield as an "attractive" target of criminals because of the "profits they can gain here."  Wayman states that Westfield's location between two of Union County's largest cities appears to be the culprit.  Here is an excerpt from the Westfield Leader of what Wayman suggested:
   
     "He said North and South Avenues both link Westfield to Plainfield to the west and Elizabeth to the east, enabling criminals to access the town via Route 22.  He said these roadways offer criminals an "easy escape" out of Westfield.  NJ Transit trains as well as the NJ Transit 59 bus, which runs from Plainfield to Elizabeth, stops in Westfield.  In conclusion, Wayman states, "Westfield police make motor vehicle stops and are out looking to prevent crimes, which creates an omnipresence."
   
     While assigned to patrol duties earlier in his law enforcement career, Wayman was not discreet in his description of minorities while creating his own "omnipresence."  Long before Westfield began tracking the race of the driver of a motor vehicle stopped by police, Wayman was accused of racial profiling, by an off-duty African American N.J. State Trooper believed to be Erskin Marks.
     Wayman has described the African American occupants of a motor vehicle as "a car load of coal."  He was also accused by another Westfield police officer as referring to that Hispanic officer as a "Spic."
     Wayman's actions as a Westfield police officer throughout his career speak louder than the ignorant words spoken from his own mouth.  However, those words bring to life the actions that other police officers have long suspected were racially motivated.
     Residents of Plainfield to the west, and residents of Elizabeth to the east, what say you?