The Blue Code of Silence speaks volumes.
When corrupt police officers are allowed to remain “on the job,” co-workers and subordinates question whether they should break that “blue code of silence” and risk their job, pension, and their family’s security.
Until drastic changes are made from the top on down, starting with a Town Administrator, an administrator that many town employees don’t trust, the culture will never change.
Westfield’s “Whistleblower” policy is supposed to protect the conscientious employee reporting corruption......it doesn’t.
Not when the policy ultimately designates a person that employees don’t trust......in Westfield the policy designates the town administrator as the person to report the corruption to, absent going to a supervisor or department head.
In Westfield, when the town administrator exposes the whistleblower to the employee’s supervisor or department head, and breaks the employees trust, the conscientious employee then becomes the target of the supervisor or department head and often the town administration, leading to frivolous departmental charges, grievances, suspensions, hearings, lawsuits, and ultimately, job termination.
Until this process is changed to protect the Whistleblower, we can’t expect employees to risk giving up their careers due to the corruption of others.
This breeds the current culture in policing where a “good cop” would rather choose silence, his career, and pension, over doing what is ethically and morally right, which is to break the “blue code of silence” and report corruption.
WINNERS in that scenario, the corrupt cops, corrupt town administrator, and anyone that protects them including politicians.
LOSERS in that scenario, the whistleblower, other good cops, the Westfield taxpayer.
As long as Westfield continues to employ the two corrupt supervisors shown below, it sends a negative message to all good police officers.
When town officials allow a criminal police chief to retire by selecting “in good standing” on a pension application, it covers up the crimes committed and inadvertently silences the good cops.
When criminal conduct goes unchecked, the good officer will not risk their career to expose the bad officer.
NOTE: the Union County Prosecutors Office is allegedly in possession of surveillance video implicating police personnel in the department thefts.
I am in possession of the falsified police accident report implicating police personnel in the coverup of the police chiefs motor vehicle accident.
John F. Kennedy quoted Edmund Burke saying " The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing".
ReplyDeleteBack when the Town Officials were shown proofs of the multiple transgressions of the Chief of Police and some of his cronies, the Town Officials had to face the prospect of following the candidness and transparency promised in their campaigns or something more expedient and less messy.
The Chief, and his predecessors, could never have acted as they did without the protection or at least acquiescence of other Town Officials. To fire the Chief meant he would fight. If he didn't fight, he lost everything so a dirty fight could be reasonably expected. Who would be soiled by the mud being slung?
The present administration was new. None seems to have had a part in the scandals that would ensue. The only thing the new administration wanted was a clean slate on which to draw its picture of a new Progressive Westfield. The Administration chose the EASY fast method. It chose to deal with the corrupt, cover up the past and try to forge ahead with no obvious impediment.
Now we have the Attorney General of NJ ordering the disclosure of police internal records on serious offenses, demolitions etc. At the time the Administration made its decision to deal and cover-up, it could rely on the secrecy of what has now been declared public.
Now the Administration must announce the reason for the Lieutenant"s demotion. Since he was demoted for filing a false report, the Administration will be subject to questions about the fallacy of the report. Now the Chief's retirement "in good standing" becomes an issue. The Town has previously claimed confidentiality. That seems to violate th AG's order.
If the Administration had told the truth, from the start, it would have had a few rough months but could hold up its head and proudly state that it was not in office at the time. It could put real meaning behind transparency.
Now the Administration must figure a way out.
The AG has mandated that all police discipline resulting in a 5 day suspension, or more, be revealed at the end of the year.
DeleteThe UCPO, Lindsey Routolo, is going back 10 years to expose such cases.
The only way that we will ever know about Wayman, Lugo, and Tango is if they suffered more than a 5 day suspension, and Chief Battiloro goes back in time.
As far as my sources have confirmed, Lugo was demoted, nothing happened to Tango, and Wayman retired in “Good Standing.”
Was a deal made to to allow Wayman no disciplinary action?
My sources have also confirmed that disgraced ex-police Chief Barney Tracy has all of Wayman’s adverse disciplinary actions expunged from his personnel file in order to wipe the slate clean for promotional purposes.
Westfield’s Internal Affairs files have been pilfered over the years including Barney Tracy erasing over an hour of my “Internal Affairs Interview” that he conducted against AG guidelines.
Fortunately, my attorney and I recorded the interview ourselves and it implicated him in not only conducting the illegal interview, but illegally maintaining files on Westfield residents that he had illegal computer checks conducted on.
That audio recording is priceless and was turned over to Westfield Town attorney Dick Danser, Town Administrator Jim Gildea, Mayor Andy Skibitsky, and JIF attorney Eric Harrison.
What do you think forced the town to settle with me? They couldn’t risk going to a civil trial with such a corrupt police chief and a corrupt town administrator that violated CEPA and his own Whistleblower policy.
Risk that audio being exposed at a civil trial? Nope
Risk a multi million dollar lawsuit by the people that Barney Tracy targeted with illegal background checks? Nope.
How much did Gildea and Skibitsky know? Barney was known to brag about how powerful he was. You think he bragged to Gildea and Skibitsky about shutting up all those people against the parking decks by digging up dirt on them?
After all, he had James Abate arrested in town council chambers after Abate spoke out against the parking decks. Abate’s crime: a parking warrant. How did Tracy know about the warrant? Illegal computer check on James Abate?
Skibitsky and Gildea were afraid of B. Tracy.......I was not, and I did what they should’ve done.....expose Tracy’s corruption.
Life is good.
The Prosecutor of Union asks all Public Officials if they will hold true to old conventions that protect the few to the detriment of the many.She quotes the NJ Attorney General.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great question to the Westfield Officials who always demand a confidentiality clause in any severance agreement with an employee leaving his/her position under a cloud.
Wouldn't it be PROGRESSIVE of this administration to pass an ordinance barring the Town from entering into any contract or settlement that contains a confidentiality clause. Further, shouldn't the Town waive it's rights to the confidentiality imposed on anyone in the past.
If the Town wishes to be PROGRESSIVE, should it not embrace the spirit of the Prosecutor and the Attorney General? For a Mayor and Council that embraced transparency, here is their chance to prove it.
I wonder what the odds are that they opt for the old conventions.
Any violations of the law and betrayal of the public’s trust should not be tolerated by the members of the Westfield Police Department, Westfield can not allow the actions of these officer tarnish the commitment and integrity of the men and women of the department. Westfield’s officers are highly trained and dedicated professionals that serve with honor, dignity, and respect. The public should be reassured that as an agency seeking accreditation, Westfield officers are held accountable in both upholding and enforcing the laws.
ReplyDelete