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Re: Downtown JC Ticket Frenzy
#1
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The arbitrary enforcement of the law by the PA is maddening and includes the city's placement of meters that violate the state code. If you're a masochist and want to suffer through municipal court, you can take pictures of the city's double standard and show it to the "judge" who might reduce the ticket by half. I'm obviously speaking from experience, and it's not one I would repeat. As amusing as it was to see a municipal court jurist act like the high lord executioner in PARKING--not even traffic-- court....NO READING NEWSPAPERS IN HERE!...I'll take my Kafkaesque experiences unwittingly, thank you.

That said, I cannot for the life of me understand the permit regulations as they stand. Why are unpermitted vehicles allowed to park overnight in the downtown core? It's a nightmare trying to find a spot in the late hours of the day, and residents have a compelling interest to restrict parking to the people who live/work here and their visitors at all hours of the day.

Posted on: 2013/7/18 5:26
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Re: Gross Behavior by JC Police Officer Menendez
#2
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Yes, I would stand up again for the rights that are very clearly granted to us by the law. It has been one month since my statement was taken at the precinct, and I have not heard back about the results of their "investigation". It is essential that the those charged with protecting us are obedient to the law, judicious in its enforcement and professional in their conduct. As I told the investigating officer last month, all I want from Officer Jessica Melendez is an apology that admits her error in conduct, which is what I asked for the night of the incident, and what she could have given when she tacitly confronted me at the police station when I gave my statement. Remarkably, an apology, even if her brethren finds she's culpable--hard to imagine-- seems totally out of the question.

Posted on: 2010/11/16 5:48
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Re: Gross Behavior by JC Police Officer Menendez
#3
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I disagree. I think that demurely tolerating the indiscretions of the police or any civic authority, what you call "minding my own business", is not in the spirit of a democratic citizen. Turning a blind eye to what happens in our neighborhoods and our city fosters indifference about our community and how we are governed. The results of such indifference are devastating to democracy. While Officer Melendez's misconduct is a relatively minor instance, it is nonetheless important to confront. No group deserves greater scrutiny by the public than the agents charged with protecting the public--the police. Turning my camera on the police is an instance of exercising my right to watch them--a constitutional right solidly protected by the rulings of the Supreme Court. I'm concerned by your indifference to what occurs in our community. Since September 11th, and maybe before, the citizenry has retreated inward to minding its own business, while our civil liberties erode and our fear bloats. Such inwardness is totally incompatible with the fierce, nuanced critical thought that a democracy demands of its electorate. That's why we spend considerable money to educate the citizenry. And that's why I think that this, jclist.com, is a great forum to discuss what's happening in our city. While I respect the range of opinion and contention that this forum generates on any given topic, smug and terse quips belie the spirit of what this forum is about.

Posted on: 2010/10/23 6:15
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Re: Gross Behavior by JC Police Officer Menendez
#4
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Thanks for your input. Despite the witness to the episode, I do not expect that the Melendez will be found to have done anything wrong.

My concern with seeing this complaint through has been the result of the initial outrage I felt with how Melendez treated me. She made it very clear that any sense of the law, an authority superior to her, was a fiction. She refused to follow the law, she refused to let me speak with her supervisor and she refused to identify herself in a professional manner. She was hostile towards me for no very good reason, and she threatened to arrest me for exercising a well-established, democratic right that she swore to protect.

Despite the fact that I will probably not have the satisfaction of an official reprimand, I am at each step of this complaint demonstrating to Officer Melendez and her cohort that citizens are not to be trampled on with impunity. Even if their punishment is mere annoyance, I feel that we must speak up, cordially and clearly, when these sorts of things happen to us.

If the police department's own protocols for dealing with this matter are deficient than it's a further embarrassment to their professionalism. Officer Melendez was not just standing around when I came in for my scheduled appointment; she was seated at the center of the desk. Nobody had the foresight to see the potential discomfort or conflict this might imply with a citizen who had just filed an IA complaint against her? It felt purposeful, and I'm sure it was: brilliantly so because if I were to confront her directly in the moment or complain later it would attest to my oversensitivity and belie the legitimacy of my complaint. More still, saying nothing implies my acknowledgment that Melendez, an officer sworn to protect me who works in my own neighborhood, is cognizant of my complaint, who I am, and she is supported by her brothers on the beat: Many against one.

It's important that these sorts of behaviors are made known, even at this relatively minor level. I fear what these details may suggest about what happens inside the police force that we have sworn to protect us--a force that seems very concerned with protecting itself.

Posted on: 2010/10/21 13:53
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Resolution to the Gross Behavior by JC Police Officer Jessica Melendez
#5
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In response to the events that I detailed in my original post, I filed a formal complaint with Internal Affairs. The initial intake was professionally conducted by Detective Jackson, who after reading my narrative of Officer Jessica Melendez?s conduct, said that, if true, her behavior was egregious. Two weeks after this intake I received correspondence from the head of Internal Affairs, Captain Nixon Reyes, who closes his letter with the following half-dismissive resolve [I do not know if Capt. Reyes has any relation to Sgt. Reyes, who defended Melendez at the time of the incident]:

?While we expect our personnel to be courteous and professional in their dealings with the public, misunderstanding will occasionally take place. Your complaint will hopefully allow us to address any actual or perceived shortcomings on the part of our personnel.?

About two weeks after receiving this letter, I was contacted last week by Sgt. Hine. Evidently ?demeanor? complaints are investigated by the offending officer?s precinct commander rather than headquarters. Sgt. Hine requested a taped statement from me, and we made an appointment for me to give it at the East precinct on 7th Street.

At the appointed time in the afternoon, I showed up at the precinct. Officer Melendez along with several of her fellow officers were loitering around the front desk. Perhaps I?m paranoid, but Melendez?s presence seemed deliberately staged and subtlety intimidating. She said nothing to me, and shortly thereafter I was greeted by Sgt. Hine who was cordial. However, at the end of my statement, Sgt. Hine remarked, ?I do not want to waste anymore of your time?, which is to say that I should not waste anymore of his time. While difficult to adequately describe, I very much had the sense that all of these personnel were agitated by or dismissive of the complaint. Their behavior was tacitly aggressive: If you file a complaint against one of our officers, we will band together with her--visibly. Moreover, even though we will adhere to the protocols established to investigate your complaint, we will at the same oppose your complaint that will dissolve into ether of the bureaucracy.

In other words, the need for a citizen to redress the transgressions of a misbehaving police officer is met with a disdainful charade of concern that masks annoyance or indignation on the part of those charged with the investigation. I expected as much. Officer Melendez?s misconduct begets the infractions of even more officers who put fraternity ahead of professional accountability. What they neglect is the degree of trust and responsibility invested in them by the public who cannot afford to have fellowship put ahead of civic duty. I e-mailed councilman Fulop, but as you might expect, I haven?t received a reply. Lesson learned: never under any circumstance deal with the police without a lawyer. I don't expect Officer Melendez will be found to have done anything very wrong.

Posted on: 2010/10/21 2:30
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Re: Gross Behavior by JC Police Officer Menendez
#6
Newbie
Newbie


I appreciate the feedback. My problem is not with the Police in general; I'm thankful that these professionals protect our persons and our property under the law. My problem is with Officers Melendez and Reyes who are entrusted by the public to uphold the law, but they think they are above the law (or at least acted like it on Sunday). I've filed a formal complaint with the Department and contacted Fulop. The bureaucracy will now do as little or as much as it likes.

Posted on: 2010/9/20 17:05
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Gross Behavior by JC Police Officer Menendez
#7
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*Officer Menendez, Badge Number 2102, harasses citizen for taking pictures of traffic accident and threatens to arrest him for no lawful reason*

I heard a loud noise outside my apartment late Saturday evening that sounded like a car collision. Since I?m a photographer, I grabbed my camera and ran outside. Immediately, something didn?t seem right since there was an inordinately large group of teenagers surrounding an SUV that had crashed into a tree on the wrong side of the street at Newark Ave. and Jersey. I saw a young man on the opposite side of the street who looked suspicious. Two girls were talking about how he had just crashed the vehicle and that he was fleeing. I took his picture as he nervously fled down Jersey Ave.

When the police I arrived, I showed one of the officer?s the picture of the boy who had just likely hit the tree and run. He thanked me. I left the scene for several minutes and then returned to keep taking pictures from across the street with a telephoto lens. Since I?m a photographer, I thought these might make good stock images. I noticed that an officer was now interviewing the young man I had photographed across the street.

I continued taking pictures at a substantial distance. There was absolutely no activity in my vicinity; I made a point of being well away from the scene on the other side of the street?s sidewalk. But there weren?t many onlookers, so I was fairly conspicuous.

A female officer saw me and approached me. She asked me who I was and whether I was with a newspaper. I replied that I was a photographer and not affiliated with a newspaper. She did not ask for a government ID or my name. She told me to stop taking pictures. I asked her for a reason and explained that I had a lawful, constitutional right to take pictures on the street. She immediately became aggressive and inappropriate. She screamed, ?I?m in charge here, and you must stop taking pictures.? Again, I asked her to please specify what legal right she had to order me to stop photographing. It?s important to note that she did not ask me to move away at this point but just to stop taking pictures. This is a clear indication that she was in violation of the law since her concern was solely with my camera. I remained cool, I behaved in a cordial way towards her, but I insisted that I had the right to take pictures. She then threatened to arrest me: ?You want me to put you in cuffs?? And she continued to scream and berate me while her male colleague chuckled to himself. Her attitude was vicious and ill considered: when I put my hand on my hip, she ordered me not to move as though I were armed. I was treated like a criminal. She then immediately ordered me away, even though I was on a remote corner at least thirty yards from the police activity (mind you this was not an exigent situation). I complied since I did not want to be unlawfully arrested. But I did ask for her badge number. She refused to give it to me, and then said, ?If I could see her badge in the dark, I could have it.? I asked to speak to her supervisor, but she refused and again screamed at me to leave. When I write, ?scream?, I?m talking about a threatening, angry and contemptuous shrill. Three other citizens witnessed this incident from another corner.

These citizens, strangers to me, commented on how terribly they thought this officer behaved. One of them volunteered his contact information as a witness.

I was shaken and unnerved by this incident. It further eroded my trust in the police. The only reason that could explain this officer?s treatment of me was that she felt challenged when I insisted that I had a legal right to photograph. In response to my assertion of that right in a calm, cordial manner, she threatened to strip me of my freedom and incarcerate me. This was not an emergency situation. Most of her colleagues were loitering at the scene. The dynamic was clear: Nobody dare assert their power as a citizen in the face of a police officer; nobody dare invoke their legal rights and express cognizance of the law; nobody dare ask for accountability on the street when they have neither badge nor gun.

When I arrived home, I called the station to speak with her supervisor, one Sgt. Reyes. Evidently, he was the chuckling colleague at the scene. He explained to me that all Menendez had done was ask me to leave?a gross lie. He had the audacity to deny my first-hand summary of the events. He said Menendez never threatened or harassed me in any way. I expressed my outrage that he would cover her ass by lying to me. He smugly disregarded my concerns and refused to apologize.

Three strangers expressed outrage to what they witnessed. I will take this to Internal Affairs. What happened to me is comparatively minor, but what does it suggest about the manner of policing in this city? Menendez?s behavior is neither civil nor lawful?two absolute requirements for any peace officer. And if Officers Menendez and Reyes are so blithely ignorant of the law, what other rights do they violate on a daily basis?

In the end, the young man who had fled the crash and changed his shirt was let go and walked away hand in hand with one of the young girls.

Posted on: 2010/9/19 6:55
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