NYPD Roosevelt Island Community Officer Dino Sitaris Commended By Roosevelt Island Residents Association For His Service To The Community - RIRA Also Approves Motion Opposing Use Of Tasers By RIOC Public Safety Department
During last night's Common Council Meeting, the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) approved the following motion by its Public Safety Committee commending NYPD Officer Dino Sitaris
Image of Officer Sitaris At Farmers Market October 2011
for his service to the Roosevelt Island community.
Commendation for Officer Sitaras:Here's what happened.
The PSC would like to present a motion, requesting a vote of support from the RIRA Common Council to present the following commendation to Officer Sitaras. We are asking that the RIRA President write a letter to Deputy Inspector Cirabisi, presently the Deputy Inspector who oversees the 114th, informing him of the commendation, with Officer Sitaras cc’d on the letter.
It is with great pleasure that we award Office Sitaras this commendation for his service to the Roosevelt Island community. Officer Sitaras' enthusiastic approach to community policing and the excellent rapport that he has generated with the Island residents has been instrumental in providing a safe and secure environment on Roosevelt Island.
The RIRA Common Council also approved this motion by its Public Safety Committee opposing the arming of Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department, both officers and supervisors, with Tasers.
MOTION: The RIRA Common Council is opposed to arming Public Safety officers or supervisors with Tasers and recommends to the RIOC Board of Directors that they turn down this request.Here's what happened:
More on the Roosevelt Island Taser issue from previous posts.
22 comments :
If one psd officer dies, i guess second thoughts when it's too late is common place.. We could have, should have...but we were too Lost to figure it out.
RIRA holds zero authority.
to RIRA, keep playing in fantasy land.
It's full of old people with no grasp of reality because they are saturated in their liberal fairy tale life and world.
Snap out of it. PSD are no damn security guards, they are law enforcement officers. The last time I checked we still live in nyc which is comprised of 9+million people, with many many evil doers nested within.
But but but but they don't do anything about the drugs on the island! NO, REALLY? I guess we have many brave citizens on this island who will approach drug dealers and users unarmed.
You act as if PSD has no options without Tasers, and that's just not true. PSD has an escalation point: the NYPD, whose officers are armed.
If they wanted the drug dealers gone, they would call in the NYPD cops. But they don't. Even an RA in a college dorm has and uses that level of authority.
The truth is PSD officers selectively enforce the law on this island. The organization has not shown the consistent good judgement required to authorize its officers to be armed with a dangerous weapon.
Wait a minute Jesse, they do call on the NYPD. Didn't you notice that the beat cop from the 114th Pct. got a commendation from RIRA. He's here on the island too.
Now, I wasn't in favor of all the PSD Officers carrying a taser either, but I did think it was okay for the Supervisors to have them. That's how it is in the NYPD. The beat cop here doesn't have one either, but if he needs one, he has to call his Supervisor. I only wonder how long it would take for that person to arrive.
Let's hope we never encounter a situation that requires a taser, because if we do, some might regret shooting down the idea - no pun intended.
Yes, but Mr. Guerra was the one who asked for the No Tasers motion at RIRA. Mr. Katz was having a conversation with Mr. Guerra and Mr. Katz reported that Mr. Guerra wanted the motion from RIRA so Mr. Guerra could respond to RIRA's request by Mr. Guerra withdrawing his request for tasers.
Now before y'all start jumping on that, you should think about why it made sense for Mr. Guerra to request RIRA to put forward a No Tasers motion.
Guerra originally wanted money allocated for the purchase of tasers. He had a community meeting where the idea was rejected by most of the community. In order to "validate" his decision to not purchase the tasers, he requested RIRA vote on an anti-taser motion. This seems like a bit of a meandering story - why did Guerra originally suggest the purchase of tasers? Has anything really changed that he does not think the PSD needs additional force?
You live in absolute fantasy land.
You want one law enforcement entity to call another law enforcement agency to clean up the mess PSD IS PAID TO DO?
Just hear yourself. How does that make sense?
It's like calling in a private sanitation company to take out the garbage the city garbage men are suppose to take anyway on a city street. It makes no sense. Who knows the perpetrators better than psd? Who knows the community better than psd?
You expect psd to call 911 on drug dealers?
Can you imagine the taunting and problems it causes? It causes FRICTION.
No tasers at all or no tasers for ALL OFFICERS?
This makes no sense,
So you're saying PSD officers should have tasers so they can respond to taunting?
And you know this because you were there for this so-called conversation. Or, are you just trying to baffle us with bullsh-t again. I heard the Public Safety Committee put forward that motion after their own committee meeting. Why would Guerra want a No Tasers Motion? That doesn't make any sense.
You really think they can do the best, absolute best of their job with no REAL defensive tools.
So much negativity. How much taunting you think they get for bring a cop with no gun? Taunting within the law enforcement community alone, not including perpetrators!
Sometimes it helps trying to understand things logically.
Things just don't make any sense on this island. We have our own police force AT OUR DISPOSAL. And we DO NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!
You guys EXPECT a perfect police force?
IMPOSSIBLE! Look at nypd, they can't keep themselves out of the papers for a single day.
I know this because I have the E-mail history. Mr. Guerra met with me many times to "shape" the story and outcome, that didn't work with me because each time he'd tell me something that turned out not to be true, and his story about the incident kept changing. After the Public Safety Committee put forward the resolution for an investigation, Mr. Guerra then tried to quash the resolution by meeting with Mr. Katz. Mr. Katz came back with: (1) let's have a CCRB for PS, (2) RIRA should put forward a no-tasers motion, (3) let's cancel the investigation on the Stueber incident.
The Public Safety Committee rejected the idea of #1 *in place of* an investigation of the Stueber incident because it was seen as a delaying tactic by Mr. Guerra on getting to the bottom of the Stueber incident, and (as many of us experienced with Mr. Guerra over the past several years), he was happy to make this recommendation for our own CCRB yet do no follow up ... which seems like an ongoing way for Mr. Guerra to have no oversight over him or his department.
So Mr. Guerra asked Mr. Katz to put forward the no-taser motion so that Public Safety could "react" to it and Mr. Guerra would withdraw it's request. Read: Mr. Guerra is give Mr. Katz a softball motion so Mr. Katz can look tough. Ms. Feely-Nahem and I both thought this was a bunch of baloney that Mr. Guerra "needed" a motion from RIRA on no-tasers.
At Wednesday's RIRA meeting, Ms. Feely-Nahem and I then prepared to make the motion for our own CCRB (as Mr. Guerra had asked Mr. Katz to do), but Mr. Katz declined to have this motion made on his behalf.
Mr. LaRoche, you seem clueless about Public Safety's job. They aren't NYPD, they are peace officers here to deal with quality of life issues for this large housing development known as Roosevelt Island ... peace officers serve the same function elsewhere. Here and elsewhere, they are trained to call for back up and to escalate quickly to NYPD for situations they cannot handle. This makes perfect sense, and that is how the 114th precinct sees it, too.
In short, if someone has a gun, then it's NYPD's problem, not Public Safety's problem. And I hope, for the sake of the safety of our officers, they don't get themselves into life-threatening situations.
You worry about PS officers getting killed in their jobs and somehow tasers will get them less killed. That's foolish.
You worry that PS officers don't feel liked and will cause them to perform less because they aren't liked. Either they are professionals or they're not. While everyone likes being appreciated, it's not required. And if Public Safety officers feel they need the appreciation of the residents, the Public Safety (starting with Mr. Guerra) needs to think about the way they treat the residents.
Really, how do you expect to gain the appreciation of the residents when Mr. Guerra claims people in custody fake their injuries, Public Safety officers laugh and joke about the injuries subjects suffer when they are arrested, and Public Safety officers fabricate testimony to trump up the charges?
As many RIRA Common Council members said on Wednesday: the Stueber incident isn't an isolated incident, there is a Pattern Of Behavior with Public Safety that has been ongoing for years.
Seriously, do you know the difference between a peace officer and a police officer?
Read the nys criminal procedure law and get back to me.
A peace officers job and duties are not of a security guard to keep calling the nypd when something happens.
Almost anything not of a grand scale or part of a actual town or city employ peace officers.
Did you know the triboro bridge police are peace officers? They handle their own mess pretty darn good if you ask me without calling the nypd
You act as though the 114 is on speed dial.
You act as though the officers of the 114 pct actually like taking from what I gather COMPLEX arrests from this island.
As a resident I have known public safety to arrest burglars, robbers and perpetrators CARRYING FIREARMS!
Where have you been?
Did they call nypd for those cases? NO!
Public safety arrested them and charged them. They don't simply drop them off at the 114 and leave. If you think that, you are sadly mistaken. If you think they call 911 to simply take the arrest off of public safety, again you are sadly mistaken.
Get to know the officers and the department. Understand what they deal with first before slandering them at your mercy all the time.
I am greatful we have them. I can only imagine what they feel to go to a robbery call, I'll prepared.
I guess you feel, as they are LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, who took an oath just like a nypd officer, just to sit back and NOT DO ANYTHING if a serious call comes over their walkie talkie, or if they WITNESS a crime.
I think you need further education and a reality check as to what these officers REALLY DO. Officer sitaris, as I am happy he is here Tuesday thru Saturday on the evening shift as he has a firearm and can protect me if I am robbed with a knife or gun, but what does HE REALLY DO HERE?
Everyone is quick to give accolades to an outsider, but what about our own guys?
Seriously.
I like to be a realist. So excuse me for making sense.
Sorry I got to know psd and asked many questions while taking to their officers, as well as making friends with old officer Fernandez who told me many many old psd stories.
Frank, go out and learn something, seriously. You have NO CLUE as to psd duties and responsibilities as peace officers.
If PSD officers are bothered by the "taunting" or disrespect they receive on the job, perhaps they're in the wrong job. The answer to hurt feelings is not tasers and it's not firearms. Even in all caps, your argument makes no sense.
Makes perfect sense.
Can you or will you do a police type job without a real defensive tool such a firearm or a taser?
Your running after a man armed with a knife who just for example, raped a woman by the med steps at 3am...
You don't think that's crazy and scary?
Or how abut this one ! I'm sure you were on the island for this. Last year in February, psd officers RAN AFTER AND APPREHENDED A MAN WITH A REAL GUN!
Do you possess that much bravery unarmed? I know I DON'T! I am not ashamed to admit it.
Seriously, just put your feelings aside and step into reality. Browse through this website I found recently, ODMP.ORG . Check out how many officers get killed by guns and deadly weapons each and every year. All types of officers! Fish and wildlife officers, park officers, city and state police officers, troopers, you name it, they are DEAD.
I am sure in school you were taught probability. It is VERY probable that a psd officer can get seriously hurt or killed. The odds are stacked AGAINST THEM.
You, the naysayers will be the cause of that officers demise.
What's right is right. If you got a parking ticket by psd, so what put that emotion aside. If you got arrested, so what.. Put that aside too.
Out of ALL the arrests psd have made, to have only a handful of complaints and "problems" is a remarkable accomplishment!
Nothing is perfect in law enforcement. Nobody likes the police around, including psd until YOU need their Help, or you want them around a dark area to make you feel safer.
Seriously, not giving you a low blow, but its true. They take your freedom away when you break the law, arrest your brothers, sisters, cousinss, parents, whatever.... It's the name of the game!
Am I right? You cannot say I am wrong! It's true!
Like the guy from the lotto commercials says, hey you never know.
Mr. LaRoche, your points make no sense and don't reflect Public Safety's real job. If violent crimes were here in significant numbers, we'd be getting more help from NYPD, not thinking about adding tasers.
You have a naive impression of law enforcement. As for the unarmed PS officer apprehending a guy with a gun, some people call that bravery (which it might be), but it's really bad policy, process, and doctrine to do so. How is a one-on-one match of a PS officer (even with a taser) supposed to produce an effective outcome with a suspect with a gun? That's a doctrinal question one would pose in your example. It's like the fireman who runs alone into the burning building, maybe bravery, but also really bad policy if something goes wrong (e.g., creating more victims), which is why (from a doctrinal perspective) policy is not to handle things alone, but to call for backup.
I also point out: you've probably never been to a public meeting with Public Safety and the 114th Precinct officers in the same room. There is a consistent and clear picture from both organizations: PS is the first line of defense, but they aren't intended to handle armed suspects. And Yes, they have NYPD and EMS on "speed dial" with an expected response time in single-digit minutes.
5minutes is too long, even 3 if the defication has hit the rotating occosilator.
YOU seem to have a fantasy land grasp on police work.
Bravery, ok, still does not negate the fact that PSD are the ones who will encounter a bad situation of this island prior to any nypd officer. Common sense, no?
Once a hand is dealt on the street, the clock doesn't stop, there are no time out calls.
Oh you have a knife? Your really violent? Ok, let's me press pause while we call someone armed to the scene.
And even then, a regular beat cop does not carry a taser! So now when they come, that emotionally disturbed individual has a good chance of GETTING SHOT!
Let's wait for the nypd's supervisor to show up with the taser? Hmm.. How dome know what he is already dealing with?
Do we press pause again?
You are missing the point, mainly because you refuse to and you have a personal bone to pick with psd for many years now.
Who usually, 97.999% of the time have contact with perpetrators and general public on this island? I'm sure it is not officer sitaris. Guess again...
You can't expect a law enforcement officer who took a sworn oath to protect to just ignore problems, or rather a crime that took or is taking place.
That is derelict of duty!
I don't know... but this story you tell seems nuts. Mr. Guerra doesn't seem like he would need Mr. Katz or you or anyone else for that matter to soften something for him. Since he has been here, he's done a good job with PSD. I remember when....
Even Mr. Lutz of the WIRE called him the best Chief in the last 3 decades. You speak about Mr. Guerra with such disdain... Ok, I get it, you don't like the guy. Personally, I think he's done more for this community than his 2 predecessors combined.
Question: Can we just put this issue on the ballot in the upcoming election as a Referendum, so we all the residents can have a say. The Referendum could be worded as follows: Do you think RIOC should purchase a taser for the use of the RI PSD, under the control of the CO? Answer: Yes or No.
He has a chip on his shoulder for something. Only he knows. Very evident and he doesn't hide hide it. His fairy tails are rediculous.
Who does RIRA think they are? And why on earth would a chief kiss RIRA's smelly behind?
RIRA holds no authority and means diddly squat!
If he did, which is far fetched, plead with you guys, then the man has to go.
No one, absolutely no one should bow down to RIRA's bullying.
TheOhioState, yes I agree with you it might sound nuts ... except when people negotiate IN ADVANCE which battles they will win or lose. Again, I agree with you and Mr. LaRoche that Mr. Guerra did not need RIRA's sign off for using tasers, or withdrawing his request for tasers.
However, it's Mr. Guerra's bargain with Mr. Katz: in exchange for opposing the RIRA resolution that requests an investigation (something Guerra is looking to avoid), Mr. Katz can have RIRA propose a no-taser resolution (which Mr. Guerra will withdraw his taser request) so RIRA can look strong and Mr. Guerra can look like he is responding to community input, and Mr. Katz can propose a CCRB (which has the side effect of tossing this particular investigation because it will take at least 12 months to get a CCRB started).
Mr. Guerra is well aware that his board will likely initiate an investigation if there is a request for one, so tactically he looks to get rid of the RIRA resolution. However, a good number of RIRA Common Council members have heard Mr. Guerra's story before overt the past years and Mr. Guerra's intervention was perceived as a delaying tactic.
I also agree that Mr. Guerra has been the best Chief in the last 3 decades, however that does not imply he and his staff should be free from accountability or oversight.
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