Deputy Inspector Jeff Schiff on Wednesday addressing the meeting of the 106th Precinct Community Council. Forum Photo by Michael V. Cusenza.
The commanding officer of the 106th Precinct on Wednesday night unequivocally refuted a claim and purported supporting evidence recently published on a popular social media platform by the president of the Howard Beach Civilian Observation Patrol, Inc., that attempted to discredit a statement the officer gave to this newspaper regarding the status of the group’s official Police Department COP certification.
“To this date, we have not received a single application from the Civilian Observation Patrol,” said Deputy Inspector Jeff Schiff during the 106th Precinct Community Council meeting at the command’s stationhouse.
In a story in last week’s edition of The Forum, Schiff stated that “nothing has been submitted to us formally… we have spoken to [HBCOP President]Joe [Thompson] on a number of occasions, told him what was required, and we haven’t heard back from him.”
Schiff has said that the required documentation includes the completion of a four-page application, fingerprinting, background check and official identification.
In the same Forum story, it was revealed that Thompson had been arrested and charged with enterprise corruption and promoting prostitution in Nassau County in 2001. Asked if a background check would yield a clean record, Thompson initially responded, “I think it will.” When pressed on the issue, Thompson said, “I’m not talking about me personally anymore.”
Thompson also affirmed in the article that he had turned in the COP applications to Community Affairs Officer Brenda Reddick.
In what appeared to be an attempt to bolster the claim, Thompson recently posted to the HBCOP Facebook page screen-grab images of several email correspondences dated February 2015 between himself and Reddick in which the two discuss applications, fingerprinting and photographs. Thompson called the post “My Statement and Proof.”
However, in one of the messages from Thursday, Feb. 12, Reddick tells Thompson, “I need the people who are going to the academy to come in for fingerprinting and to also bring a passport photo…”
In that missive, Reddick is referencing the Citizens’ Police Academy, a 14-week program offered by the NYPD in which experienced Training Bureau instructors provide training in the legal, social and procedural aspects of policing.
“The Citizens’ Police Academy has nothing to do with the Civilian Observation Patrol certification process,” Schiff said on Wednesday. “They’re two different things.”
Precinct Community Council Member Betty Braton noted to Schiff, “The implication [from Thompson’s post] is that you were not telling the whole truth.”
Schiff said his and Reddick’s reputations are “at stake here.”
“Officer Reddick’s emails were misrepresented on Facebook,” he continued. “Our reputations are besmirched. It’s not right. All of my officers under my command have my complete confidence.”
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
