Gar
09-08-2001, 10:40
A supervisor in one of the Police Department's elite units who used racial epithets while on duty has been transferred to Harlem, assuming command of night patrols in the city's most prominent black neighborhood.
The transfer has angered fraternal groups of black officers and a city councilman, who described it as a blunder by an institution that has been trying to improve relations with minority residents.
In a confidential investigation earlier this year, the department found that the supervisor, Lt. Edward J. Weireter, had used the word nigger while working at the Aviation Unit in Brooklyn, where he directed training for the department's helicopter pilots. One police officer told investigators that he heard the lieutenant use the word in a demeaning remark about a black family on television. The lieutenant has admitted to investigators that he said it while repeating racist jokes and in conversations at work. Lieutenant Weireter is white.
To discipline the lieutenant, the department in July removed him from the Aviation Unit, ordered him to attend sensitivity training at the Police Academy and reassigned him to the 26th Precinct in Harlem. Police officials said that the department did not consider a neighborhood's demographics when assigning officers to their duties, and that the transfer served the department's needs at the time.
"That's where we had a need, and that's where we put him," said Deputy Commissioner Thomas Antenen, a police spokesman. "He's a member of our service, and members are expected to adhere to the rules and regulations of the department."
Several black officers, however, said last week that the penalty sent a mixed message to other officers and indicated a worrisome indifference to the neighborhood. "They took his cushy assignment away from him and put him in a predominantly African-American neighborhood, and that's seen as a punishment?" said Detective Jacqueline E. Parris, president of the Guardians Association, a black fraternal group. "The Police Department knows he is comfortable using offensive language about African- Americans. How can it expect him to care about Harlem?"
Councilman Bill Perkins, whose district includes the 26th Precinct, said he was troubled, too. "If he is here with bad feelings about being reassigned, with all the power a police supervisor has, it could be very bad for my community," he said.
The transfer followed an internal discrimination complaint filed by Officer David K. Leader, 43, the department's only black helicopter pilot.
Officer Leader, a 19-year department veteran, flies the force's Bell 206 patrol helicopters, but has never been trained to fly the Bell 412, a more sophisticated aircraft used for search-and-rescue missions. In January, he told the department's equal employment office that less-experienced white pilots had been trained ahead of him, and that Lieutenant Weireter had blocked him because of his age and race.
"No matter what I did there, it seemed I was being held to a higher standard," Officer Leader said in an interview.
The Aviation Unit is regarded within the ranks as one of the Police Department's sweetest plums; it is virtually impossible to be assigned to the command without help from politically connected senior officers. It is also one of the last redoubts of the white male ranks. In its 72 years of existence, only five black officers have been assigned to it. Officer Leader has been its sole black pilot for several years.
In Officer Leader's case, department investigators were unable to determine whether he had been prevented from advancing because of his race or age, and his discrimination claim was not substantiated, according to the department. Nonetheless, one police official said investigators did conclude that assignments in the Aviation Unit were arbitrary and that "Lieutenant Weireter's motivation for preventing Officer Leader from obtaining further training was questionable."
The official also said that when interviewing pilots, an investigator found that Lieutenant Weireter had used the racial epithet several times. The investigator did not find that the lieutenant had used the word in reference to Officer Leader.
Officer Leader said that the department's findings were unsatisfactory and that he intended to file a federal discrimination lawsuit. "The results are incongruous," said his lawyer, Dan Gazan. "On the one hand, a supervisor exhibited racist behavior. On the other, the same supervisor did not discriminate."
Lieutenant Weireter, on the advice of his union, the Lieutenants Benevolent Association, would not comment.
His case, like the word he used, has divided many officers, in expected and surprising ways. One senior black officer, for instance, defended the transfer, saying that if the department made uttering the epithet grounds to keep officers from certain neighborhoods, it risked setting an unmanageable precedent. "If saying that word was all it takes to get out of working in Harlem, guys would be shouting it out at roll call," he said.
Pilots in the Aviation Unit said the command was beset with tension, as its members wondered which of their peers had cooperated with investigators and whether Officer Leader, who was removed from the unit during the investigation but was scheduled to fly again next week, would be ostracized. "It's a big subject of conversation," one pilot said. "It's pretty uncomfortable here."
The pilot also said Lieutenant Weireter was an effective boss, and had been unnecessarily maligned. "He's a good guy, but people went down to 1 Police Plaza and just harpooned him," he said.
Lt. Anthony Garvey, president of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association, said Lieutenant Weireter's career could effectively be ruined. "Sometimes what happens is someone makes inappropriate comments and then maybe they learn from their mistakes," he said. "That's what happened here. He made inappropriate comments and he's been penalized. This should be over."
Detective Parris said she intended to raise the issue with Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik. "I will be requesting from the commissioner that this guy be put somewhere else," she said.
Another veteran black officer had a suggestion. "They should have transferred him to the academy and put him in charge of sensitivity training," he said. "It might do everybody some good."
One senior black officer, for instance, defended the transfer, saying that if the department made uttering the epithet grounds to keep officers from certain neighborhoods, it risked setting an unmanageable precedent. "If saying that word was all it takes to get out of working in Harlem, guys would be shouting it out at roll call," he said
Damn he had a sweet job :crying:
The transfer has angered fraternal groups of black officers and a city councilman, who described it as a blunder by an institution that has been trying to improve relations with minority residents.
In a confidential investigation earlier this year, the department found that the supervisor, Lt. Edward J. Weireter, had used the word nigger while working at the Aviation Unit in Brooklyn, where he directed training for the department's helicopter pilots. One police officer told investigators that he heard the lieutenant use the word in a demeaning remark about a black family on television. The lieutenant has admitted to investigators that he said it while repeating racist jokes and in conversations at work. Lieutenant Weireter is white.
To discipline the lieutenant, the department in July removed him from the Aviation Unit, ordered him to attend sensitivity training at the Police Academy and reassigned him to the 26th Precinct in Harlem. Police officials said that the department did not consider a neighborhood's demographics when assigning officers to their duties, and that the transfer served the department's needs at the time.
"That's where we had a need, and that's where we put him," said Deputy Commissioner Thomas Antenen, a police spokesman. "He's a member of our service, and members are expected to adhere to the rules and regulations of the department."
Several black officers, however, said last week that the penalty sent a mixed message to other officers and indicated a worrisome indifference to the neighborhood. "They took his cushy assignment away from him and put him in a predominantly African-American neighborhood, and that's seen as a punishment?" said Detective Jacqueline E. Parris, president of the Guardians Association, a black fraternal group. "The Police Department knows he is comfortable using offensive language about African- Americans. How can it expect him to care about Harlem?"
Councilman Bill Perkins, whose district includes the 26th Precinct, said he was troubled, too. "If he is here with bad feelings about being reassigned, with all the power a police supervisor has, it could be very bad for my community," he said.
The transfer followed an internal discrimination complaint filed by Officer David K. Leader, 43, the department's only black helicopter pilot.
Officer Leader, a 19-year department veteran, flies the force's Bell 206 patrol helicopters, but has never been trained to fly the Bell 412, a more sophisticated aircraft used for search-and-rescue missions. In January, he told the department's equal employment office that less-experienced white pilots had been trained ahead of him, and that Lieutenant Weireter had blocked him because of his age and race.
"No matter what I did there, it seemed I was being held to a higher standard," Officer Leader said in an interview.
The Aviation Unit is regarded within the ranks as one of the Police Department's sweetest plums; it is virtually impossible to be assigned to the command without help from politically connected senior officers. It is also one of the last redoubts of the white male ranks. In its 72 years of existence, only five black officers have been assigned to it. Officer Leader has been its sole black pilot for several years.
In Officer Leader's case, department investigators were unable to determine whether he had been prevented from advancing because of his race or age, and his discrimination claim was not substantiated, according to the department. Nonetheless, one police official said investigators did conclude that assignments in the Aviation Unit were arbitrary and that "Lieutenant Weireter's motivation for preventing Officer Leader from obtaining further training was questionable."
The official also said that when interviewing pilots, an investigator found that Lieutenant Weireter had used the racial epithet several times. The investigator did not find that the lieutenant had used the word in reference to Officer Leader.
Officer Leader said that the department's findings were unsatisfactory and that he intended to file a federal discrimination lawsuit. "The results are incongruous," said his lawyer, Dan Gazan. "On the one hand, a supervisor exhibited racist behavior. On the other, the same supervisor did not discriminate."
Lieutenant Weireter, on the advice of his union, the Lieutenants Benevolent Association, would not comment.
His case, like the word he used, has divided many officers, in expected and surprising ways. One senior black officer, for instance, defended the transfer, saying that if the department made uttering the epithet grounds to keep officers from certain neighborhoods, it risked setting an unmanageable precedent. "If saying that word was all it takes to get out of working in Harlem, guys would be shouting it out at roll call," he said.
Pilots in the Aviation Unit said the command was beset with tension, as its members wondered which of their peers had cooperated with investigators and whether Officer Leader, who was removed from the unit during the investigation but was scheduled to fly again next week, would be ostracized. "It's a big subject of conversation," one pilot said. "It's pretty uncomfortable here."
The pilot also said Lieutenant Weireter was an effective boss, and had been unnecessarily maligned. "He's a good guy, but people went down to 1 Police Plaza and just harpooned him," he said.
Lt. Anthony Garvey, president of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association, said Lieutenant Weireter's career could effectively be ruined. "Sometimes what happens is someone makes inappropriate comments and then maybe they learn from their mistakes," he said. "That's what happened here. He made inappropriate comments and he's been penalized. This should be over."
Detective Parris said she intended to raise the issue with Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik. "I will be requesting from the commissioner that this guy be put somewhere else," she said.
Another veteran black officer had a suggestion. "They should have transferred him to the academy and put him in charge of sensitivity training," he said. "It might do everybody some good."
One senior black officer, for instance, defended the transfer, saying that if the department made uttering the epithet grounds to keep officers from certain neighborhoods, it risked setting an unmanageable precedent. "If saying that word was all it takes to get out of working in Harlem, guys would be shouting it out at roll call," he said
Damn he had a sweet job :crying: