 
February 2001 |
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February 2001 |
President's Message :
I want to specifically thank Congressman Ben Gilman for making the trip, Congressman Gilman kept beeping me to tell me he was on his way, having just arrived from Washington DC and was on his way, his stamina never ceases to amaze me,but as he said when he arrrived that he felt it was important to attend in memory of PO Buzcek.
We had a nice showing from the NYSP at the meeting and hope we can get that type of showing more often. As I am writing this, I just learned of a Trooper from Troop T who was hurt in an MVA on I-84, no name was released yet, but it was not serious, and we hope the Trooper a quick recovery.
As we continue to grow, we are always looking for ways to improve things for our members. We have just brokered a good cell phone deal for our members so they have an affordable way to call home and check on their families. There are details later in this newsletter. We will offer this deal to your co-workers, they just have to call the Rep, Lucy Kramer and mention Lodge 957 to get this discount, this is just our way of helping our fellow law enforcement officers, even those who are not members, and who knows, maybe this might help sway them to join.
We will have dates set by the next meeting to announce our Driver Safety Courses and VIN Etching for the community. While the Lodge makes little or nothing from these efforts, it does get word out about us and more importantly the Memorial Wall. Along the lines of the Wall, the Lodge now has for sale tee shirts and sweat shirts depicting the Wall and the names of all the officers killed in the Line of Duty, all proceeds from the shirts will go to the Wall.
We wish the Conklins luck on their Venison Dinner which will benefit the Jason Conklin Scholarship, while we are not involved with it this year, we wish them success.
If any member is looking to replace their bullet proof vest and would like to donate it to the Lodge, please let the Board know and will get a package together to send it to officers who need them and can't afford them, we already have several ready to go.
The meeting in March will be our St Pattys Day Meeting, with our now traditional burning of the green(gabbage that is) .
The Lodge will be marching in uniform at the HighLand Falls/Orange County St. Patrick's Day Parade. We will meet at the American Legion at 1000hrs on March 11, in either dress uniform or business attire, any Department wanting to send a representative RMP, please talk to the Board.
Lastly, remember to stay safe and to wear your vest.
Tom
CondolencesTo Rocco Pascarella on the passing of his wife right after Christmas. Rocco has suffered the loss of his father and brother in law also in the last two months, please keep him and his family in your prayers.
CongratulationsMike Quirk NYPD,19th Pct and his wife on the birth of their son Kevin.
To Liam Lynch and his wife on their recent bundle of joy. All are doing well.
To newly promoted member and advertiser, Louie Lombardi, Captain, NYPD
Any noteworthy info please mail/email the Board
Get Well Wishes:To Larry Bennet's mother who is home recovering from her recent illness,
New State Board
We have spoken to the New State President, Frank Ferrara and Frank and some of the members of the State Board will be making the trek to the north 40 to explain the members benefits in an upcoming meeting .
Guest Speakers
The Board is always looking for guest speaker. If anyone in the Lodge would like to hear a particular guest speaker, please let the Board know. We have some influential speakers either lined up or nearing confirmation in the upcoming months. We are always looking for speakers who will appeal to our members.
FOOD
A subject always near and dear to a cops heart. The Board has been experimenting with new menus which according to the lack of left overs seems to be a success. If you want a particular menu and the Board can prepare it with minimal damage to the kitchen and livestock, we will give it a shot. What has started out as a variety has now become a consuming(no pun intended) project. While it places more work on the Board, we are willing to try anything once( within the applicable fire safety/health department guidelines )
Pistol Permits
In an attempt to make it easier for our retiring members to obtain a pistol license, there will be applications available at all the meetings. The Board strongly recommends that a soon to retire member, start the process at least six months in advance to assure a carry permit. We will soon start contacting County Legislatures and Judges about streamlining the process. In the words of Judge David Levine, " if you proved yourself worthy to carry it (a firearm) for twenty years, you should be allowed to carry it upon retirement.
Public service Ad
One of our members recently approached us about a recent breast cancer scare he and his wife had. We are always reminding our members to stay safe and to wear their vests, but we neglect to say anything about our families. Maybe it is time that we take stock of our most precious assets and look after the health of our families and have check ups for everyone. This is also true for our members. One of our co-workers and a member of a different Lodge went for a stress test before his retirement, and found that he had a blocked artery and is now out LOD before he can retire. Let these two incidents be a important reminder to look after ourselves and our families.
Cell Phone Package
There will be a representative from VoiceStream at the Feb 12, meeting to answer any questions that our members might have about cell phones.
Voice Stream is contracting with one of our advertisers to install a new cell phone tower on his property to increase service.
Links:Join The International Police Association (IPA)
IPA HomePage: http://www.ipa-usa.orgThe Badges HomePage: http://www.MyList.net/tsi/badges
WANTED: Good people for a thankless jobWhen you start your job, you get to wear only one color, blue. You work all hours of the day and night, and on your wedding anniversary, and on Christmas, and on the day your kid is the star of Miss Hanson's Kindergarten Ballet and Recital.
When there are explosions, gun shots, or screams, you run toward them.
You must love children, even those shooting at you. You have to be able to separate a knife-wielding husband from his pistol-wielding wife, with no Injury to anyone. Then when you arrest one, the other jumps on your back and pummels you. People curse you, you can't curse back. People hate you, you can't hate back.
You have to be an expert in criminal law, a counselor, a negotiator, perfect at crowd control, a therapist, a marksman, a hero, a psychic, an expert in race relations, be able to deliver a baby, climb a rope, scale a wall, have the analytical intelligence of Sherlock Holmes, the sensitivity of Jesus Christ, and be able to hit like George Foreman.
You can never lose your temper. If you give a driver a ticket for going 55 mph in a school zone crowded with kids, the driver will demand to know why you're not chasing criminals instead of harassing respectable citizens like him. If you chase a criminal, and he pulls a gun, and you shoot him, it's your fault. And sometimes you're sued.
If you chase a madman who's driving a car, and there's a crash, it's always your fault. If you don't believe it's your fault, just listen to the television news and read the newspaper reports and they'll set you straight.
If you pursue, and wrestle, and handcuff, and arrest an armed robber,
and get bruised and bloodied, and forget to dot an "i" or cross a "t", a judge,
a panel of judges, or a whole court of judges will tell you it's your
fault and release a dangerous criminal back into the community.You have to solve major crimes in a day, or you're not doing your job. If you stop for five minutes for lunch, you're goofing off. If you accepta cup of coffee, you're on the take. If you answer a call for help by running to your squad and squealing your tires, you're a cowboy. If you get to the scene five minutes after the call for help, you're screamed at for not getting there faster.
You have to know more chemicals than a pharmacist. You have to know
more about chemical reactions in the human body than a doctor. When you break into a drug house, you can never forget to read Miranda rights to an assorted collection of scumbags who are racing for the doorways, shooting at you, jumping out the windows, punching you in the face, and running to the bathroom to relieve themselves of evidence with the aid of modern plumbing. If the criminals don't get rid of the evidence with a flush, a defense attorney will get rid of the evidence through motions that attack you in court, and of course, it's your fault.In hostage situations, if you shoot the hostage-taker, you're a killer, and if you don't shoot him, and continue talking to him, and someone is injured or killed, then you're indecisive and stupid. You're unpopular. All the time. Every hour of every day. Until someone needs you.
Pay isn't great. Hours are ridiculous. And you probably won't get a summer vacation until you're on the job 20 years.
Now, if you're still interested in becoming a cop, you can immediately apply because three fine men unexpectedly lost their jobs recently.
September 7: Milwaukee Police Officer William Robertson, 31, was shot to death by a sniper with a high-powered rifle. October 28: Glendale Police Officer Ronald E. Hedbany, 42, was shot to death in his squad car after he quickly responded to a call of a bank robbery in progress. And on Wednesday, Milwaukee Police Officer Michael Niehoff, 27, was killed and two officers were seriously injured in a crash of squad cars, While answering an emergency call.
One more thing we should mention about this job. You're unappreciated until you're dead. Then you get a parade.
WARNING: 'Cell Phone' Guns
L O N D O N, Dec. 6 — At first sight it looks like a regular cell phone —
same size, same shape, same overall appearance.
But beneath the digital face lies a .22-caliber pistol — a phone gun
capable of firing four rounds in quick succession with a touch of the
otherwise standard keypad.
European law enforcement officials — stunned by the discovery of these
deadly decoys — say phone guns are changing the rules of engagement in Europe.
“We find it very, very alarming,” says Wolfgang Dicke of the German
Police union. “It means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a
person being checked reaches for their mobile phone.”
Although cell phone guns have not hit America yet, the FBI, the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the U.S. Customs Service say they’ve
been briefed on the new weapons.
“This criminal invention represents a potentially serious threat to law
enforcement and the public,” said U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Raymond
W. Kelly.
“We received word about these guns last month. We have since alerted our
field personnel to be on the lookout for ‘cell phone guns’ at U.S. ports of
entry.”Guns on the Move
These new covert guns were first discovered in October when Dutch police
stumbled on a cache during a drug raid in Amsterdam.
In another recent incident a Croatian gun dealer was caught attempting
to smuggle a shipment through Slovenia into Western Europe.
Police say both shipments are believed to have originated in Yugoslavia.
Interpol sent out a warning to law enforcement agencies around the world.
European border police and customs officers are at a heightened state of
alert at all ports, airports and border crossings.Realistic Appearance
‘If you didn’t know they were guns, you wouldn’t suspect anything,” said
Ari Zandbergen, spokesman for the Amsterdam police.
“Only when you have one in your hand do you realize that they are
heavier,” says Birgit Heib of the German Federal Criminal Investigation
Agency.
The guns are loaded by twisting the phone in half. The .22-caliber
rounds fit into the top of the phone under the screen. The lower half, under
the keyboard, holds the firing pins. The bullets fire through the antenna by
pressing the keypad from numbers five to eight.
Amsterdam police says they are very sophisticated machines constructed
inside gutted cell phones which do not light up or operate as real phones.
“These are very difficult to make. We believe experts are involved,”
says Zandbergen.America on Alert
U.S. authorities, including the FBI, ATF, Federal Aviation Administration and
the U.S. Customs Service Authority have been supplied detailed information
and pictures of these new weapons.
“They’ve been given a heads up,” said Jim Crandall, ATF spokesman.
To date no phone guns have been discovered either in the United States
or in the process of being smuggled in, authorities say. But they know it’s
only a matter of time.
FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler said airport security officers had been
trained to deal with this new threat.
“We don’t want to tell the bad guys exactly what we’re looking for,”
she says, “We are trying to stay one step ahead.”Will Affect Travelers
Airport authorities across Europe are implementing systems to X-ray all cell
phones, those procedures will likely be followed by airports around the world.
“This is just one more item that we need to pay special attention to
because nowadays, of course just about every passenger carries a mobile
phone,” says the spokesman for Frankfurt airport security.
Customs officials in the U.S. say their safety procedure has normally
been to require travelers to turn their phones on, however that may no longer
be enough. Cell phone users will have to be made aware that reaching for
their phones in some circumstances could be misinterpreted as a threat by
authorities.
ABCNEWS’ Christel Kucharz in Bonn and Andrew Chang in New York contributed to
this report.
Again, this is your newsletter, whatever you would like to see printed please submit it. we will print anything from the members, pro or con. We will not practice censorship, just correct for spelling. We want to make this a newsletter that the readers, our members, look forward to.
