Cop retires in style
January 28, 2008
Police ticketed on cop's last day
Squad cars had expired stickers
By KEVIN PENTON
KEYPORT BUREAU
The last day of a person's career usually involves tearful goodbyes, firm handshakes and perhaps a slice of cake.
On the last day before he retired, Middletown Police Cpl. Frank Holden wrote tickets.
Only Holden did not issue 14 tickets for expired inspection stickers on Dec. 31 to negligent residents, but to the Middletown Police Department.
For months, officers have made arrests and issued tickets while cruising the streets of Middletown in vehicles that needed to be inspected, Holden said.
"How are we supposed to uphold the law when we're breaking it ourselves?" asks Holden, 50, a 26-year veteran of the department who lives in Middletown. "I just did my job."
Middletown is investigating the validity of the tickets Holden wrote, said Bernard Reilly, the township's attorney. It is considering challenging them in court.
Holden wrote some of the tickets for police vehicles that were out of service, Reilly said.
"They were not operational," Reilly said. "(Holden) did it out of personal motivation. He was embittered."
Holden said he retired because he was tired of working with a police chief, Robert Oches, whose leadership is "sucking the life out of the department" and causing morale among the ranks to drop.
Holden said he spoke with Oches several months ago about the police vehicles that needed to be inspected. The chief promised to look into it, Holden said.
"This had been known for a while," Holden said. "It was ignorance."
Oches declined to comment.
Driving a vehicle with an expired inspection sticker may result in fines between $100 and $200, according to the Web site of the state Motor Vehicle Commission. A judge can also set a jail term of up to 30 days.
In addition, the MVC may revoke registration privileges, according to the site.
A new vehicle needs to be inspected four years after it is initially registered, and every two years afterward. All the vehicles Holden issued tickets for failed one of the two time requirements, he said.
To avoid the potential for a conflict of interest, the case is likely to be moved out of Middletown's Municipal Court, Reilly said. A date and location have yet to be set, he said.
During its Jan. 22 meeting, Middletown Township Committee authorized spending $359,616 to buy 16 new vehicles for the Police Department.
Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger said he is anxious to find out if any of the tickets are legitimate. If Middletown were found to be guilty, Scharfenberger wonders whether the township would need to write a check to itself.
"It's sort of an unusual occurrence," said Scharfenberger, who also wonders what Holden's motivations were for writing the tickets. "It appears to be a disgruntled parting shot."
As an officer, Holden said there were times when he did not issue tickets to motorists for failed inspection stickers because his own cruiser could not meet the same standard.
"My only hope is that the vehicles are inspected and that the officers are safe," Holden said. "It's time to end the hypocrisy."
Police ticketed on cop's last day
Squad cars had expired stickers
By KEVIN PENTON
KEYPORT BUREAU
The last day of a person's career usually involves tearful goodbyes, firm handshakes and perhaps a slice of cake.
On the last day before he retired, Middletown Police Cpl. Frank Holden wrote tickets.
Only Holden did not issue 14 tickets for expired inspection stickers on Dec. 31 to negligent residents, but to the Middletown Police Department.
For months, officers have made arrests and issued tickets while cruising the streets of Middletown in vehicles that needed to be inspected, Holden said.
"How are we supposed to uphold the law when we're breaking it ourselves?" asks Holden, 50, a 26-year veteran of the department who lives in Middletown. "I just did my job."
Middletown is investigating the validity of the tickets Holden wrote, said Bernard Reilly, the township's attorney. It is considering challenging them in court.
Holden wrote some of the tickets for police vehicles that were out of service, Reilly said.
"They were not operational," Reilly said. "(Holden) did it out of personal motivation. He was embittered."
Holden said he retired because he was tired of working with a police chief, Robert Oches, whose leadership is "sucking the life out of the department" and causing morale among the ranks to drop.
Holden said he spoke with Oches several months ago about the police vehicles that needed to be inspected. The chief promised to look into it, Holden said.
"This had been known for a while," Holden said. "It was ignorance."
Oches declined to comment.
Driving a vehicle with an expired inspection sticker may result in fines between $100 and $200, according to the Web site of the state Motor Vehicle Commission. A judge can also set a jail term of up to 30 days.
In addition, the MVC may revoke registration privileges, according to the site.
A new vehicle needs to be inspected four years after it is initially registered, and every two years afterward. All the vehicles Holden issued tickets for failed one of the two time requirements, he said.
To avoid the potential for a conflict of interest, the case is likely to be moved out of Middletown's Municipal Court, Reilly said. A date and location have yet to be set, he said.
During its Jan. 22 meeting, Middletown Township Committee authorized spending $359,616 to buy 16 new vehicles for the Police Department.
Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger said he is anxious to find out if any of the tickets are legitimate. If Middletown were found to be guilty, Scharfenberger wonders whether the township would need to write a check to itself.
"It's sort of an unusual occurrence," said Scharfenberger, who also wonders what Holden's motivations were for writing the tickets. "It appears to be a disgruntled parting shot."
As an officer, Holden said there were times when he did not issue tickets to motorists for failed inspection stickers because his own cruiser could not meet the same standard.
"My only hope is that the vehicles are inspected and that the officers are safe," Holden said. "It's time to end the hypocrisy."
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Middletown, PA? I used to live there. Also used to rent a house to the old Chief of Police. 0 -
New York? 0 -
Monmouth Co, NJ.
quote:" ... l," Reilly said. "(Holden) did it out of personal motivation. He was embittered."
Pure speculation, Mr. District Attorney0 -
It was Middletown, NJ. This story is taken from the Asbury Park Press.
"My only hope is that the vehicles are inspected and that the officers are safe," Holden said. "It's time to end the hypocrisy." Why didn't he demonstrate this high degree of concern for the officer's safety before retirement day? He stood back and allowed this situation to exist for quite some time. This is by his own admission, not just speculation.
His actions demonstrate he's in fact just a bitter azz-hole...and just as big a hypocrite as he's accusing his former administration of.
That being said, a LE agency's vehicles being knowingly out of compliance is an outrage.0 -
He did it when he knew the Chief couldn't get even with him. I like his timing. 0 -
It is sort of shady that he did it on his last day before retiring, but perhaps he did so out of necessity. I've worked for bosses in the past who would make your life hell for doing something like this, maybe he had one of those bosses.
All considered, good for him. The PD knew they were in violation, and intentionally avoided correcting the problem.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Alpine
He did it when he knew the Chief couldn't get even with him. I like his timing.If safety was actually his motivation it required immediate action and he could've handled this a long time ago in ways where it wouldn't have come back on him. If my people were in danger I'd get creative if I had to.
The way he's handled this isn't what you'd call a demonstration of high integrity. It's pretty obvious he did this just to thumb his nose and embarass admin, but notice that even when he knows the Chief can't retaliate he's still showing a lack of balls by painting this as concern for the troops.
Glad I never had to work under him. Sounds wormy to me.0 -
So I'm guessing you never worked for a little PD, have you? 0 -
YOU CAN BET YOUR SWEET AZZ that if an out of compliance vehicle was involved in a major accident or death that kindly cpl. holden would have been left holding the liability bag ....not chief or township committee if you have any knowledge of real life politics 0 -
As with every agency I know of, the Chief has the authority to void traffic tickets issued by his agency.
My guess is thats all he will need to do and chaulk it up to a disgruntled officer.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Laredo Lefty
As with every agency I know of, the Chief has the authority to void traffic tickets issued by his agency.
My guess is thats all he will need to do and chaulk it up to a disgruntled officer.
Voiding citations issued to the PD could be considered official misconduct. Especially if the tickets are issued to the Cheif for allowing operation of the vehicles knowing them to be in violation.0 -
It may or may not be seen as misconduct, but I doubt the tickets are issued to the Chief since he does not own the vehicles, the city does.
In Calif, at least, equipment and registration violations are the responsibility of the registered owner. In every city I know of the police cars a registered to the city, who is the owner.
What might happen is the Mayor or city council of Middletown might order the Chief to void the citations thus putting and end to the issue.0 -
"This had been known for a while," Holden said. "It was ignorance."
Known = ignorance?
git back to high school, youse!
But yeah, disgruntled parting shot sounds about right.
CHP bro got a parking ticket on a plain clothes ride (with e-plates) once. Took it to his supervisor, who asked:
"If it doesn't get paid, who do they go after?"
The registered owner.
"And who's the registered owner?"
The State of California.
"Right."
(crumple, circular file...)0 -
Short! 0 -
In the Commie state of Kalif. it is illegal for a Chief of Police or Sheriff to dismiss a ticket. When Kolender (now Sheriff but then Chief of Police) dismissed numerous tickets the state legislator passed a law prohibiting the practice.
But hey, having a cool car 24/7, and being able to park anywhere at anytime is so nice. We had a person on the department we would turn in the ticket to, and they would go away.0 -
One of our folks once sent a copy of state law that required certain emergency vehicles to carry a fire extinguisher to our higher-ups since we had several new officers working in cars that were not properly equipped after that fact had been mentioned to them with no results.
It worked. We got fire extinguisher and other stuff within a couple weeks.
In another instance...
I also had a supervisor that put his own hind end on the line after we had several misfires with department issued ammunition at a qualification shoot. He ordered our firearms officer to go to the local sporting goods store and to purchase some ammunition to load our guns up with (in violation of policy) after seeing several misfires himself. A few of the higher-ups didn't like him but I respected a guy who thought our safety was more important than some dept policy. That was a stand-up lieutenant and I highly respected him. To his credit, he was a gun guy also.0
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