Jamillah Blair of New Rochelle, New York
Now here’s what I’m talking about. Requirements to become a cop are falling into the cellar, and there isn’t a police agency in the country that will step up to correct it.
Jamillah, who may or may not be a good citizen, was desperate to become a cop. She is 5 ft tall and under 100 lbs, not exactly the person you would call on to do any heavy lifting, be it literal or figurative. She is a cop in the city of New Rochelle, NY. She wanted it very much, (I always wanted to sing like Pavarotti, but didn’t have the pipes for it), and finally squeezed herself into the department somehow. The Commissioner, Patrick Carroll, went out of his way to accommodate Jamillah’s obvious physical shortcomings, not to mention her past brushes with the law including drug association and domestic violence with a roommate. Article
None of those screaming red flags prevented the Chief from hiring Jamillah, not the undersize or underweight, not the shady history. Then, once hired, what did she do? She LOST her badge. Yes, lost it, meaning forgot where she put it, along with the police ID that accompanied it. The items were never found and had to be replaced. Maybe they are on eBay.
Update: Thanks to Robert Cox from Talk of the Sound for this--Jamillah lost not one, but two badges and police ID's. I suppose that will drive down the bids on eBay for the first one, now that there are two out there.
Jamillah Blair first lost her police badge, and then she lost her ability to drive only when sober. She got into a bit of a scrape because of drunk driving and then leaving the scene of a head-on crash with a Yonkers man. While she may have been viewed as a great public relations tool for a police force, couldn’t Chief Carroll hire one that doesn’t drink? I mean, c’mon Chief, she caused a head-on collision with an innocent driver and then had the nerve to flee the scene. Cops know not to flee scenes, don’t they?
Jamillah Blair is the SIXTH cop in Westchester County to be found drunk driving in the last 4 months. The statistics don’t look too good for New Rochelle, nor does the success rate for Commissioner Carroll’s hiring methods.
Look At It This Way
The population of the city is just under 75K, and the police department employs 250. Understanding that cops like to chirp “We are human too, sometimes we make mistakes”, how many cops should the people of New Rochelle allow to be drunk? 10%? That would be 25. 1%? That’s only 2½ cops at any one time. Maybe citizens should learn to have at least that much tolerance for diversity. After all, cops are only human, right? So they say.
How about this for an idea…..NO DRUNK COPS, EVER. Here’s a policy for your consideration: A drunk cop equals an unemployed cop. Simple. We need to clear our streets of law-breaking law enforcers, and a great place to start is with how they abuse alcohol.
One way to accomplish this is to require all cops to add an alcohol-detecting ankle bracelet to the uniform, and a similar device to their personal vehicle. In addition, liquor stores and bars can be instructed to refuse to sell to cops, in or out of uniform. This isn't just for cops caught drunk, this is for all cops beginning on the date of hire. Jamillah has proven, along with so many more examples as listed on the sidebar of this blog, that cops just can’t handle it. How do we accomplish this? A Citizen Oversight Panel with Hire & Fire.
Employment Practice
How many things can one police commissioner in one PD screw up at one time?
· Refuse others the job because of insufficient height, weight, or record, but hire Jamillah.
· Allow drunk cops to operate on or off the job, including driving
· When a cop is caught drunk driving, crashing into a citizen and fleeing the scene, continue to pay them the taxpayer’s money, without termination, like Jamillah.
· Refuse the townspeople of New Rochelle input as to what level of quality they get in a tax-supported PD.
This is the sixth time in 4 months in Westchester, New Rochelle! Your cops are failing to earn your tax dollars, and have no respect for their job, or the profession in general. When sober, they are stealing your money, and when drunk, they are crashing into your cars and running from the scene to cover it up. Do you condone this level of ethics? Or honesty? Or sobriety?
The fact that Commissioner Carroll had to bend the rules to get Jamillah in is bad enough for all those who had similar size problems and were refused, but to keep paying a drunk driver who flees the scene is just too much. Dishonesty, questionable character, prior record problems, all overlooked. Then there’s the physical inadequacy, and now a PD that needs to shop around for a wholesale price on detoxing. Where is your Citizen Review Board, New Rochelle? I mean the one with Hire & Fire?
This particular chapter in the peoples’ fight to get control of their PD takes things to a whole new level. It isn’t just a bad judgment during an adrenalin-fueled chase and arrest that makes a bad cop, and it isn’t just a jaw-jutting jerk of a human that makes a bad cop. This time it is a woefully inadequate cop, hired by a Chief who seems to have more respect for favoring a political viewpoint than desire to provide the people of New Rochelle quality policing. New Rochelle's citizens must provide it instead, and only a CRB will accomplish that.
What are you waiting for? Call the Mayor, and all other office-holders in your city, county and state. Remind them all that November 2 will be here before we know it, and those that agree with a CRB that can Hire & Fire get elected.
Deputy Coroners Do It Too!
Chicago-land comes through again. No fleeing the scene this time, but jumping the curb and mowing down a stop sign is still fair play for a sheriff department employee. Add a heapin’ helpin’ of attitude and what do you get? Eryn Gray. She is quite the handful. Read her story, but lock your liquor cabinet.
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