Thursday, May 24, 2007

New Jersey Trooper Davey Jones: Can You Hear Him Laughing?

Oh, yeah, I am sure he's having a good chuckle over his "punishment" for attempting to silence his critics by revealing their home addresses, license plate numbers, and other personal information to the media. Try to talk some truth about New Jersey Stormtrooper - jeez, I keep making that mistake, it's State Trooper - and union thug Davey Jones, will you? Oh, he'll come after you, all right - and may laws, morals, and responsibility to the public be damned!

Anyway, here's how some real ugliness by armed state employees gets resolved in the ethical swamp we call Jersey:

State troopers union President David Jones was suspended for five days without pay and reprimanded Tuesday after a report from the attorney general said he "brought discredit to himself" and the State Police by releasing personal information about New Jersey 101.5 FM radio host Craig Carton.
Jones also was ordered to undergo conflict resolution counseling, according to two law enforcement sources who would not discuss the discipline publicly.


State Police Superintendent Col. Joseph "Rick" Fuentes handed down the punishment, hours after Attorney General Stuart Rabner issued a report and statement criticizing Jones' actions at a May 3 news conference in which the union leader held up a paper showing Carton's home address and the make, model and license plate number of his car.


Ohhh...five days without pay! I'm sure he gets reimbursed quite handsomely for his gig as union chief of the the once-respectable police outfit that he has molded into modern-day brownshirts; you'd better believe that paycheck won't be five days short. And if I was a betting man (and I am), I would lay serious odds that Davey Jones will get himself a nice little union "bonus" somewheres between now and Christmas that will cover the loss he "suffered" in this hateful little incident.

More:

Rabner wrote that Jones' actions "created an inappropriate perception that law enforcement would harass a citizen whom they have a grievance against."
"This perception harms law enforcement. In the case of the State Police, it undermines the good will that professionals have earned," Rabner wrote.


A resignation by Trooper Jones would do a lot towards repairing the breach of trust that has developed between the citizens of New Jersey and the State Police who are allegedly there to "protect" them. But let's talk gambling again - what are the odds that the ego of this power-drunk fascist would allow him to even consider resigning his post, if not as a State Trooper (which would have been appropriate here), then as a union boss? Yeah, that's what I thought. I can hear him chortling right now as he picks out his fishing lures for the upcoming week, and plans his victory speech to the media.
Craig Carton - victimized by Trooper Jones's irrational wrath for his "crime" of speaking out against State Police plans to ticket-blitz New Jersey drivers as revenge for recent media criticism - agrees:

Carton called the punishment "an embarrassment."
"The message is now, if you're a state trooper and you're politically connected, you can threaten anybody you want and you'll get a vacation out of it," Carton said in a telephone interview. "It furthers the already existing perception that troopers cannot be trusted, nor can our politicians."


And just for giggles, the Home News Tribune digs up another gem of justice out from Trooper Jones' sordid past:

Meanwhile, details emerged Tuesday about an incident in which Jones "had been drinking," according to police in Brick but was not tested for his blood-alcohol level.
The 2005 crash, in which Jones' SUV slammed into the back of a 40-ton tractor-trailer, did not result in a summons, although a police report stated that "driver inattention" was the only apparent contributing circumstance for the accident.
Brick Township Police Capt. Douglas Kinney said the investigating officer at the scene, Patrolman Jeffrey C. Lindquist, would have arrested Jones if he were drunk.
"Everyone who has been drinking is not necessarily intoxicated. He made a determination that Mr. Jones was not intoxicated," he said.


Er...OK. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Davey Jones was a State Trooper and a Soprano-style union thug, right? He was treated just like everyone else - 'cause we all know someone who smashed into a tractor-trailer while admittedly drinking who was not asked to take a blood-alchohol test, right?

Think I need a drink right about now...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, come on - did you really think the politicians of this state would really come down hard against a union chief? I am surprised he even got a five day break - whoops, I mean suspension. I think it speaks to the growing resentment in the state against this type of elitism. Corzine's accident may actually have been the wake-up call the people of new jersey - and its politicians - have long needed.

Anonymous said...

It is unfortunate to realize (once again) familiarity DOES breed contempt, and so too, do our politicians (and their ilk) realize that those whom they serve are led...again and again, as the MAPS of their own agendas replace the realities of the actual territory - "OUR" territory...OUR RIGHTS...OUR TRUST...OUR HARD EARNED DOLLARS...repeat! JOIN G.R.I.P