125 Paterson, NJ police officers laid off, Guardian Angels invited to patrol the city - story w/pics

[Kadie]

Laidoff Paterson Police Department officers march down Church Street in Paterson, N.J. on Monday, April 18, 2011. The layoffs of a quarter of the police force comes after the city eliminated 392 municipal workers out of a workforce of nearly 2,000 to combat a $70 million budget deficit.


David Affinito, who was one of the 125 officers laid off from the Paterson Police Department, marches with colleagues around city hall during a protest, Monday, April 18, 2011 in Paterson, N.J. Affinito, who grew up in Paterson, had worked five years on the force.


Eva Rumph, right, who has lived in Paterson, N.J. , for 45 years, talks to Guardian Angels officer John Gavares, Monday, April 18, 2011 in Paterson, N.J. Eighteen Guardian Angels began patrolling the city on April 17 per an invitation from Paterson Mayor Jeffery Jones. On Monday, the Paterson Police Department laid off 125 officers, which is a quarter of the police force.


Benjamin Garcia, center, patrol director with the Guardian Angels, talks to Abraham Cinto, center right, and his wife Rosaura Morales, right, about the patrol services of the Angels as the family strolled through downtown Paterson with their 5-year-old son Erik Martinez, Monday, April 18, 2011 in Paterson, N.J. Eighteen Guardian Angels began patrolling the city on April 17 per an invitation from Paterson Mayor Jeffery Jones. On Monday, the Paterson Police Department laid off 125 officers, which is a quarter of the police force.

pics from daylife.com


******


Guardian Angels begin Paterson patrols
Sunday, April 17, 2011
LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY APRIL 17, 2011, 5:21 PM
BY KATHLEEN LYNN
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITER

Responding to the layoffs of 125 Paterson police officers, the New York City-based Guardian Angels began patrols in the city Sunday.

The 18 Angels, in signature red jackets and berets, were greeted in front of City Hall by Mayor Jeffery Jones, who had invited the volunteer safety patrol organization in February as the city’s budget problems deepened. The $70 million budget deficit has led to the planned layoffs of 392 municipal workers, out of a total workforce of nearly 2,000. The layoffs of a quarter of the police force officially take effect Monday, and the police union has called for its members to march from police department headquarters to City Hall Monday morning in opposition to the cuts.

Aside from the police cutbacks, Jones said the Guardian Angels can play “a significant role” in public safety in the coming months, since warmer weather tends to stir up what he called “ruckus” in the city. He said he first contacted the Guardian Angels at the suggestion of a Paterson teacher, after the group brought anti-bullying programs to the schools.

“These are desperate times,” said Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, referring to government budget cuts. “It’s either this or turn the streets over to the criminals.”

more...
http://www.northjersey.com/news/041711_Guardian_Angels_begin_Paterson_patrols.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. The putrid fruit of RepubliBaggerism (R)

I suppose all the tax-dodging Republicons are slap happy that the 'socialist' police have been canned.

Thanks a stinking pantload, RepubliBaggers (R).

Next you can down some 'socialist' firefighters in your steenking anti-American bathtub, and really celebrate...

[HughBeaumont]

6. I just want to kick Grover Nerdquiff in his jowly, cock-eyed face.

Piece of lawn gnome garbage.

[SpiralHawk]

8. Nerdquiff is a Full-on Republicon Against America

Why do the Republicons HATE America's police, firefighters, and soldiers?

[blondeatlast]

2. Somehow the idea of "volunteers" replacing professional LEOs is less than comforting.

Of course, in my state (Arizona) it would be downright terrifying.

[Brickbat]

3. Careful, don't give TPTB any ideas.

If someone will patrol the streets as a volunteer, why should a municipality pay anyone to do it?

[gratuitous]

4. So, when they come across a crime in progress, who are the Angels going to call?

I like the idea of the Guardian Angels as an adjunct to the police. Neighbors voluntarily keeping an eye on their neighborhoods is good. But when something is happening, I don't want some volunteer (no matter how snappy his beret looks) confronting a criminal. I want a professional and trained police officer to step in. With all the lay-offs, who are the Angels going to call? Or will they take matters into their own hands? And who will be responsible the first time (God forbid) one of the GAs takes a bullet? Or the first time (God forbid again) a GA inflicts serious bodily harm or death on someone? It is bad enough when police are involved, with everyone rushing to take a side, but at least there's a process. With the GAs, who knows what's going to happen, and where will a wronged citizen turn for redress? Is Jeffery Jones going to have a drawer full of money to pay out to victims?

[blondeatlast]

5. This is really disturbing, IMHO. Count me out of a visit to Paterson any time soon. nt

[Hannah Bell]

7. "freicorps"

The meaning of the word "freikorps" changed over time. After 1918, the term was used for the paramilitary organizations that sprang up around Germany as soldiers returned in defeat from World War I. They were the key Weimar paramilitary groups active during that time. Many German veterans felt disconnected from civilian life, and joined a Freikorps in search of stability within a military structure. Others, angry at their sudden, apparently inexplicable defeat, joined up in an effort to put down Communist uprisings or exact some form of revenge (see Dolchstoßlegende). They received considerable support from Minister of Defense Gustav Noske, a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, who used them to crush the German Revolution and the Marxist Spartacist League and arrest Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, who were killed on 15 January 1919. They were also used to defeat the Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919.<1>

Though officially 'disbanded' in 1920, many Freikorps attempted, unsuccessfully, to overthrow the government in the Kapp Putsch in March 1920. Their attack was halted when German citizens who were loyal to the state went on strike, cutting off many services, and making daily life so problematic that the Putsch was called off.

In 1920, Adolf Hitler had just begun his political career as the leader of the tiny and as-yet-unknown German Workers Party (soon renamed the National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP) in Munich. Numerous future members and leaders of the Nazi Party had served in the Freikorps, including Ernst Röhm, future head of the Sturmabteilung, or SA, Heinrich Himmler, future head of the Schutzstaffel, or SS, and Rudolf Höß, the future Kommandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freikorps

[xchrom]

9. Remind me not to visit there. Nt

[yellowcanine]

10. Curtis Sliwa, founder and CEO of the Guardian Angels, is a wingnut rabblerouser

Sliwa admitted that he had fabricated several of the Angels' exploits, including a false allegation that he had been kidnapped in 1980 by off-duty transit officers. As well as admitting to "faking several kidnapping attempts on himself to make himself seem more valuable to the public" he said in later statements.<3><4> He later recanted and said he would speak to officers and atone for his activities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Sliwa

[blondeatlast]

11. The first time I saw Sliwa back in my teens, I could sense

he was not to be trusted even before he opened his smarmy little mouth.