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  • 5
    Feb
    2013
    6:06am, EST

    Miami-Dade cops caught on camera allegedly ignoring emergency calls

    View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

    By Myriam Masihy, NBCMiami.com

    A group of Miami-Dade police officers was disciplined following a 2010 internal affairs investigation, police documents showed.

    Five police officers and one sergeant with the Kendall squad were allegedly caught on camera ignoring emergency dispatch calls.

    The video, obtained by NBC 6 South Florida, shows incidents like one on Oct. 5, 2010 where Officer Dario Socarras apparently ignored a residential burglary call and chose to meet a woman at the Dadeland Mall parking lot.

    The video shows the officer hugging and kissing the woman in what the police investigation calls a public display of affection.

    That is classified as departmental misconduct or conduct unbecoming of an officer, according to police.

    A little later that day, Officer Socarras, Officer Jose Huerta and their Sergeant Jennifer Gonzalez were videotaped drinking coffee at a Casa Larios when an emergency call came in with an alert about an unconscious 5-month-old, police said in investigation records obtained by NBC 6.

    Socarras was dispatched to the scene and despite being with his sergeant, he continued drinking his coffee. Nine minutes later he was cleared from the call, according to police.

    Moments later the dispatcher asked Socarras to check out a signal 37, or a suspicious vehicle. He said in a radio transmission that he was en route, but investigators said it took him 25 minutes to respond.

    At the end of the investigation, Sgt. Gonzalez and officers Socarras, Huerta, Ivan Tomas, Fabian Owens and Jeffrey Price all received a relief of duty memorandum dated Dec. 28, 2010.

    Read more from NBCMiami.com

    Officer Socarras, who was also accused of doctoring reports to reflect that he had responded to the calls, wrote a memo to his lieutenant saying that at no time did he intentionally violate departmental rules or regulations.

    Socarras, Huerta and Gonzalez have been fired by the Miami-Dade Police Department, according to the internal affairs report. Several more officers have been disciplined and some were expected to appeal their punishment.

    The Dade County Police Benevolent Association said it was waiting for the disciplinary process to conclude before it comments, and Miami-Dade Police said it was not commenting on the investigation.

    Miami-Dade resident Jeff Bretzer said he was upset that some officers were not upholding their duty to protect and serve.

    "If I have a reason to call the police and they're not that responsive or if they weren't in a timely fashion, it just wouldn't be much use," he said.

    But Bretzer said he was pleased the Miami-Dade Police Department looked into officers' responsiveness.

    "You want to think that they are going to be doing something to correct the problem that is going on," he said.

    453 comments

    This isnt just in dade County. Cops are working just like the rest of us. They clock in and out like the rest of us. It's called slacking on the job.

    Show more
    Explore related topics: fired, florida, police, cops, emergency, us-news, featured, crime-courts, nbcmiami
  • 4
    Jan
    2013
    9:50am, EST

    Profanity-laced YouTube video gets officer fired

    View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

    By Frank Heinz, NBCDFW.com

    A Texas police officer has been fired after he was recorded on video threatening a teen and using profane language.

    Disraeli Arnold, an officer in Hurst, Texas, was recorded in November running to assist an officer as he subdued a teenager, ultimately kneeing the teen in the back of the head while yelling and threatening him.

    The teen's mother, Kelly Pope, didn't object to her son being arrested, just the force used to take the teen into custody.

    "He [her son] knows that he handled it badly at first, that he should have been a little more cooperative. But, you know, the second officer -- there was no reason for it," Pope said in November. "He (Arnold) comes up at a jolting sprint, kneed him in the back of the head and, as you can see on the video, he says, 'If you move I'm going to [expletive] kill you.'"

    For more, visit NBCDFW.com

    While the teen was in custody and being escorted to a police car, Arnold then paraded in front of the teen's friend, who was recording the arrest, and said, "You got it on tape? Arnold, 654!"

    Using the video as evidence, the teen's mother filed a complaint with the Hurst Police Department that led to an internal affairs investigation. The mother said she hoped the officer would either turn in his badge or be fired.

    Dashcam video released several days later showed the teen, prior to Arnold arriving at the scene, arguing with Officer Miguel Jimenez and resisting arrest -- a offense for which he was charged.

    On Thursday, Hurst police said Arnold was "indefinitely suspended for violations of Hurst Police Department General Orders and Civil Service rules relating to his actions on Nov. 20, 2012" and "an internal affairs investigation was conducted for violations ... to include the unnecessary use of force, being disrespectful to a citizen, and the use of indecent, profane, or harsh language in the performance of official duties."

    Despite Pope's claim of excessive force, the internal affairs investigation determined the amount of force used by Arnold was reasonable since he believed Jimenez was struggling to subdue the teen.

    The investigation did find, however, that Arnold was disrespectful to a citizen and "used indecent, profane, and harsh language in the performance of his official duties, and conducted himself in a manner which brought discredit to himself and the Hurst Police Department."


    Follow @NBCNewsUS

    "You can't help but be embarrassed -- not only for the officers that work in our department, but for anybody in the law enforcement profession," Hurst Assistant Chief Steve Niekamp said in November. "You just expect when an officer shows up, they're going to be in charge. You don't want the foul language, anything that looks like it might be overreaction. You just want to be professional, calm and in control of the scene."

    Prior to the department's latest ruling, Arnold had been placed on administrative leave.

    Arnold had been with the department for four years and, according to a performance assessment and disciplinary file released by Hurst police after the incident, he met or exceeded police standards in nearly every assessment. The document also noted in May, 2010, that "Officer Arnold's enthusiasm may make him overzealous at times, which can cloud his judgment when it comes to policy, procedure and tactics. Sometimes he needs to step back and see the big picture and risks involved."

    Arnold has 10 days to appeal the termination.

    NBC 5's Scott Gordon contributed to this report.

    727 comments

    Stupid cops. While I think it's a bit much that they fired him for using foul language, officers will arrest you for disrespecting them through use of foul language. So hey, turnabout is fair play.

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    Explore related topics: fired, officer, youtube, nbcdfw
  • 10
    Jun
    2012
    4:32am, EDT

    Report: NYPD fires Orthodox Jew recruit for refusing to trim beard

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    An Orthodox Jew who was weeks away from becoming a New York City police officer said he has been kicked out of the police academy for refusing to trim his beard.

    Former recruit Fishel Litzman of Monsey was fired Friday after multiple confrontations with the department over the length of his whiskers, he told the Daily News.


    Litzman is Hasidic and believes that cutting his beard is forbidden by God.

    NYPD rules usually require officers to be clean-shaven. The department makes exceptions for beards kept for religious purposes, but even then only allows 1 millimeter worth of growth.

    "They didn't give me anything," Litzman said, explaining to the paper that the police department did not offer an explicit reason for his firing. "I don't understand what the problem would be."

    NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the department's rules are reasonable and Litzman was aware of them when he signed up.

    Litzman was first cited in January for his unkempt beard. He was a month away from receiving his shield when he was fired.


    Follow @msnbc_us

    "I always wanted to be a police officer," said Litzman, a 38-year-old father of five who speaks Hebrew and Yiddish and was once a paramedic.

    His attorney, Nathan Lewin, said the police department knew when Litzman applied that he would not trim his beard.

    The Daily News reported that the NYPD hired its first Hasidic police officer in 2006. Today there are at least two dozen Orthodox-Jewish police officers working for the NYPD, the Daily News said.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    542 comments

    The lawyer said the police department knew when litzman applied that he would not trim his beard. litzman also knew that when he applied he was permitted only 1 millimeter's worth of growth. If the police department had refused to hire him, they would have been accused of religious discrimination.

    Show more
    Explore related topics: new-york, fired, police, orthodox, nypd, featured, jew, hasidic, fishel-litzman
  • 17
    Mar
    2012
    10:21pm, EDT

    Law firm employees: We were fired for wearing orange shirts for happy hour

    By NBCMiami.com

    They wore orange – and got fired for it.

    So say four former employees of the Elizabeth R. Wellborn P.A. law firm in Deerfield Beach who were terminated after they came to work in orange shirts on Friday, the company’s pay day, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports.

    See the original story at NBCMiami.com

    They said they’ve worn orange shirts on pay days for the past few months so they would look like a group when they went out afterward for happy hour, the newspaper reported. Janice Doble, 50, of Sunrise said she was looking forward to the gathering after a busy week.


    “Orange happens to be my favorite color. My patio is orange," she told the paper. “My lipstick was orange today.”

    Unfortunately for Doble and 13 other employees, an executive viewed things very differently. He told them that he understood there was a protest involving orange, and because they were all wearing the color, they were fired, the Sun Sentinel reported.

    One person immediately denied being part of a protest and explained the happy hour connection, but after the law firm’s honchos discussed the matter outside the room, they returned and said everyone was fired, said Lou Erik Ambert, a litigation paralegal.

    "There is no office policy against wearing orange shirts. We had no warning. We got no severance, no package, no nothing," said Ambert, 31, of Coconut Creek. "I feel so violated."

    A spokeswoman for the firm said it had “no comment at this time,” according to the Sun Sentinel.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News

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    175 comments

    Welcome to the world of being an "at will employee".

    Show more
    Explore related topics: fired, law-firm, orange, orange-shirts

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