N.Y. Police Protest Called ‘Insurrection’ : Commissioner Assigns Supervisors to Patrol Cars in Slowdown

Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward, labeling the situation an “insurrection,” ordered supervisors Wednesday to begin riding in police patrol cars to monitor ticket writing and arrests as a departmentwide slowdown over changes in rules continued to spread.

“What is going on here is beginning to get dangerous,” Ward told a news conference as he confirmed that policemen were failing to write summonses not only for parking violations, but also for cars running red lights and stop signs.

Ward said that there had been a “radical” drop in summonses since the current job action began last week in protest over his plan to rotate police officers from their precincts as a corruption-fighting measure and to question some drug suspects closely about possible police involvement.

Has Mayor’s Support

With the backing of Mayor Edward I. Koch, the plan was announced after 13 police officers from the same Brooklyn precinct were indicted on charges of stealing drugs and other crimes. One of the policemen committed suicide in a motel rather than face the charges.

“Parking summonses may be a strategy to try to bring the city to its knees, fiscally,” Ward said. “But when you’re ignoring moving violations, you run a danger of involving the public safety.”

In a move reminiscent of protests in the 1970s over layoffs during New York’s fiscal crisis, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Assn., the police union, scheduled a march across the Brooklyn Bridge and a massive demonstration at City Hall for Friday. The picketing a decade ago pitted policeman against policeman, and, at one point, angry policemen surrounded the home of Michael J. Codd, who was police commissioner, early in the morning and beat on garbage cans to show their displeasure.

On Wednesday, Ward ordered supervisors to identify arrests that should be made and summonses that should be issued. Police personnel who refuse to write tickets or make arrests will be suspended on the spot. A police spokesman said Wednesday that no suspensions so far had taken place.

Phil Caruso, president of the PBA, called for Ward’s resignation and charged that the commissioner “has lost control of the department.”

“This department is on the verge of collapse,” Caruso said.

At his news conference, Ward firmly refused to quit. “I don’t run. I don’t hide,” he said.

Statistics Show Impact

The effectiveness of the slowdown was starkly shown through statistics. During the three-day period ending Monday, officers handed out 1,407 summonses for moving violations and 1,922 summonses for parking infractions. During the same period last year, there were 11,300 summonses for moving violations and 26,527 parking tickets.

But Police Department spokesmen stressed there had been minimal disruption of serious crime-fighting activities. While some sporadic attempts to jam a few police frequencies have taken place, the vast majority of radio calls were being routinely handled, they said.

Protesting officers have found a variety of ways to slow their work, including asking for superior officers to travel to crime scenes when they would normally not be called or refusing to ride in patrol cars unless the auto conforms to all safety requirements.