New York Officer Josanne Hernandez, 27, allegedly began her career as a police officer with her own crime – or at least shopping – spree. Hernandez is accused of stealing her partner’s credit card and going on a shopping bender at his expense.
Hernandez allegedly rang up nearly $3,500 on a trip to Target and online purchases at Nordstrom’s and Bloomingdale’s as well as other locations.
What is most remarkable is that she was just appointed to the NYPD in January and began uniformed patrol in the 84th Precinct Oct. 11. It was only three days later that she allegedly lifted her partner’s American Express card at the Police Academy in College Point. She was later captured on videotape at a Walgreens in Bedford-Stuyvesant where the stolen American Express card was used.
Hernandez seems to have missed that whole “Thin Blue Line” speech.
FWIW it was NOT her partner’s card that she stole but rather just a random cadet’s.
She may sue to get her job back. Is kleptomania a disability protected by the federal government?
I don’t understand why she waited through the Academy. She could have started earlier. Actually, she may have.
One of the few parts of Libertarianism that work is the Cato Institute. They had a rather good study first ten years of this century 2001 to end of 2010 on police crime. End result. One percent plus/minus of all police nationwide were dirty. (meaning committing a criminal act) of a police population of 700,000. That was across a list covering all sectors and types of crime.
Funny thing the same percentage showed up for the general population. One percent of the entire population committed the crimes.
We’ve yet to figure out what common traits might have contributed to hiring the ‘wrong’ person or what about the police work load might have contributed such as shift changes with insufficient rest time, insufficient training such as pursuit driving etc.
Judge Learned Hand as I recall stated better than 1000 go free than one be convicted falsely. But he forgot that for each conviction that finally ends in a sentence there are 1000 victims. However that went it serves to illustrate the point.
One bad cop can do a lot of damage for which 99 take the blame. And one bad citizen likewise for which we all pay the price.
So where are the psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists etc. when you really need them? Maybe they are part of the one percent:?
I agree with Darren – good thing she was caught early on. One less corrupt cop to spoil the reputation of the honest ones. Unless of course she simply moves to another state and gets hired there.
One way that helps to identify which agencies had hired an officer in the past is when fingerprints are checked, they will show where the person was fingerprinted, either for a criminal charge, security clearance or in submitting a job application for a gov’t agency. It is easy to determine if they were printed. However, my memory is not serving me well at the moment; a can’t remember if this is just our state or at a national level for applicants, but most likely it is national.
Darren, there is no national database for rogue cops. Don’t know what state you live in but we’ve had that problem here in SC. And one problem too as the article points out is that police departments are underfunded in many cities so some places take what they can get.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/20/rogue-cops-should-not-be-recycled-from-one-police-department-to-the-next
Either way theft is theft. However on the subject of ‘dirty’ cops here is a reference on one study that was done in the early to mid 2000’s
http://www.policemisconduct.net/arguing-the-case-for-police-accountability-part-1/
A little background. In the 90’s President Clinton signed and Congress passed a law requiring a report on police activities to be sent to a central location. It had no teeth and in many cases was ignored due to budget or local political considerations.
Clinton Clinton failed to enforce that law as did Bush Bush as did Obama Obama although some effort was initiated but nothing came of it.
The study referenced is the source of the 1% of population and 1% of police per general and per law enforcement populations. It’s the only one I know of on a national level that had each and every reported incident checked out and verified.
too lengthy for here but might shed some light on what ‘hasn’t’ been done. Just talked about.
The study was for police wrong doing but it touches on other considerations such as to have or not have a national police force of sorts.
If she wasn’t weeded out during pre-hire, we should at least be fortunate she did this now when she was still a probationary employee or was on her own and shaking down citizens.
Most thieves do not reform. They improve their skill after each arrest.
Plus, how much of an ignoramus must one be to steal in the situation she is accused? But then again a former co-worker of mine told me when he was at the academy, one of the recruits one evening bragged that he was going out and renting a hooker. Everyone thought he was joking and laughed it off. But, this was no joking matter. Unfortunately he couldn’t wait to get some nookie; not even long enough to change out of his academy uniform. He found a prostitute and solicited her for sex. She told him she was not comfortable doing it with a cop in uniform. He assured her was ok, as he was just attending the academy. Despite the prostitute telling him several times it was in his best interest to drive away, he insisted. So, she made “the signal” and the vice squad pulled him from the car and arrested him.
The sergeant telephoned his tac-officer, who then called the disgraced recruit’s chief. Instant termination !!
A career limiting move most decidedly.
In a desperate and reckless quest to fill openings with a mandatory number of women and those of various races, it goes, without saying, that the standards, previously utilized in selecting candidates for such positions in law enforcement, have had to be lowered in an attempt to meet such goals. Anyone willing to bet that this individual never had any similar problems in the past? I’m not. There’s no doubt, in my mind, that she didn’t just wake up one day, upon becoming a police officer, and suddenly have an overriding urge to steal. I assume that she has a criminal record, which was ignored in an effort to check off two boxes when she was hired–female and Hispanic.
Instead of New York’s finest, in this case maybe he should be considered as their most ignorant.